Learning new tricks

I have been looking at the free online courses offered by Maggie and Lynda and Carol for people who bought the books Stitches, Straps and Layers and Stitching the Textured Surface. I don't have anything much to show from the exercises, but these baby wipes were used to colour some pages and I have now put them to another use to make a new mobile phone cover for me. I am continually amazed at the altenate uses textile artists find for products. I ran these through the embellisher with some other silk fibres laid out on top, all covered by a chiffon scarf, then some free machine embroidery added. I lined it with some hand dyed silk. I am not sure how practical the case will be after being shoved in and out of the pocket of my jeans, but I can always make another one.

I would love to keep playing, but my life seems to be governed by appointments at present - the doctor, the dentist, the chiropractor, the podiatrist, even the hairdresser. Then I had to wait for the plumbers to arrive..............aaargh!!! Only a week till we go away again, some clothes still need to be altered, etc etc so I think playtime will happen when we return.

Of course one small dog needs a lot of attention as well - my workroom floor is the tidiest it has ever been when I am working in there. Anything left on the floor is trundled off to places unknown, or shredded into many pieces, or just thoroughly chewed! All the waste paper baskets in the house live up high, as does the potato basket. For some reason, he loves pinching a potato and just sits there mouthing it. Bill's boots are still the most favourite though - I am quite happy about that, Bill now puts them away instead of leaving them where they were taken off!

These next photos are loaded in the wrong order but no matter. I take Jock walking (on a lead) through the Botanic Gardens most days and these are some of the things we have seen. Jock was fascinated by the moorhens scrabbling around. They flick their tails as they walk, showing a very irridscent blue patch under their tail - which of course has not shown up here.

This is a bunch of flowers on the Illawarra Flame tree (brachichyton acerifolius). This tree is making a brilliant show of flowers while still covered in green leaves. Usually they have dropped all their leaves before the flowers come, but I like this as the contrast shows much better. These trees are native to the East coast of Australia as far south as Sydney and I love them.

If you click on the picture it should enlarge to give you a clearer view.

These grass trees (Xanthorrhoea johnsonii) make a spectacular show at the boundary of the Gardens. We used to call them black boys, but that is not allowed any more. The honey eaters and parrots love the nectar in the tall spikes. The trees are extremely slow growing and are protected in the wild. Some of these specimens would be around 200 years old.

Till next time, Cheers.