Stormy Saturday and a blood orange

Humdinger of a storm today - Eddie has been under the chaise for the whole day. He's terrified of thunder, the poor baby. I'm trying to coax him out, as the worst seems to be over, although it's still bucketing down on and off. This pic shows sideways rain.

It rained so heavily that a blood orange fell off the tree so I dashed out to rescue it. It was juicy and delicious, if a little less sweet than I expected, and with such lovely raspberry-stained insides.

I'm still amazed that such a tiny tree could mature three oranges in the first year of its planting.

I love how the rain makes the lavender bend under the weight of the water and take on such an intensity of colour...

Haven't had much time since last weekend to blog, although I have made a few things which I posted on flickr. They're not the best things I've done and I'm having a bit of a lull in creativity. However, today I went on a lunchtime outing to the Salvos and $2 shop and picked up these yummy things (two scarves and a tie $3; set of beads $2). Now my mind is racing with ideas for them.


Highlights of this week:
- aforementioned cheap goodies.
- post office box full of great mail all week and latest issue of Quilting Arts.
- new Swap-bot friends made.
- loan approved and possibility of travel to Baltimore USA later this year.
- this weekend is a long weekend and I will catch up with Mum one day and stay in my PJs and do creative things for the rest of the time.
- leftover casserole with extra fresh asparagus for tea tonight accompanied by nice bottle of Shiraz.

Lowlights of this week:
- washing machine hose broke, resulting in flood of ankle deep water in laundry.
- milk carton leaked in fridge, resulting in flood of (okay not ankle deep, but little pool of) milk in bottom of fridge and kitchen floor.
- I had a haircut and nobody noticed :-(
- Filled up my car and paid over $40 for three-quarters of a tank of unleaded.

HPC Artist Choice swap

The Solvy worked really well, I needed something to keep the strips in place whilst I free-motioned on top. It was easy to use and washed off quickly. I will have to get some more as I've used up the trial pack. With the addition of a few buttons, I made these postcards for an upcoming swap...for bigger pics of the individual cards, see my flickr site

Selvedges

I'm going to experiment with Solvy (dissolvable stabiliser) and do some free motion embroidery on top of this (selvedges sewn onto felt)....

Today I went shopping for fruit & veg

and Rufus helped me choose some fabric scraps from my upended rag bag for a new swap project

More Zentangles from last night....

Totally addicted to Zentangle

These are fun to do and so relaxing...

Full Moon

Went to the dentist today and got scolded for not flossing properly. They also sold me the most expensive floss I've ever had and I bought it out of guilt.
I've been sticking to my motto of "make something every day" and last night I made a dog mobile for a Swap-bot friend - I won't post it here yet in case she sees it! Instead here are a couple of pictures taken today: one of the full moon taken during my walk in the park by the river after work. And some of the wonderful stuff I got in my mailbox today from some excellent Swap-botters.

Fun with hand printing

I was messing around tonight with acrylic paint and prints, and tried printing onto some el-cheapo muslin I bought the other day - it's very lacey and girly but I kind of like the delicate effect. Here's a piece sewn onto some purple cardstock to accompany a swap.

Lots of things

So yesterday I added another row of cork tiles to the wall so that I could display all the lovely postcards I've been receiving lately.

Weather was lovely both yesterday and today so I took myself out for a walk down by the river. The autumn leaves are starting to come out and the air is fresh - the recent rains have made it quite green too.


Got home and made a couple of postcards before having home made fish curry for dinner. Might do a bit more sewing tonight but my machine needs some maintenance I think. If a bit of oil doesn't help I may need to take it in for a service :-(

Mushroom postcards

See what an afternoon of listening to the Byrds and the Doors does? I'm going to bed with a headache.....

Cock-a-doodle-doo! Meow!

Some more notecards - fabric on cardstock (it's amazing how far the fabric from a tie will go!)

Notecards in the making....

Postcard Art Art Art 2 swap - one more

I found another square that didn't make it onto a quilt but was quite at home posing on a postcard with a bit of embellishment....


And while I was sewing, Eddie was busy ripping up the bottom of the chaise and making himself comfortable in the hammock that he had created in the base (at least I think it was Eddie since he is usually the ringleader of all the mischief that is made in the house - and check this picture out for a guilty face) -

Postcard Art Art Art 2 swap

Now that the evenings are getting cold and wet, I love getting cosy with my sewing machine <3 - have decided to make fabric postcards for this swap. I love the fabrics in this one - it was cut from a quilt that I never finished making, and embellished with buttons and a piece of ribbon.

And this one came about from some bits and pieces that liked being together, with some drop-the-feed-dog spiral quilting fun.

HPC: Something Purple swap

I haven't been that pleased with my latest HPC colour theme postcards but maybe it's because I don't love any colour as much as I love purple!!! (Couldn't really muster up any enthusiasm for the green ones, but I tried!!) I decided to make the purple swap out of fabric, and maybe make another one or two purple fabric ones for other swaps I've just signed up for.....

Fabric ATCs - Spring

This poor little fellow is sad because it's just coming into autumn here and he wants to join his northern hemisphere friends in the spring celebration!

Magazine Collage ATC part 2

"Stripes"

Magazine Collage ATC part 1

This set of two is titled "Les Girls on Vacation"...

HPC: Something Green swap

These two were sent off this morning....

. post due.: handmade postcard #7

I had quite a productive day today after going out for a leisurely breakfast. One fabric card and one collage card made for the PostDue swap.

A Hot Date with Mr. Wrong

These were fun to do!