back to work

this week it was back to work for me.....but I did manage to finish off this piece for a round robin textile exchange creating a toran - called Passages of Intrigue - that I am involved in with other ATASDA members. this is my piece for Marj. I also received my own work back this week and I am so thrilled with the work that the members of my group did on it. I will show you some photos over the next few weeks...I now have to put it all together. During my summer holidays I also worked on this small book which I completed a little at a time in between gardening...these photos show the cover and first pages. I purchased the book and it had six page spreads in it with a pocket on each left page. so I decided to call it six of my favourite things...given that my favourite number is six. my first favourite thing is stitching...surprise, surprise!!! stayed tuned for further photos. hope your week was good!

beach moments

we went to the beach the other afternoon to celebrate a neighbours birthday. my son and I took a leisurely walk along the beach just on dusk and found some treasures in the sand. the pretty little shell came home with us and now sits on my verandah table in a bowl with other treasures we've collected from places we have visited. we left the fish skeleton at the beach!!!

saturday moments

this morning I went to have a massage. a lovely mother of one of the children I worked with last year gave it to me in appreciation before the end of last year...how wonderfully thoughtful. after the last few strenuous weeks in the garden it was pure bliss. then this afternoon I switched on the telly (still in laa laa land!) and watched a gorgeous movie ...Irma la Douce...with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon. the sets, the storyline, the costumes, the humour, everything was wonderful. I tried to embed a clip from youtube but my skills aren't up to that just yet, so here are some photos I found - click on the images to take you to the original websites.

summer cleaning

spent today cleaning my house...I hate housework but it does give me the chance to rearrange things and get rid of stuff that we've had for too long. today I finally put my coffee sets I've been collecting all together in one place on the dresser...I started my little collection by chance whilst op shopping. first there was one that caught my eye, then another, and another and before too long I realised I had a small collection! brown crockery is not something I'm too fond of but I like the forms of the pieces in these sets, especially the tall slender coffee pots, enough to buy them...and now they're together, with a few of my teapots and milk jugs, I think they look good!

still gardening...

I thought I would get lots of blogging done after getting the laptop back in order and being the holidays...however the gardening is taking over my life. I will have it under control before I go back to work...I will, I will, I will!!! after my early mornings and digging, weeding, pruning, planting and then the heat comes there's not much else happening around here. I have managed to organise myself though and opened a flickr account so I've been uploading some photos...hope you have time to take a look. a couple of photo from the archives for today - and yes they are from my garden in ealrier days

a moment to pause

yesterday after my early morning jaunt in the garden I went to my friend's place for a quick coffee and catch-up....and left many hours later in the afternoon! we had a lovely time chatting, eating, drinking coffee, looking at photos, reminiscing about past travel moments (together and separately), discussing the coming year and just enjoying each other's company. it was a lovely pause in what has been a busy time recently. thanks for a great day Rob!

summer moments

I've been spending a lot of my summer holiday gardening...out early in the mornings for a couple of hours before it gets too hot, and then an hour or so in the afternoon when it cools down again. my garden has been badly neglected these last several months. we had a flood in May 2009 then just as it seemed to be recovering we had a really big hail storm in October 2009 which turned everything to mush. very disheartening. so with the summer heat the weeds have run rampant and were taking over the place. but now I can start to see a little bit of order again and if I can go back to work at the end of the month with it all cleaned up I will be a very happy girl!

after early morning gardening I get to eat a nice breakfast and I turn into a bit of a fruit bat at this time of year! lovely summer fruits like mango, peaches, cherries, nectarines, plums, kiwi fruit, bananas, rockmelon, grapes, pawpaw.......mmmmm. yesterday I bought some lychees which had been marked down in price and as I sat eating some of these this morning I couldn't resist taking photos of the gorgeous colours and textures....inspiration for some textile work I think!

bundle moments

the bundles have been made, tied up and placed around my yard for the erosion project. I had great fun getting all the bits and pieces ready to put in them....fabric, paper, laces, rusty bits, beads, tags, wire, muslin....now I can't wait til it's time to open them up again! here are some pics for you to see what's inside each one and a photo to show you where they ended up in my yard...one up a tree, one under a pile of leaves, one in the dirt and one just sitting on top of the dirt in the garden under a tree.

erosion bundle project

I was reading about this project yesterday on Love Stitching Red and thought I would join in as well. today I will make my bundles and hang, bury, submerge or place my bundles in my yard. I did this on my own a couple of years ago with some fabric but as yet haven't made anything with it....being part of a group always spurs me on to finish things. I think I will make my bundles mixed media this time...and it's raining today so a good start! the link to the blog is on the right.

Happy New Year

it's been way too long since my last post...what's been happening? well quite a lot really but mainly my computer has been sick :( ......so before it was fixed a few days ago there was little time spent on it so it didn't get any sicker! but now it's been to the computer doctor and is feeling much better and hopefully after all the business of Xmas and New Year things may get back to normal around here and I can start posting again.

so for today I would just like to say Happy New Year everyone and I hope your Xmas was wonderful. we spent ours with friends which was lovely....so lucky to have friends who look after you when the going gets a bit tough. thank you for making our Xmas day special.

and for something pretty to begin the year here are some photos I took of a bunch of roses a friend gave me before Xmas....aren't I lucky?!

here's to a wonderful 2010 everyone.