Learning Blackwork

This is my first foray into blackwork   blue work??


Well the technique is blackwork, and thank you to my ever patient tutor, Shirley from “Stitches and Life”.  I have just started on a sampler piece and trying different variations. Decided to do it in blue as some years ago Shirley started me on drawn thread work and the edging on this piece of lugano is all I ended up doing!!  Typical!  The Blackwork is very addictive and very fun.  Thank you for starting me off, Shirley (and feeding and coffeeing me).
                                         
Miniature pink rose on my dressing table                                            Peach rose in hand made pottery by my
                                                                                                       Aunty – Heather Russell
.If only you could smell these roses – deeevine.

Almost Summer

This is a lovely time of year in the garden here.
    
Our scraggy old cactus didn’t disappoint and there were a couple of flowers left when we got home. They only last 24 hours.  Typical of most cacti  the flower is stunning.

The star jasmine was in full bloom too.
For me, it is wise to get out in the garden early in the morning or after sun down in the evening.  Usually, at this time of the evening is when I am preparing dinner, so I have pledged to get out there for an hour early in the morning each day – well those days when I am not going out socializing.
This morning I was a little late getting into it due to the fact that our beloved Bella had to have her annual haircut.  Poor Bella is about 12 years old now and her back legs are a bit dicky with arthritis.  A bit of a handful to get in and out of the car.  She wasn’t too keen on going in for her salon treatment either.  Kept heading for the front door of the place!
                             
Bella ‘before’                                                                    Bella ‘after’ – with little green ribbons in her hair.
My friend, Shirley, is back from her little sojourn ‘down at the farm’ and she brought me back some floral gifts.  Thank you Shirley – she knows how much I love flowers.  She also gave me some cuttings to put in our garden.
                   
Agapanthus & November Lily                              Yellow roses and daisies – apricot ones are from my garden.

Back from Outback

We went back o’ Bourke - and beyond -  where the crows fly backwards!!  The weather treated us very kindly and there was only one day where it reached about 40 deg. and that was in the Strzelecki Desert – so to be expected!

(Mr Virgo in the Strzelecki Desert – very, very hot day)

Lake Eyre was an amazing, awesome sight.  We did a short plane flight over, and the lake showed us all of it’s different faces.  It has about 30% water in it right now and that is fast evaporating.  It will, without rain in the catchment areas, become once again a salt pan. 

(Different views of Lake Eyre – taken from the aeroplane window – and, yes, the water is really pink/purple in places.)

(This is the very small aircraft we went over the lake in – Yikes!)

We camped in our tent for 12 nights, and I can tell you it was sheer bliss to get back into our own bed on Monday night  having had a long hot shower.  Even so, it was so much fun being out there and experiencing nature close up.  Too close up one night when our campsite became an attraction to hoards of desert mice.  EEK, I have a phobia of mice and rats, so you can imagine what sort of night I had in the tent.  Poor Mr Virgo was awakened every so often and at every slight noise to check the tent for mice. We had curry and rice for dinner and some of the rice had spilt onto the ground.  This is what attracted them.  Funny now looking back, and I am wondering what other campers (in caravans) were thinking when I was shrieking.

(Me – feet up on chair – terrified look on face – and oblivious to the mouse right under me, thankfully)

 

(Flowers in the desert and outback – if you recognize any as weeds – sorry, weeds can have nice flowers too!)

Inspiration from nature was abounding. The desert has come to life with all sorts of plant life, especially after rains earlier in the year.  The lake’s unique landscape and colours was also a great source of inspiration.  I just want to find some time now to do an art quilt or two!!

Hitting the Road again -

We are hitting the road and heading outback again.  This time we are going far, far west to look at Lake Eyre while it has water in it.  Referred to as our great inland sea you can read more about Lake Eyre – HERE.
It is sure to be an amazing sight.  We are doing a small flight over the lake to view it from the air and see where all the rivers flow into it.  I am very excited !!!!  Of course half the fun of it will be the journey to and from.  There will be a bit of bush camping to be done too.  This time I am okay with it. 

This shows you how far we are travelling, but we are not going this way – we are going more direct west.  I just couldn’t get google maps to change for me.  We are travelling the Strzelecki track from Innamincka.  The track is through desert country and quite isolated, so one has to inform the police or locals at Innamincka before embarking, and contact them once you have arrived at your destination. It is going to be quite an adventure.               

At home, the blooms are slowly starting to appear.  Our star jasmine is resisting flowering – must be due to the coolish weather we have had this spring.  Usually it is in full glorious bloom by now.
However here is what is around the garden.

Bouganvillea – colour chosen by my hubby – good choice.

Our mandarine tree has been loaded with fruit this year – very sweet

Yellow rose in full bloom.

Grevilleas have loved the rain and the cooler weather.  Colours are deep and beautiful.

This ugly cactus has the most beautiful flower.  Hope it is flowering when we get home.
There may be a little internet connection here and there on the trip, but for the most part we will be technology free.
Back soon…………………..

The Humble Cooked Chook

I don’t know about other bloggers, but I am sick of the cooked chooks we buy from the supermarket and the take away chicken stores.

They are overloaded with salt (no good for my hubby with his high BP) and sometimes the flesh is so dry, and other times it is just mushy.

So…..I have decided to cook my own whenever I can. 

I bought a lovely big plump chicken - fresh from the supermarket  - and did my own stuffing  - and, the result was a scrumptious moist chicken with a lovely flavour.

Here are the steps I used.

Some left over crusts I had in the freezer.  Processed until fine breadcrumbs. (Stale white bread without the crusts is better)

Some left over bits of onion  and some dried mixed herbs.  Fresh herbs would be better, but alas my herb garden is non-existent at present.  Process the onions with the breadcrumbs.

Add a little salt, a grinding of black pepper and about 1/4 teasp white pepper.

The processed crumbs and onion with herbs and seasonings added.

Add some hot water til the bread mix is firm and form into a log.

Stuff into poor old girl. (you know where**) Mine had a split at the top of the leg.  Perfect for putting a dab of butter into.

‘Sew’ opening up with a metal skewer. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.

I decided to truss this ol girls legs together as she was looking most uncomely.

I cooked mine in my Mum’s old electric frypan circa 1979.  It is much nicer in the oven, but I was in a hurry and with the lid on this one, it kind of steams it through.  You may like to use an oven bag if using the oven.  The potatoes and pumpkin done in this old frypan with the chicken were just really yummo.

Forgot to take a picture of the meal before we gobbled it up.  The meat was so tender and moist and the stuffing was to die for.  Will definitely be cooking my own as much as possible.

Embellishing - A Desert Landscape

Last weekend was our quilt retreat.  It was so much fun and their was a lot of laughter as friends got together and got the endorphins pumping.

Some of our ladies enjoying the retreat.

Of course, some sewing was done.  One of the highlights of the retreat is the homemade goodies table.  It was groaning this year and there were some lovely delights to be savoured.  Some I tried – (and everything was home made) .  Rocky road, French biscuits called madelines, (thank you Nelly), apple cinnamon cake, lemon coconut slice, shortbread creams, cherry and ginger slice (by me) and lots more.  My hips have spread as a result!!

When I went to the textile fair in Brisbane a few months ago, I entered a competition to win an embellisher.  Alas, I was not the winner, but instead a friend of mine, Linda, won it.  She already had an embellisher and knowing that I wanted one, she offered hers up for sale to me.  Of course I snapped it up.

(My new embellisher – note map underneath which hubby has spread out to plan our next trip)

Four ladies brought along their embellishers to retreat and Linda kindly showed us some ways to use it.  She did us all up a little pack of fibres to use.  Some of them she has dyed or painted herself.  A very talented lady.  Thank you Linda.

Linda

This is what I did as my landscape project.  It is inspired by the country we saw on the edge of the Simpson Desert when we went on our road trip in July. 

Linda said we could now go ahead and embellish our piece with beads, stitch etc. 

The embellisher is so much fun and I can see I will be doing a lot more in the future.

Friends

Sometimes special friends come into our lives and I truly believe they are sent to us to learn lessons and humility.  So with this in mind, I have added this cute badge about friends to my sidebar which I picked up over on Paisley Cat.  They have some really beaut pages, badges etc. so do pay them a visit. 
My friend, Shirley, came into my life around 20 years ago and we have learnt much from each other, but she has truly taught me a lot about life  (and embroidery VBG).  It was her birthday on Monday, so yesterday I took her shopping and to lunch.  We had a lovely day out together with no stress, nothing to rush home for, so we could just enjoy the day.
We were excited to find Murray’s art supply and framing shop had moved into lovely new premises in the main street, so we simply had to check it out.
We made a few small purchases and of course Shirley being Shirley had to try her new goodies out straight away. 

She thought she needed brushes………ahem

This her current supply, but never mind, the new ones will not go astray!!
Have a great year ahead, Shirley.  Looking forward to seeing what she creates with her new art supplies.