Lampshade makeover

I found this floor lamp..ex display..going cheap...so...

even though it had an ordinary shade...I bought it...

just the right thing to park next to my chair for night time stitching or reading...

also found the end of a roll of plastic doilies...probably meant to be table decoration...

wasnt sure what to do with it...but I had to have it too...

now I've decided it's just what the lamp needed...

easy peasy revamp of the ordinary shade...bit of hot glue and a pair of scissors...

ta..da...new lampshade...

Blue Shoes Bag

Pink is pretty.....green is gorgeous .......but blue is the most beautiful of all!!

(raylee).

New Blue Shoes Bag

A new bag underway......

......more soon. What have you have you been making/doing? (raylee).

Fabric Dyeing

Simonne came to visit recently & she suggested using the stamens from these lilys as a fabric dye. I wrapped some in a piece of cotton sheeting .....put rubber bands around the bundle ......soaked it in water & left it to dry for a few days. When i unwrapped it the stains were clearly visible......i washed the fabric by hand .....hung it in the sun to dry.....

Before washing......

This is how it looked after it had dried. the colour is strong , i will wash it again in the washing machine .....see what happens. do you have any ideas on using such a piece?.... i look forward to your thoughts. (raylee).

Wildlife in the Garden

Out in my pyjamas again yesterday morning, taking photos of hibiscus flowers which were up high......i looked down & there it was curled up in a pot......a small python, about two metres long. sorry the photo isnt very clear.....but you get the picture! (raylee).

Sketchbook Challenge Catch-up

Just a little bit behind with my sketches.......this is the August challenge..."every day items". I used a tea-pot with a broken handle, & a small glass bottle, an op-shop find, the rest of the items are imaginary. i did a quick sketch with an "artline o.5 drawing pen", then coloured with "derwent inktense watersoluble ink pencils", then brushed with water.....in some places i went back with a wet pencil.

It began as a 1 page sketch but i wasnt happy with it , so i cut it down the middle & cropped the part i didnt like. i think cropping made the subjects more intimate. the teapot is yellow, another colour i find difficult to use sometimes. so i decided to experiment with it in this quick sketch. i always try to make the first attempt work, it doesnt happen all the time but i like the challenge....... what do you think about this process of elimination?..... which page appeals to you?...... or do you think i should have scrapped it & started over again?..... (raylee).

Hexagons Again

Just in case you were wondering...
the previous hexagon creation was His sleeping bag....
this is Hers....

a bit of pink and floral to go with the blues and checks...
the bags zip together to make a cosy double...

they have had a busy week....
covering visitors and going for a visit to the house in the garden....
now they go back into their own bags to wait for the next occasion...

Backyard Beauty

A couple of inquisitive Rainbow Lorikeets. These birds frequent our garden often. Second hand sheets of corrugated iron make an interesting fence. the colours vary in every sheet.

Blue, grey, green to rusty red.

Every sheet has its own individual design & pattern of colours in varying degrees. the sunlight & shadows create another layer of patterns & shapes.......never dull or boring.

The Lorikeets always add a splash of vibrant colour against the expanse of green around our garden. (raylee).

Do You Like Housework ?

How good would that be?.........a quick look around the room & its done!!I'm thinking Margaret Olley had the right idea! (raylee).

Hexagon Checks

have been busy with life....
so I havent been able to create much....

the socks(?) are still waiting to be created....
as the weather warms up I'm not as keen to hold knitting in my lap...

so...as I clean up for visitors...
I found some old creations I thought I'd share...
they had to come out and be aired on the line in the sun....

this cover came about when our 20 year old sleeping bags...
though functional...
became a bit shabby....
and I had been handstitching these hexagons that needed a function...

there are memories with the fabrics too...
Raylee will recognise these as they are scraps from her dressmaking days...

Birds In My Garden

I made this bird from some dead 'Bird of Paradise" flowers, a palm , & the head from a piece of found tree root. I t is held together with a couple of pieces of wire.

This is a "Swamp Pheasant" that comes to visit . It was high up in the palm trees, so i couldnt get very close. Sometimes they walk along the top of our fence. It flew away when it saw me.......

......probably thought i was the scarecrow! (raylee).

Stormy Weather

These photos taken this morning as we raced across the lake back to shore. (raylee).

Pretty Bags In Pink & Green

Washed, dried & a little bit raggy, these bags are made from hand printed cotton, with doilies, fabric bits & pieces, crocheted flowers, velvet appliqued shoes, buttons & sometimes other found bits eg. old jewellery. the bags are lined which gives a much neater finish & makes the bag stronger. all the fabrics used are recycled. the yarn used for the crochet flowers is leftover from other projects. (raylee).

Cushions

These cushion covers are made from op- shop fabric finds, except for the stripe which i bought new a few years ago to make a cover for a divan, this is its second time around so it counts as being recycled. The yellow floral i cant remember when i found it, but it has : "Batavia"....Cyrus Clark Co. Inc........Everglaze 1977 printed on the selvedge.
I wrapped & pinned hessian around the seat cushion of the "Miners Lounge". A temporary arrangement, i wanted to see if it was too scratchy before i went ahead & stitched it. The brown floral was a skirt, & the plain brown a piece of furnishing fabric. The blue one i posted earlier includes bits of an old white chenille bedspread given to me by Simonne a long time ago. I used it as a bedspread then a curtain.

For the stripey cushion i knitted strips of old fabric from clothes, on chunky needles, tied on some old buttons i found in the grandma button tin with brickies string.

(raylee).

Wee Jasper Journal

A new page for the Wee Jasper Journal completed.....i think.....there is always room for a bit more. The man on the right is my uncle, & the one on the left is his late uncle. They look like they are dressed to go to town. It was not uncommon for travellers to stop on the road either going to or coming from town in those days, more likely to happen on the way home though. I have added some stamps which could relate to the times, also shows some of their interests & other places that they lived & worked in. Brown paper was used to wrap just about everything in those days. The red paper is from a packet of Tally-Ho cigarette papers, Log Cabin was the preferred tobacco .
I thought it interesting that they are both almost in the same position, especially the hands. (raylee).