Go and get merry!!!

I just want to wish you all the best Christmas and New Year. Get Merry and make sure there are lots of warm fuzzies out there.
I have made my family a hamper each. Had fun making this lot and My son helped me with the labels. I have included a random sample.

Quiet?

Those who have read this blog for a while will know that if it is quiet online then there is usually something brewing here or I am hard at it working. Apart from the usual madness this time of year making product for my 3 regular outlets, The Nook, The Rocks and the etsy shop, I have been working with the local preschool as Artist in residence.
We have been making prefelts with the children and the parents and staff helped me this past weekend put the whole lot together. The children love gardens and have been learning about suns, moons and stars and so these were of course included in the final work.
 I had taken most things into account when preparing for working with this age group and it all went really well apart from one thing.

I forgot that 3 and 4 year olds are short!!!! My back was killing me! I don't know how those early childhood teachers do it.
Some pics of the work at early stages and then completed though there may be the odd bit of stitching to add I can't quite decide.

Some of my hard working team.

I think this section is my favorite

Not Spam but Pam!!!!

Hey I may know what has happened to my lost comments on blogger. Seems that blogger has decided my lovely affirmations are indeed spam!!! Please have a look in your spam and mark me as not spam and we will see if that helps. I miss not chatting to you all. I can leave comments here on mine or on wordpress but not anyone else at present.
Thanks for your help.

How long is a piece of string?

Not long enough!
We've  had five glorious days here in the Mountains with the beautiful  India Flint. We wandered and bundled and concocted potions and relaxed with women. We ate and drank and chatted till late. It was all over too quickly.
I learned how to make string and find that incredibly satisfying.

Another summer

My husbands mother for decades declared she wouldn't "make it through another summer". She was of course eventually correct. We have a maidenhair fern on our front porch that we salvaged from her garden. It was in a pot that had almost completely fallen apart and had always been there. This plant has come to the brink of death on many a summer day, through some neglect in watering but still manages to survive. I cut a frond off to see if it would make a nice resist in some dyeing. I thought I had tried it long ago for colour with no luck. so was only going for the shape.
Look what happened on some optim and silk. Some more pretties follow.

You can see I got a bit carried away with the little star leaf of this weed. But it is kinda nice.

Too pretty

I had someone buy a gift voucher from me for their teacher a while back and the teacher contacted me and asked if I could natural dye some cloth for her to make some clothes from.
I thought this was a great idea. I dyed some of the pongee I often use and she also provided a  beautiful silk not sure what weave it is. The results on it were so beautiful I had to share.

I must appologise to all of you for being a bit silent on your sites. I am not able leave comments at the moment. Not sure how to fix it yet. Very annoying as I have been watching and loving what you are doing.

Keep up the good work.

left overs

A friend gave me a bag of bits and bobs she had from felting. The fibre was a bit matted and there were lots of bits of colours. After putting them through the carder they have spun up a treat. Sometimes it is good to have the combinations thrust upon you .

workshops

I have recently done some great workshops. One with ATASDA.
We had a great time creating wonderous cloth and I managed to not  get any shots of the finished items!
I did a couple more classes up here in the mountains and I got some of a few of the pieces.They are still wet so a bit dull.
Yes we worked in the hall where the wall hanging is.

Geometry

All better

We are in School holidays here and the family went away bush walking with some friends. The South coast of Australia is beautiful. We did the Light to Light walk over 3 days. This is a perfect walk for a large group of different ages as it is fairly flat and not too far each day. The landscape and flora changes constantly. At one time you are walking out on the heath 

then the next you are amongst the towering Casuarina with their branches chattering together in the breeze.

 Then down to the beach to scour for shells and rocks.

This was by my 15 yo 

We had an opportunity to dye and the children particularly loved the magic held within those tightly wrapped parcels. The pot was put on the morning and was unwrapped when we returned. A little early really but good results none the less. I was happy to see some lovely greens from what I can only describe as a native rosemary and the Warrigal greens, a native spinach,  gave a really good print also.