Good morning from my little sunshiney corner of the world. I  am so enjoying the warmer days....although a bit of the wet stuff has been around too. I think September and October are my favourite months of the year......warm but not yet drowning in humidity!

My Clivias are brightening the corners of my garden at the moment. Even the reluctant ones are bussing up! I look forward to them each Spring. My photos don't do the bright orange blooms justice.

As I have now finished my Applecores and need to attach them to some borders....

I needed another hand stitching project to do whilst I visit with my hubby. Having enjoyed making my girls framed hexie runners I thought that would be just the thing. 

Do you have lovely bits of fabric that you just can't bear to cut through? Me too! So I decided for the hexies to do some fussy cutting where I could to highlight some of these treasures.

I have a nice little piece slowing growing and it is so pretty.....some pieces are also friends gifted treasures also. I like that it is easy portable even as it grows, it will fold easily into my sewing bag.

It does extend off the table too. I thought I would try the cream frames instead of a dark one and I quite like them. 

Recently I made a long coveted purchase with encouragement from my hubby......a box of gorgeously smooth Swiss Carandarche Luminance pencils......they are so creamy *sigh

I tried them out on a new project.....a human....yes you heard me correctly NOT a critter! I am not really interested in portraits as such but do like a figure. So that's my challenge for myself.....hoomans as my Granddaughter says!

They go beautifully with my Faber-Castell polychromos pencils. The background is however giving me a great deal of grief and frustration.....It was black in the reference photo and I wasn't keen.....anyway I need to get it sorted so as to continue with the skin tones correctly!  Ah well I did want to challenge myself lol!

I was much more at home with my Rainbow Bee-eater from North Queensland. And I am now calling it finished. So happy to have managed a drawing from the terrible reference photo I had. Frustratingly they are so lightning fast to photograph and Mr. R. tried very hard to capture an image for me.

We had such a fun time.....hilarious at times......hubby was accused of spying on fellow campers with his big camera as he hid behind trees attempting to get a photo for me lol! To say he was mortified is an understatement! So its a very happy memento for me. The photo below is what we ended up with......

Well time for me to go. Another day of savage enjoyment awaits. 

Take care all.

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx 

September

 Spring has arrived. National Wattle Day also and I for one am glad to have some sunnier days.....it always cheers me.

Catching up friends has been a special treat. Something I have been missing so much.....a lovely lunch at a nice Cafe, lots of lovely chat and a delicious gift of plump luscious strawberries from one of  our Bay area strawberry farms from my friend Sandra....oh my the sweet aroma was something else.

Sue (kiwikidstitching) came to town in a flying visit and I was delighted to be able to spend some time with her. I took her to visit one of my favourite spots....the Mt Cootha Botanical gardens.....first stop on our wander was the tropical dome.....I think its beautiful! We even were treated to a swim by and tail swish from the resident fish.

Tropical beauties were popping out blossoms....

I do love a pop of orange! 

Spring was showing its face everywhere....

Sculptures throughout the gardens always delight and surprise.....

This bloke definitely deserved a pat! Water Dragons are everywhere throughout the gardens....we even encounted a couple of amorous males getting snappy trying to impress the girlies.

After a cuppa and sustenance we even managed a browse through a  lovely little art exhibition....sorry no pics..and then a quick drive up to the top of Mt Cootha lookout for some views over Brisbane town.

Sue bought me a delicious brownie to enjoy later.....which I did! I also saved a piece to share with hubby.

She also spoiled me with a lovely tea towel featuring one of my favourite Aussies, our wombats and favourite Aussie designers, a belated birthday gift.....sorry I should have pressed it lol! I LOVE it!

Amazing how much enjoyment you can fit into a quick visit with lovely company......

My sweet  Grandie girls have had some musical fun lately.....Miss E. enjoying her drums at a special musicfest!

And I had a lovely time watching Miss C in her dance concert.....

I love seeing my Granddaughters loving and embracing life! 

Ok sewing? September Tag Roulette is complete....we revisited tags No. 2 Heart, No. 11 Wrapped Rings and No. 36 Straight stitching over a scrap of fabric.

I chose a little linen heart with a crown and date to mark the passing of our Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II this month. I will add a white rose but I have run out of white thread.

I didn't do the wrapped rings but stitched blanket stitch rings instead as I didn't want anything not flexible as my piece will become a spool wrap. A piece of lovely French General selvage was my fabric scrap.

With Postcard stitching done I finished all the little stitcheries for Letter to My Daughter quilt. 

I am also sewing some of them and little hexie flowers in place.

Last postcards are on the finished pile...

Spring has also shown itself in my garden. My Sydney King Orchid is in flower....

Not as many flowerspikes as previous years but I am still very happy to see it bloom.....it always amazes me at the size of the teeny tiny individual orchids on each spike!

My reliable Clivia is beginning to the bloom while the other clumps are ignoring the fact it's Spring. They do the same every year!

Well folks it seems I have written another novella and I thank you for reading it all lol!

I'll leave you with the Clivia envy I had at the Botanical gardens. 

Take care until next time. 

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx 

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 Hello folks, 2 posts in the one month....my goodness! I thought the fact that my husband and I celebrated our golden anniversary this month was cause to mark the occassion. As he wasn't allowed real bubbles we swapped for some ginger beer in our best crystal glasses and his request.....Belgian chocolate cake with fancy plates and serviettes. 

It seems like yesterday that this was us.....

But so blessed we got to celebrate together although in a much simpler form than we had planned.....the photo above is my absolute favourite wedding photo of us.

Our littlest Granddaughter finally got to have her belated birthday party....due to covid, moving house Etc. Etc. Just had to share this phenomenal cake made by DD friend.....

Don't you just love how clever people are.....Miss E. Didn't quite know where to put the knife in to cut it lol!

As you can see she is a cat fan and celebrated at the Cat Cafe....with real furries and all things feline!

On the stitching front I have 3 more postcards to add to the pile....

The 3rd one has a little tale....you can see there is a rooster in the corner?? We were sightseeing all of the waterfalls in the area.....stopped at one called Elinjaa falls. We were then harrassed by a rooster in the carpark....it was hilarious.....nobody for miles....so just had to add him!

Here is our cranky mate and his girlfriend!

We did concede the falls were something to crow about lol!

Heartstrings is finally all hand quilted and bound ......

Label is on.....I used a sweet doiley gifted to me from friend Julie....and that's all I can show you until we reveal our little quilts for Sunday Stitchers! 

Augusts #tagroulettehannemade is done....

This month we revisted tags 9, 24 and 48.

No. 9 - A gift given. I used pearls and commerated our golden wedding anniversary....my dress was embellished with ribbon and pearls.

No. 24 - was tatting which you can see above.

No 48 - was sheath stitch....

Hope I have enough room for 4 more months....

My Rainbow Bee-eater is slowly progressing.

Lots more darks to go in......something I always have trouble being brave about!

As you know I am a proud member of the Queensland Wildlife Artists Society. Covid nearly saw us fold but some hard-working and dedicated members have kept us a float. It was decided before all the world went crazy we would update our name badges.

Mine arrived in the post last week.....love it!  Especially as it features my favourite bird the Pale-headed Rosella....

It means so much to me....not in an egotistical way.....to see ARTIST next to my name. It's all I ever wanted to be since childhood. When people asked me as a child what did I want to be when I grew up, it was always my answer! But never thought it possible because I only liked to draw and not particularly paint. And artists only painted so I thought....but here we are. Making art with coloured pencils. Makes my heart very happy. 

There is a saying "When the student is ready the teacher will appear" and that definitely happened to me.....you are never to old to see a dream come true.

Well enough of this high brow palaver....I have a busy day ahead.....organising a hospital visit for my hubby.

An art friend shared this with us and it gave me a giggle.....

You just need to know your colour wheel lol! Oops!

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx