Merry Christmas to all my lovely friends out there in blogland. Wishing you all, special times, making memories with those you love.

I shall see you in the new year.

Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx

Blogging Break

 Hello friends and fellow stitchers. I am taking a small blogging break to rest and recover and navigate my way through the recent passing of my beloved husband.

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx

October

 Good morning everyone. Australia has once again been lashed by heavy rains and flooding.....I hope you are safe wherever you are. I really feel for those whose homes have been affected.....some still recovering from the last episode. My little corner of the world so far, has only had to deal with overcast days with the occassional shower. Apparently this is supposed to change this week.

And here's me deciding that I would like to embark upon another slow stitching fabric book decicated to Mother Nature! I am not sure what it is that I find so addictive about this kind of project....but I do!

I have completed the cover...or I think I have......it's hard ro know when to stop!

The other thing I have been keen to try was dying sections of fabric with my watercolour pencils.  I used them on my Sunshine page.....around the sun and in the garden at the bottom....I am also keen to try some more stamping on fabric.

I don't want bright garish colours, more colour washes and I was quite pleased with the result.....I am trying another smaller piece for a moon block. I had a test piece left over from the greens I had used and it seemed to say eucalyptus leaf .....so I featured it in exactly that on another page.

My only dilemma is how many pages is too many? I am going to join the pages back to back with a folded piece of fabric between them to act as a spine. I didn't like the way my work got creased in the other fabric book I made when closed.....anyway I will see how that goes when I decide enoughs enough lol!

This months tag Roulette is still in the pondering stage. So nothing to share yet.

I am not a fan of Halloween but when my littlest Granddaughter handpicked some fabrics and asked me to make her some table centres....I caved! Well you just do don't you lol! I am excited to see her reaction when she picks them up.

She recently lost her little black cat to a congenital heart problem. She was only 2 years old. Miss E was quite devastated about it. I made one with the cat fabric and a regular black frame......so she can put the black cat one out all year in her bedroom to remind her of Willow. I have stitched her a little Annie Downs mini stitchery to sit on top as well when I find a frame.

Ages ago I began a Kantha or Kwandi style project (I am never sure which is the correct term)....which consists of scrap pieces of fabric overlapped and quilted with a heavy running stitch to hold it all together....I Youtubed how to a bit and Anorina from Samelias Mum blog was also an inspiration. My result is far from perfect even a bit wonky but I kind of like that effect overall. I think its a nice project for a table runner. It was slow but very relaxing to work on.

Art wise I have been battling on with my little dancer......my friend and mentor Sandra gave me the advice that I really needed to bite the bullet and really blacken the background as it's supposed to be the backstage blackout and the dancer wouldn't pop until I did! Well let me tell you how scary that is to do when you have hours invested in your efforts to date.....I kept telling myself its only paper and dived in! Eeekkk!

Made such a difference and now I can finally move forward with the dancer ....thankfully I have a pretty bird coming up as a bit of respite from this gal!

So between visits to my husband each day my hands have kept my mind busy for which I am extremely grateful.

Oh and I have a little black visitor keeping me company.....who is pining for his family as he usually does.....he just doesn't get that he is too big to be a lap dog! Staffies get a bad rap but he is the sweetest, sookiest little chappie ever!

I adore when our Native shrubs and trees put on their best finery each year. I snapped this beauty when I was out and about recently. There was a whole stand of about six of them....glorious display! 

The bees were loving gathering all that pollen too. 

I think that's about me caught up folks....take care all.

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx 

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 budding 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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