where does my time go?

 I have been working away at this applique quilt for the past year. I bought the kit from the craft fair from a local lady Hugs and Kisses.  I think I have done well getting this far in my first quilt. I have re found my love of hand sewing. But I still have a long way to go before it is finished so spinning and knitting will have to wait.

And then I have been doing some natural dyeing with the four o'clock flower.( I think it is mirabilis jalapa) The leaves were given to me from the medieval garden housed at our botanical gardens. This was one of the early dyes used in England which had been brought back from south America, Peru I think. I had read a PHD paper written on the subject but I was very disappointed as I was hoping for a nice pink colour. From the left I used no mordant, next three had alum and the last two had copper. the far right is a mix of native Tasmanian plants I had thrown together from left over pots. The alum wool did not take at all even though the water was looking strong. Maybe I will have another go next time the plants are pruned.

a quick felting note

 I have been playing around with making felt flowers. I will have to finish these two off with some central beads or stamens.

 And I had to add this lovely lady, made by one of the other Tassie felters, JustJan, What a beautiful doll, and wearing a felt jacket.

native orchids

 While wandering in the bush at our place I came across these little gems.
They were growing in a hollow on a rock . Please forgive my finger in the photo but it was all I had to show how small these native orchids are. Nothing much may be growing in my garden but these seem to be doing very well all by themselves.

more snow photos

 You cant have snow without making a snow angel

The skull beanie kept my son warm, but the chicken was a bit unsure of what to do.

a day of snow

 Much fun was had yesterday as we woke to a blanket of snow across our place. Snow very rarely falls and settles here so it was very exciting for everyone. The snow fell as low as to settle on some of the nearby beaches. I'm not so sure that my plants were as happy about it as we humans were.

 My netted orchard almost snapped under the weight of the snow, a few branches from the apricot tree did get broken off. But what a fantastic sight.

felting fun

I have been having lots of fun felting lately. Each month I go along to the Tassie felters group and we try out new techniques and have some fun.

Above is one of my cracked mud pieces and below is my felted picture, before embellishment.

And below is the same picture after I added some embellishment and on the left is some homework from the group. We were all given small pieces of felt in various colours and shapes and we had to come up with a finished piece. Mine is the circle of life. Who would have thought felting was so much fun.

I took a little trip to Melbourne to visit my daughter who is there for University. While we were walking near her house we came across these birds enjoying themselves. I tried to get an action shot but they only decided to move each time I put my camera down.