In the garden -exploring, weaving, knitting

The weather's been sublime here, and apart from a few days of heavy rain, there's been warm bright sunshine and blue skies. Although I've had sewing to do,  it's just been too nice to be indoors, so I've been taking my knitting outside, letting the new girls out to explore and enjoyed the sunshine.

Spangly Lola

Busy Brenna ....she loves being out, and aggressively hunts worms and insects, from the ground and her nest mates.  I think she's going to be alpha  chicken.  She makes an amazing noise, somewhere between a honking goose and a mournful water fowl.

Speedy Lola....so much to do and see.

Betty........likes to check it all out first.

They have all settled in well, there's the occasional outraged squark during the day, as the older two continue to attempt to stake their claim to the henhouse, but it's mostly darting and chasing, no vicious attacks.  Sadly, this little one, Hildie,  didn't make it, I found her very listless in the coop one morning when I let them out, and despite bringing her indoors and keeping her warm, and eye droppering food and water into her, she died shortly after.  I think the others might have suffocated her, they haven't quite got the hang of roosting yet, and would get off and huddle together in a pile.  Hildie was probably on the bottom. She was a dear little girl, and was the first one to venture out into the yard, then followed me around peeping happily, sounding like R2D2, all beeps and whistles.

Rest in peace, Hildie

I had this garden loom made a while back, and have been enjoying weaving cuttings and prunings from the garden into it.  I saw one in a Living Crafts magazine a while ago, and was really taken with it. Go here to see the website of the family that make them, they're from northern Maine, and have such a respect and enjoyment of their garden.

I love how I can watch the shadows and light on it, changing and moving, keeping me in touch and mindful of the passing day, and then the seasons.  The structure itself is symbolic of our human experience and is a quiet reminder of the inner qualities of this experience and harmonising the whole.  The top beam represents the creator, or creative power, the vertical posts : 2 states of experience - being and doing; the angled pieces represent balanced communication: listening and talking; and the two horizontal weaving beams are for feeling...the lower one, close to the earth for grounding...and the higher...the head for thinking.

At dusk

Moon rise.

I love too that it's all made from left over timbers from when I had the back of the house renovated.  Those upright posts are the old stair supports, from when the house was built over 90 years ago, and now have a new lease of life watching over my garden. 

As we move into Spring, I'll start weaving wool, roving, and fabric scraps for the birds to take for their nests.  They already like to perch up on it, and there's often little groups sitting happily up there.  For now, I've planted some bulbs under it, and will plant flowers and herbs seasonally under and around it.  It makes me very happy.

....and the knitting? This week is NAIDOC Week , celebrating the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples and I've been knitting beanies in the indigenous colours, of black, red and yellow.  These will be given to the children who attend the local Women's Service Indigenous playgroup and after school activities, a very new venture for the area.  I've made 12, and have one on the needles, nearly finished, and since I didn't decide until midway through June that I'd take on this project, I'm rather pleased and relieved they're all done, and ready to hand out on Wednesday.  They range in size from one for a new baby, up to 12 year olds.   

I'm back out to enjoy the winter sunshine, finish that last beanie and do some stitching for Full Moon Art with Woman with Wings.

Enjoy your week.

Hen house hysterics

My chicken flock has grown from 2 to 6, overnight.  I made the long trek yesterday a couple of hours north of here to Julie Thompson's hatchery, where she sells heirloom breed chickens.  It was well worth the drive, as Julie was so warm and welcoming, and was very helpful and patient as I asked questions, looked, cuddled chickens, and then made my choices.  I live in suburbia, so Council only allows me to have 6 chickens, but this is plenty for me, and it gives each one plenty of space to grow and thrive. They're around 14-16 weeks, and will have to do a little more growing before laying.

Black araucana Betty.....just because it seems to suit her and Silver Spangled Hamburg Lola.  Lola is so fancy with her silver spangles, I thought she's a showgirl for sure.

Pekin Bantam Hildie - she looks like a nun, in her soft grey, so she's named after Hildegard of Bingen.  She already enjoys sitting in the crook of my arm and being carried around.

Australorpe........Brenna, it means raven haired in Gaelic.

I haven't had black chickens before, so this lot is a nice change.  They've settled in well, and getting used to dirt under their feet, wild birds calling raucously around them, and the freedom of a larger space.  It's been great fun watching them, and seeing their personalities emerge already.

Goodie and Juno

And these two, the old flock, have been very unsettled and noisy.  They weren't at all happy to emerge from their night time roost to find intruders in the pen.  I heard their loud protests, and the sun barely up, and had to pull my boots on and a jacket over my jammies, and head out quickly to undertake damage control, before I had neighbours complaining about the much too early Sunday morning racket.  The two flocks are separated for now, can look but not touch!  I'll give them a week or so, then start to integrate them.  It's the part I don't enjoy, someone always seems to end up being hen pecked and it's not always the newcomers.  I let these two out earlier than usual to free range, and have been weeding and turning soil in an area I want to plant up, hoping if they keep busy scratching around, they'll relax .......it's working, kind of...but there's still a lot of loud venting their displeasure, and nervous hysterics at every unusual noise. It will just take time and patience until all is harmonious in the hen house again.

I'm off out to enjoy the rest of this beautiful 23 degree sunshiney day, hope your day is full of cackles, good scratchings and sunshine too.

Back with the moon

I've been back from holidays for a couple of weeks now, but it's been hard to get back into blogging,  hard to be on the computer, when the sun's been shining quite hotly for autumn/winter, and the great outdoors is calling.  It's been pretty busy around here too, with visitors coming and going, garden beds to prepare and vegetables to get in the ground.  This is my best planting and growing season, and with good prep now I'll have a variety of vegetables that will take me through to summer, depending how quickly the weather heats up and the humidity increases.  But for now, chilly nights, sunny days and a decent amount of rain will ensure good growth.

Today, I'm joining Woman with Wings in her full moon Drawing down the Moon project. I've missed doing this the last couple of months, and it felt realy good to settle quietly yesterday and stitch.  I captured the  photo above early yesterday morning as the moon was setting, just before it disappeared behind the trees (shame about the power lines).  The mountain was beautifully tinged with rose as the rising sun hit it.  Just for interest's sake, that very tip of Mt Warning is the first easterly point of Australia that the sunrise hits....neat hey? 

I have stitched an almost transparent moon mirroring the moon above in the night sky, and drawing healing energy deep into the earth.

I've managed to work on other projects too ....

a small wallhanging for a swap

a nearly completed baby quilt 

First few dresden plates for a special 40th birthday quilt ....8 to go.....due later in the year

a fabric postcard for a friend's birthday

and some knitting

It's sunny today with a biting cold wind, my thoughts are with all the people further south who are experiencing wild weather and floods, let's hope it all blows out to sea soon, as predicted.

Mother's Day

A Happy Mother's day to all mothers, a happy day to all nurturers, whether of children, animals, plants, the planets or themselves.  A day where I pay homage to the mothers who have gone before me, the mothers who are still to come and to the Great Mother.

The sun's shining brightly here, I hope there's light and warmth where you are.

Away to the south

Following the workshops in the Blue Mountains, Sydney, I headed off to the south, met up with a friend and we took the ferry to Kangaroo Island, a large island 155 km long, and 55 kms wide, off the southern coast of Australia.  The majority of roads are unsealed, and driving on the gravel surfaces is like driving on small slippery marbles, or juddering your way across corrugated surfaces.  As the Island has an abundance of wildlife, caution is recommended when driving in the early morning, at dusk and at night, as some of the inhabitants are large, travel at speeds and can do terrible damage to a car...and the occupants!  Despite this, the Island has a wild natural beauty, and is a mixture of woodlands, open forests, fresh and salt lakes, spectacular coastal cliffs and mild glassy bays. 

For Carolin - Admiral's Arch on the SE coast....battered by strong seas and winds coming off the Antarctic.  A beautiful and idyllic view, but the smell was overpowering, as this sheltered cave and rocks are home to many seals, and after being hunted almost to extinction for their fur and meat, they are now a protected species.

 

 Nepean Bay, our own "private" beach 5 minutes from the beach cottage we rented.

 Duck Lagoon.....sadly no ducks left.  After seal hunting was stopped, the land was clear felled for farming, and the resulting erosion has caused salinity and poisoning of the inland waterways, resulting in dead and dying trees.

A rusty disused old still used to extract eucalyptus oil.......would love to have wrapped it in some cloth! 

 A local inhabitant....an echidna, who I narrowly missed squashing as he ambled across the road.  I stopped and followed it into the bush and stayed quiet and still until it felt safe and popped it's snout out to continue foraging.  It was about 30cm.....12 inches...long.

 Pelican feeding

Remarkable Rocks.........definitely!!

Nothing between here and Antarctica!

A beautiful old brick one room schoolhouse, built in the  mid 1800s.

....and look, I found a good pupil inside, who knew all the right answers!

There was so much to see and do on the Island, and I don't think we covered even half of it, but I thoroughly enjoyed what we did see and do.  Next, a change of landscape, and onto Broken Hill, a mining town out in the desert country of western New South Wales.

Mountain basketeering

I started the second Contextart workshop here in the Blue Mountains on Monday, and it finished today.  The tutors were Wendy Golden  and Jim Walliss, both with many years of basketry and teaching experience, and they not only generously shared their knowledge and skills with us, but were endlessly patient as well.  For me, it was a week of steep learning curves, and widely contrasting emotions, including tossing the basket across the verandah in frustration, a little foot stamping, and some rude words directed at the offending basket....as well as excitement and a sense of accomplishment when I "got it".   Most of the participants felt the same I think. The learning experience wasn't helped by very cold wet weather mid week, but the sun came out for us yesterday and today, and it finally felt like it was coming together for us by yesterday afternoon.

We started the week with some muehlenbeckia, a native creeper that we had to free form into whatever shape we wanted, or could manage....this definitely wasn't my forte, and neither of these finished forms are mine, which ended up looking like an Amazon's breastplate, and went back into the bundle for common use!

Day 2 we learnt to make a nice flate base of cane, and learning the techniques to build our basket, and shape it, gradually building up the sides.

 This is small, about 4 inches tall and is made up of cumbungi, a flat rush, tall spike rush, and finished with coloured cane.  I enjoyed making this, and found it easy to get into a weaving/twining rhythm. 

But then came the challenge...The Melon Basket!! 

Framework of twisted vines and cane with twining begun.

This is where I'm up to......this is a mixture of watsonia, meuhlenbeckia, banana, spike rush and the dark section I'm still weaving is gymea lily.

Busy Basketeers!

I'll have a quiet weekend now with my son and his partner, before heading off to Adelaide to meet up with a friend and some more holiday fun.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Dyeing in the Blue Mountains

I've been absent for a while as I was busy getting ready and organised to leave home for 3 weeks.

Katoomba sunset, looking down Megalong Valley

I've been staying with my son and his fiancee.in Katoomba while I'm attending workshops at the Blue Mountains Contextart Art Forum, held at the Korowal School in Hazelbrook.  Being able to enjoy these beautiful surroundings and spend time in the extensive gardens was a bonus of the workshops

Over the weekend I did eco-dyeing using plant material from the nearby bush, with Kirsten Ingmar and Trace Willans.  They have very different methods, but both were great tutors and I had good fun, made some lovely new friends..........hello Pat and Christine.......and learnt a lot.  

  Pat and I collaborated on leaf dyeing this cotton tshirt by the bundling method.  Trace showed us how to use egg yolk to enhance the colour and print on cotton, by adding protein to the fabric. This would work on any cellulose fibre....linen, bamboo, rame etc.  We dyed the tshirt in a pot of mountain devil...a local native plant...mordanted with copper.  Note the green on the neckline where the dye has reacted with  perfume on the shirt.

 Back view, love that great string line pattern

 Leaf detail

Close up of string line

I didn't take photos of the bundling and wrapping process, but Trace has a great tutorial on her blog if you'd like to try it.

I did these samples using various shibori style techniques and chemical mordants in a variety of plant based dyes.

 Pole wrapped silk dyed in mountain devil, copper mordant.  It's more a green than the picture shows.

 Shibori folded raw silk, clamped and dyed between wooden blocks in bark with a copper mordant.

Silk georgette bundled with coreopsis flowers, dyed in onion skins with an alum mordant

Highlights of the two days

I'll be back again to post about the basketry workshop I'm doing all this week with Wendy Golden.