My friend Angela has been quilting her old embroideries and the latest one is quite stunning. It was a cross stitched embroidery stitched by her late mother-in-law, so it held special memories. She turned it, from an embroidered table runner
To a stunning work of art by mounting it on a background and then quilting it.
This is then an heirloom for future generations. What a wonderful way of transforming a piece of embroidery.
The island is full of holiday makers including my grand daughter Jasmine, who is staying with me for a couple of days. She made pancakes for breakfast but hasn't learnt about cleaning up just yet.
She has finally got the hang of crochet and is busy making hats for her dolls one of which is my knitted izzie dolls. She choose the colours of the wool and said "how long will it take?".
I sat up late and knitted it over night.
The look on her face made it well worth the effort.
I think I might try to knit elf ears on some dolls and I'm thinking hobbits as well.
My 10 year old grand daughter Jasmine has been in my ear.
"Grandma do you think that you might take a stall at the Xmas markets and then I might be able to sell some of things I have been making."
This one loves making. Be it art, sewing or cooking and she is at the top of her class at school as well. A little force of nature. (She also has a pet snake!!!) So, I rang my daughter to see if she would join us with her leather work and we will take a stall at the Coochiemudlo Island Christmas Markets.
Oh, there is so much planning to do...
We took a short trip to have lunch at the Polish Restaurant at Mt Tamborine.
This is how it looks on a clear day.
When we got there we were sitting above the clouds.
But it was cold and there has been heavy rain around. Luckily they had a lovely warm fire in the dinning room.
It has been some time since we have visited. The whole place burned down a few years ago. They lost a priceless collection of embroidered costumes, which they have replaced with machine embroidered pieces.
And millions of dollars worth of ancient amber from the Baltic. They could never replace either of these but have started making Amber pieces again.
By the time we had eaten lunch the weather had rolled in.
This place is known for the birds that visit, especially the Rainbow Lorikeets, who can be a bit "pushy" at times.
A family visiting from overseas obviously didn't know their reputation and gave them food.
The baby was eating as fast as she could so that the birds wouldn't get her food!
It was a nice outing and we finished the day with a short bush walk through the rain forest.
It was a nice outing but too many people and too much noise. I was glad to get back to the peace of the island.
Amanda is Kates younger sister. Her youngest son has carried the family gene and has type 1 diabetes. She also is an artist, starting out designing and making jewellery. Now she draws, paints and together with her partner is raising three children. She posts her work on her instagram page.
I am going to have to put my name on the list of buyers to get some of her work.
I made a hexigon quilt back when my daughter was still at school. Every saturday I would watch her play soccer and hand stitch hexigons. I forgot about how many I stitched and in the end had enough for a Queen sized quilt. I had it on the bed in the guest bedroom and it has always been one of my favourties.
When we sold the house I put it on my bed in the townhouse. My daughter was living there doing her PHd at the time and unbeknown to me her dog, Chester, must have got into my room and slept on my bed. Trouble is he didn't only sleep, he peed on my quilt. I didn't discover this until last week when the weather turned cold and I got the quilt out to put on the bed in town. There was this terrible yellow stain on my quilt.
Chester has been dead for a few years now, so the quilt has sat in the draw 'fermenting'. I brought it home to the island to try and rescue it. I started with washing, no difference, then soaking, but, no difference, I added bleach, no difference. Finally I made a paste of bleach and Sarb fabric stain remover and painted it onto the white fabric, not the floral. Now, it hasn't taken all the stain out and if you look closely you can see it but I think I have saved the quilt.
I didn't realise how attached to this quilt I am. I had always thought of it being handed on as a heirloom and all that hand stitching!
I bet Chester is saying, "What me?"
(Still love you Chester.)
These are some more shots of Mowong beach, this time with Nugget. He is my son's dog and is completely loveable, but no brains, except when there is food around.
He is most unhappy because he would like to be swimming with my grand daughters but on this beach he has to be on the leash.
Still, we took him to the dog off the leash beach later in the day. This day was for the girls to enjoy the swimming without that annoying dog.
Back at Xmas 2021 my present from a group member, Debbie, didn't arrive. Debbie's husband has motor neuron disease and she had more important things to think about than my present. But last week at our meeting there was my present and I just love it.
This little bag holds my coffee cup and other odds and ends.
The lining was a challenge fabric that had to be included in the present and I don't think I would like anything else in it's place.
It is a simple pattern but works super well. I might make some more as gifts and I am thinking of how I might add some embroidery.
Up before dawn to attend the ANZAC service.
This year with a war in Europe I think of all those men who are fighting. I also remember my father who fought in WW2. He died at 55 years of age. The war had taken his health and his peace of mind. Once again history is repeating itself.
Lest We Forget.
I came across this old photo of a childhood friend taken in front of my Mother's vegetable garden. Roslyn died last year from cancer and because the borders were closed I was unable to see her before she passed.
I had forgotten what a pretty young girl she was, with deep red hair. Her father always called me "Carolina". I think she would have been about 12 or 13 when this photo was taken. I remember all of those plants. The peach tree, the tomatoes, peas, beans, strawberries, potatoes. We never got big crops because my sister would eat most of the produce off the vines before we could get to them.
I have been doing some research regarding a brass slab from the 1400's and have found a wonderful book on line regarding these. It is called Monumental Brasses and Slabs by Charles Boutell. I am sure there is a ton of inspiration in the images in this book along with the great explanation regarding the meanings of the images.
Another book that I think has the best images is from 1849 and is titled "The monumental Brasses of England" by the same author, Rev. Charles Boutell, M.A.
Both books are freely available on-line. My mother's first name was Joyce and it came as a surprise to find that this is an old name from the 1400's. I still have to work out why the women are depicted with a small dog and the men with what looks like a little lion. A good number of the plates have small animals in them, which is an interesting source for design. I have lots of images of stained glass which compliment these. Great resource for portraits. I don't know what to start with faces or animals!
Some more loot from my trip. I found some lovely pieces of Tilda fabric.
These are going to make a shoe bag for my new winter boots that have a woolly linning.
I might also have enough fabric to make a new mug bag for the mug I bought at the Op-shop. The colours will match.
And I found a rain jacket. The same make as the one I wore for over 20 years when I went hiking only this time it is a fashionable colour and not navy and has it's own carry bag.
Besides the lovely bag my friend gave me I also received another little bundle of goodies.
I haven't decided just what to make with these. I had better start making things I think.