Various bits and pieces

This is the fabric page I made for Claudia for September.  Her theme is landscapes.

This is the photo I was trying to interpret in needlefelting, with a  bit of free machine embroidery added to it.  This is a photo of the Moree plains in northern New South Wales - not very far from wher I grew up.  We drove through the area on our trip to Sydney last year and I have been looking at the photo ever since thinking I should do something about it!

This is a silk paper pocket made from directions in an article of Jill Amanda Kennedy in Quilting Arts Gifts

magazine.  I love the colours and I know my niece for whom I made it loves those colours as well.  I think I may make a few more of these to send to the souvenir shop.  They are easy and fun - well it was easy after I resorted to the sugar and lemon juice treatment for my gardening hands!  I used several types of hand cream, but the fibres kept catching on my fingers, so I put a spoonful of sugar in the palm of my hand, then squeezed some lemon juice onto it (over the sink of course) and rubbed away like mad.  My grandmother always kept a piece of lemon near the washing up things and did this when she had finished.  It is brilliant, acts like sandpaper and gets your hands as smooth as can be.  Some of the old remedies are still the best.

I have been reading about gelatin prints in several blogs so decided I might give it a go.  I am quite pleased with these as my first attempt.

The ones above are both on fabric, but the positive image below is on paper, just a bit of maiden hair fern from my garden, quite effective though.

Time to go out into the garden.  We are having the most glorious weather, rain is forecast for tomorrow, but I am not sure I believe the forecast so I shall do a bit of watering before we go off to the family for a barbecue dinner.