Fibre-fever page and photography class

This year I have joined the Fibre-fever group, swapping a fabric book page with another member each month. This month my swap partner was Ritva from Finland, whose chosen theme is Art Nouveau/Jugend. That sent me off to Google to do some research. I am familiar with Art Deco, but I had not heard of Art Nouveau before. The movement started in the late 1800s and lasted to about the First World War. I hope this picture has captured the idea of the fluidity of the movement - I went back to my applique techniques which I haven't used for years and years.
Twenty years ago, I was making lots of appliqued pieces, but then I started experimenting with free machine embroidery and all the rest of the newer (to me anyway) textile techniques, and I have been too lazy to go back to applique. It is a bit like quilting in that it is very unforgiving if you make a mistake, so there can be lots of unpicking involved!
We had the last of our photography classes yesterday and made a visit to our local Marina to test our skills.

This lighthouse used to be located in the Percy Island group not far off Mackay. It was the last operational keresone powered lighthouse in Australia, but was closed down in 1985 when the Federal Government converted all the lighthouses to automatic lights. The lighthouse has been moved to the Marina and has been restored to full working order, but is not turned on very often. If you click on any of the photos they should enlarge for you.

These are some of the very expensive yachts moored in the marina. This photo is a bit busy, but we were experimenting with different locations and techniques. After we had all taken various photos which our tutor had asked for, we retired to the coffee shop for refreshment and he put our collections up on his laptop computer for us to see what we had done right ans wrong! I think I have leant quite a bit from these few lessons - not least how to navigate my manual and understand what it is actually saying a bit better. Sometimes I think these manuals for new techological gadgets are designed to confuse us completely!

We has showers again overnight, but a fine windy day today and we now have two concrete slabs in our back yard. Jock is confined indoors much to his disgust - we don't fancy doggy footprints across the concrete. I am beginning to be hopeful we will be able to plant two trees early next month rather than having to wait till spring. The builder says they will be finished before the end of the month - three cheers!