Foggy Friday

My good friend Dianne is away at the moment.  She could even be languishing on the golden sands of a beach at the Sunshine Coast something like this one as I write.:

While she is off enjoying herself we woke to a misty foggy morning today.  

view from my patio

At least the rain  is keeping the temperatures down.  We had a whole 2 inches of rain on Wednesday night.  There is a huge gum tree in the park behind my unit, which loses lots of leaves which clog up the gutters on the roof.  I actually experienced a torrent seeping in down the wall near the kitchen....  I had visions of the ceiling caving in, but that did not eventuate thank goodness... once the downpour was over the torrent stopped.

Yes there is a man coming to clean out the gutters. He was due next Monday.... if only we could get the council to trim the huge gum tree!!!

My herb plants are loving the rain, but my poor little tomato plants are still struggling. I think I need a larger container. The gum leaves on the ground are only a fraction of what I sweep up every couple of days.

 

Hope you are enjoying your holiday Di.......(is that envy you hear in my voice...yes it is.)

 

Memory Lane Monday - Needle Painting

While studying under Debbie Mercer, one of her workshops was on needlepainting, and these two pictures are from the "meadow" series.  I apologise for the standard of the photos they were taken under glass.

The idea came from a book by Sue Newhouse called Creative Hand Embroidery.

Worked this at the workshop

 The embroidery is on painted pure silk fabric.  The painting of the sky was done with diluted water colours... or acrylic plus water colour medium....For the flowers and some of the grasses we again painted various colour onto a piece of the silk, then stiffened it with 'aquadhere'.   when the silk was dry  it was like paper and we then cut out shapes and stitched them onto the picture.  In the front/bottom of the pictures the grasses are worked in turkey stitch, and when cut allowed to flow over the matt inside the frame.

As you can see we used a variety of stitches and threads to achieve effects.  The background meadow was worked in  a single thread of silk Au Ver a Soie which is beautiful to work with.

On my needlepainting journey I also created another, which I think everyone has seen already, but I would like to  post it again here so I can have a record on this blog.

This needlepainting was one I did while studying under the lovely Ada in Maryborough who I have mentioned before.   We were given the opportunity to choose a picture from her collection kept from old magazines.  Being a "newbie" in the group at the time I stood back, and the picture left was what I used for this embroidery.

West Australian Wattle

These are some close ups of the wattle bloom and the grasses.  All the embroidery was worked in wool thread on linen fabric. I have used quite a few different shades of lemon and gold for the wattle, but where the blooms are in shadow I have used lavender shades. The trunk and branches are in shades of black and dark greys, with touches of lighter greys, and is worked as a raised stem stich.  The outer branches and twigs are worked in couched single threads.

I stopped counting the knots at 2000

I hope everyone who visits, enjoyed this week's little journey down Memory Lane Monday.

Giveaway at "I am the Diva"

For all those people interested in zentangling,   there is  a wonderful giveaway of products for drawing at I am the Diva. Hop over and have a look and join in - you may be lucky.

    

Ever since I first spotted this style of art,  I have been fascinated by zentangling, and being a doodler from way back I think I could take to this.   I can see wonderful ideas for embroidery coming out of it too. So I am hoping to do a tutorial and see what happens.

Good Luck for the giveaway.

Tea for two

Because I do not have any photos of zentangles yet to go with this, have just included one of my favourite paintings.

Down Memory Lane Monday - applique

While  reading one of the quilting blogs recently, I was reminded that I once ventured into the realm of needle turned applique.    It came about when a friend was unable to complete a workshop and asked if I would sit in for the remaining lessons. So with the permission of the teacher I came to learn something quite new to me.

This the result a quilt for my oldest grandaughter

After that I became quite ambitious and thought I would continue, but no quilt eventuated for my bed just a lot of squares that turned into cushions.  These are what  I have left ...the rest have been  gifted.

 

There was a time when I thought I would dip my toes into patchwork, and what followed was a frenzy of stitching which resulted in the following efforts.

First quilt

scrappy strip quilt

pansy quilt

Not much progress eventuated into quilting after that, because  it was about the time that I discovered art so my mad frenzies were then  directed into paint and canvas, although in the end I always return to the more calming love of embroidery.

Flowers in Serenity Garden

It was lovely to see some of my old favourites flowering during my visit to "the farm". Although a couple of my roses have not survived, it was nice to see the pink flourishing. I don't know the name, but it is so soft and reminds me of silk.  I just adore the way the petals are so fine the sun can appear to shine right through them.

same rose from a different direction

begonia

favourite yellow rose

red geranium

bush gladioli flower

chives

dietes

shasta daisy

cant remember the name except pea flower

lily

St John's wort (I think)

november lily

agapanthus in bud

I managed to clear a fair amount of the weeds but there is a long way to go...and know by the time I get a chance to get back they will have returned in abundance.
While on the subject of flowers and gardens, my neighbour a few properties down from "the farm" called up for a coffee one day, and brought me this lovely rose from her garden.  It is a lavender, although it photographed pink,but I dont know the name of it for any rose enthusiasts.

Another afternoon we went down to theirs for drinkies in the afternoon, and I had a lovely wander round Julie's garden with her.  She has some beautiful roses and it was nice to see her lovely garden thriving.

Visit to Serenity

Well I am back from my visit to the farm, and have spent 2 days settling back in to my unit.   After the peace and quiet of "the farm" I noticed the sounds of the city the first night...the sirens, the trucks over on the highway and the cars in the street....even driving to get the shopping there seemed to be more cars than ever compared to out in the country.

I had a very peaceful time, enjoying pottering round the garden, sitting on the patio with the animals, and the sounds of the birds...which is why after a few days my blood pressure was down to a nice normal figure.

Not much has changed, except for the season and  a few less trees that were causing havoc with their leaves in the gutters.  The older "himself" gets, the harder it is for him to get up and clean them so the trees had to go.  There are still plenty left, and the wood pile for next year is growing.

 

The view is still there

the cows still visit

Lazing outside the back door

waiting for dinner

the king parrots are still fighting for possession of the feed buckets.

Off to the "Farm"

I am going to be awol for about a week...have to go and check out a couple of things at "The Farm".  Seeing as I still have a financial interest in it I like to make sure that all is well....we all know what a man's idea of housework is....and if and when it it sold I think I should make sure that all is well.

Actually on my last visit I was very surprised at how neat and tidy everything was....no mad woman scattering her threads and art work everywhere.....ha ha.

 

I won't have access to the internet, but I found some photos of the gardens, the flowers birds and animals I will see, until I get back in a week or so.

Azaleas in bud

The strelitzia looking at the view.

daisies and more daisies

Pink rose near the birdbath.

King Parrot

blue wren

mama and babe