Red Letter day at Willunga library

Was asked to come into the Willunga library this morning to participate in showing the people involved in getting the NBN to Willunga that it actually works and that some of the locals(me, for instance) are benefiting from free tuition kindly provided by the govrnment. Helen the librarian has been able to get me started on this blogging thing, and I must admit it is fun and if I am not careful it may become addictive. we managed to get a photo inserted as well so will have a go at getting one in for this post It has been quite warm today and trimmed some of the shrubs which have been looking at me.The chooks are at last looking less scruffy with their winter feathers in place.The willy wagtail male has his white breeding eyebrows showing and I noticed the crested pigeons were belting each other up as though defending some prime nesting site in the ash tree.It is always a surprise to hear the loud belting seemingly gentle pigeons give each other and they can go on for hours doing this.What with the bottle brush flowering you wonder what is going on..climate change of course, in May?

Saturday So,instead of going out we stayed home and I cleaned and tidied my knitting room.There are empty surfaces again! It is amazing how quickly they fill up with books or swatches half cones of yarn and part balls of weaving -in yarn. Swatches seem a major problem for me, I can't bear to throw them out and I fully intend to do something creative with them but never do...yet... It was a lovely day today and I looked for the tawny frog mouths but couldn't see them, yet on late dusk,there was one flew on the jasmin trellis where they very often come in the evening, so I will have another look tomorrow.The bottle brush is flowering halfheartedly which is the wrong time of the year ofcourse, but then the fig tree has small fruit on it and that too is out of season.The willy wag tails have made the patio there hunting and resting ground and they love to sit on the towelrack and wipe their little feet on the towels put out for airing, will have to peg the towels on the hoist from now on. I have finished reading CJung's Wounded Healer of the Soul today and found it intriguing and enlightening in places, wished now I had read him years ago , his observations on religion helped me hugely.I will now read his biography Memories Dreams , Reflections.Thomas Moore had suggested reading him and James Hillman.I couldn't get that out of the library unfortunately. Have also restarted playing the DE Fesch sonata who is a bit easier than Vivaldi

Thursday and Friday A couple of hectic days, yesterday was Craftday here which means I supply lunch and coffee and cake.As we all take it in turns you only have to do this twice a year so that isn't so bad and it makes for a great day, sometimes discussing themes which affect us all.After lunch, Sheila and I got in a musical practice trying to get Vivaldi right.Had quite a few phone calls as well, one from Ebor where Rie is staying with Libby which was great and caught up with a lot of family news. Today went into the gallery to replace the tunic which was sold yesterday,That was pretty exciting as it is the first garment I have sold since going into the gallery in January. In the afternoon went to the burial of a great great nephew, only 17, such a shame.There was a huge crowd on the hill of the property of his parents where the grave is.I had brought a couple of sprigs of rosemary with tiny yellow roses and gave one to my niece to put on the coffin when the time came. A lot of sobbing youngsters but all the same after the ceremony when the young lads left, they all raced down the hill slithering and sliding at high speeds, still thinking they are indestructible.....I got back home in daylight and cooked dinner. Still reading Jung's biography which is fascinating, not a stitch done today of course, I want to plan another garment now, may do a saddle shoulder tunic.

Well, there is a lot to learn.Thought I;d upload the image first and the photo is all distorted,so I still don't know how to transfer an image. Today was ANZAC day and 30years ago I would have driven Harry into the city and watched him march with a few of his 2/11th WA mates in the ANZAC parade.The last one he marched in 1986, his son Gordon was in the Adelaide Mounted Police contingent which led the parade,all such a long time ago now.We would all go to lunch and the men would relate some of their experiences fit for their wifes to listen to.Harry was taken prisoner of war on Crete with his section except for one who elected to take to the hills and later got off and served in NG. My friends and I played music today, Bach's prelude 22 and Teleman's sonatas 4 and 5.Now I am cooking a cake for tomorrow when the Craft group meet here.....the days flit along and not a stitch done!!!

Well, today it was very cold and some more showers as well.Had some very good and intense lessons on how to fly this laptop.Hope I can remember and do half the stuff I was shown and as with my music it will be a matter of practice practice practice.Poor old Vivaldi took backstage today as the physio has taped up part of my back and playing the cello was not very comfortable. Gordon rang from the mine today and as it is his downhill run(he flies home tomorrow) he sounded happy. Priced some more scarves for the gallery today ready in case they are needed. The friend who got the black batwing jumper was very pleased with it and it looks good on her too

More rain at Willunga

Monday today and we had 88 points of rain overnight which is just so good.Had an excelent cello lesson this morning with plenty of pointers to get my fingers in the right place at the right time in the right sequence so all it will take is practice practice practice....No other artworks today, drove Brian to his doctor to get some antibiotics and then onto his specialist in Morphett Vale and the afternoon was gone or the day for that matter.Had to walk across the boggy paddock to shut the neighbours chooks away for the night so the old fox won't get them and tucked mine in as well, no eggs at present as they are growing new feathers for their winter coat,the rooster is fairly wary of me now I carry my riding crop to discourage him from attacking me, he is handsome but he may make a better cock-au-vin if he doesn't behave himself.

And we are still having rain at Willunga, the roses have responded immediately.The potplants were all fed today as well. We had lunch at my brother's place today, he always serves the most delicious food and wine so we had a very congenial afternoon with friends and family.When we got home the chooks were looking very bedraggled from the rain,they have stopped laying eggs too. I managed to get the fringe on another scarf this evening ,if they don't sell everyone will get one for Christmas presents!! There are some great fotos waiting to be inserted but do you think I can get them from the file to this page? See you tomorrow!!

Here it is Saturday afternoon and it is RAINING in Willunga at last, what bliss. This morning Sheila came and played the piano while I played Vivaldi on the cello.It took a bit of practice to be in time together but we managed in the end.Vivaldi is not easy to play with his different beats and though my largo is really grave^ it can still be pretty fast. The other thing I managed to do was offload my pictures from the camera via the chip onto the computer.Now it remains to be seen if I can select one for this post and get it on here. I did not manage to do the shawl yesterday nor today,had visitors instead which was lovely as they are few and far between these days, and I enjoy talking with people and hearing their stories. I still can't manage ti insert this picture, nowhere does it say Add selected How frustrating when I can do it with Helen showing me in the library and I can't do it at home!!!!

Friday today and the Dep of transport phoned me this morning to say they have at last received my Doctors Fitness report.Sent it registered mail as we were unable to fax it from either the Post Office or the Library, there  were some gross gremlins in the system for sure! This afternoon had another go at the shawl in thread lace,having rung a friend to make sure I was doing it correctly, but it will not work for me with the increase on the right side and it was full of holes.
When having our evening drink on the verandah , the little frog was back under the cushion in the chair I usually sit in, so shifted over to the next chair,...the things we will do now for our wildlife........

• I have had a breakthrough too with Vivaldy Sonata no 3, I think, the time I find such a challenge and the metronome has been beating my brain into submission, the Red Priest was smiling I think?

Today is Thursday and got my scarf done for Robyn., birthday.It is in thread lace.

Wednesday, and what a day!Had the technician here this morning to sort out our internet connection,he managed to sort it out ,bless him, but it took longer than we.d anticipated.So my musicians had to play without me for a while and then played the Teleman Sonatas with a few hiccups but in the end it sounded reasonable.
My fibre art is on hold at present but will get around to it soon.Tomorrow may be a good day to make some preliminary notes.
The weather is still very warm and the garden is looking dry , the Virginia creeper is a brilliant red which looks great through the yellow of the Golden raintrees.
I can't seem to enter a photo at this stage

The weather at Willunga is staying warm and dry, we will have to start watering the garden again.We went into Melbourne street today and while Brian was at the eye specialist I visited the Textile shop where the owner does conservation work on old textiles and has many beautifully embroidered imported textiles as well.It is always a delight to visit this shop and see the delicate embroidery done by native women in Asia.We then visited my niece who also has a great collection of woven tapestries and noticed she has my handspun and hand   dyed half cross stitch random designed piece, framed, on the wall still.So came home and experimented with a bouclé yarn and knitting elastic on the Brother 860, which was a disaster.Instead knitted a scarf with needles out of action which worked quite well.My creativity is not so much on hold as there are too many household things to attend to and that is distracting at present...ah,well.....

It is Sunday today and after attending and feeding my pot plants,fired up my 970 and attempted to do a swatch of threadlace. The fine yarn kept on breaking and I finally had to choose another yarn for that.It went well then but the colours are not what I want.There is never the colour that you want and in this case there is no way of blending it either because of the fineness of the fabric.So a frustrating afternoon looking for something suitable in a yarn that can be killed.As I generally only work with wool or cotton this is a bit of a dilemma.
Now I'll go and clean and oil the E6000 and see if the console remembers me.

Machine Knitting day @ Victor Harbor today

Have just come back from a great machine knitting day at Victor Harbour.Saw three excellent demonstrations by very competant knitters and have come away inspired. Bought the inevitable yarn ofcourse and some knitting elastic to try out on a project I  have in mind.Also went into the well stocked quilting shop and bought a pen to write on fabric for another project on the boil.So now I am home and have managed to store the yarn in the cupboard without having to throw anything out...how good is that.
Cheers for now

continuing with the batwing jumper, the basic yarn is a fine black thread with a second fine thread of black boucle and I am using tension 7 to get the desired effect.It is 2rows of knitting and two rows of weaving with a 4ply boucle  repeating this 4 times and then using an astracan yarn for 2 rows.It gives a break of solid boucle to have the astracan threads every 8th row. It is intended for a friend .

I have done a wallhanging called "Love in the Myth"which is hanging in the Willunga "Off the Slate" gallery. It is done with recycled materials but the backing is a lovely fairisle pattern in reds and dark blues, so it could be hung with the knitted part on display.It can also be rolled up and seen as a scroll.I hope to have some photos soon to display the work I do.

cello

the other interest I have is playing the cello .Here it shows Ken a viola player and me with Elizabeth ,the violinist    playing at the studio opening in 2010.We are still playing every Wednesday and hope to invite a few kind friends to come and listen to us playing Teleman sonata no 4 and 5.

Batwing jumper in Knit-weave

On the left Jo is cutting the ribbon for the opening of my studio. The Black Batwing with silver trim was finally sewn up. I used 2ply wool for the background and Alpaca for the weave-in yarn. It is lovely and soft and drapes well.

Fibre art inspirations

Fibre art is quite a new artform and creates unusual visual artscapes.

Welcome to my blog