My Most Recent CQ
Thought it was about time I posted pics of some of my CQ and other crafts. These are part of a combined effort wallhanging which can be viewed in full here http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7171/753/640/Hearts%20for%20Jan%20028.jpg

The first day of June (This Thursday) is officially the start of our Winter here in Australia. It's been quite chilly. We've had an occasional frost but are still in very sore need of some decent rain - Any Rain! Our neighbour's dam, quite a large one, which was once stocked with young fish and full of crayfish, is now just a small mudhole.
Here are some pics I took at Perseverance Dam last month. You can see in both pics just how low the water levels have dropped. The area in the foreground of the top picture is where the water used to run over the spillway, which is off to the far right.
Apparently towards the end of construction on the Dam, it rained so heavily that it filled before
some of the earthmoving machinery was taken out and it remains on the Dam floor to this day. It'll soon be on full view again if we don't have some rain very soon.

WINTER'S ALMOST UPON US
The few spatters of rain we received last night were just enough to put a nip in the air today.
Here's a pic of the only patch of green on our block, ( apart from the grass over the septic drain) a very young crop of lucerne (alfalfa) watered from our bore.

MY CRAFT CUPBOARD
This cupboard had been left for years in an old barn and was about to be taken to the rubbish tip by a neighbour when I saw it's future potential and rescued it ( much to my Husband's disgust).
Along with it's battered appearance,it also had quite a few coats of paint on it, so rather than spend heaps of money and time stripping off the many layers, I decided to just give it a good clean up and repaint it. I slapped on a couple of coats of some leftover paint and when dry, gave it the Midas Touch. This was achieved by spraying inexpensive gold aerosol paint onto some old newspaper and using a dry brush to pick it up and splotch it randomly over the cupboard. I then found an old handle for the door and a key ( in my Husband's shed ) which I gave the finishing touch of a small gold tassel. The 2 cherubs were a later find from a thriftshop ( they are only made of plastic, but co-incidentally happened to match the cupboard colours) and were so easy to attach, having holes for hanging on their bases. They cost me a whole 20 cents. I now have a very useful and I think quite attractive cupboard to store just some of my crafting supplies and at very little cost. I do hope I still have a little of that paint left, as I need to touch up the inside of that left-hand door.
I get so much satisfaction from recycling items that others might see as rubbish. As the old saying goes "One man's junk is another man's treasure" or should that now be in these politically correct times, "One person's junk is another person's treasure".

Early last year, I found this tablecloth at our local Refuse Tip. Would you believe someone had actually been using it as a grease rag. I so wish now that I'd taken pics of it in it's sorry state. It was absolutely covered in black grease. Well, with the help of some Morning Fresh washing up liquid, Sunlight laundry soap and a final soaking in some Napisan, I finally managed to remove all the grime with very little fading to the colours of the embroidery.
It has a little damage to the lace on the top right, in a couple of spots the cloth has come adrift from the edging and is very slightly frayed and a few stitches here and there may need replacing ( Maybe I really shouldn't be attempting any repairs - any advice would be most welcome.) Made of a very good quality linen, I am just so pleased that it can now be preserved as a very small part of Australia's Sewing History. I love vintage linen and now have a small collection, mostly bought from thrift shops or flea markets. Stained or damaged linen can often be utilised in Crazy Quilting or other sewing projects instead of being discarded as is too often the case.

Just thought I'd show you the results of some experimentation in dyeing. I had a small reel of rayon crochet thread and it had an almost identical twist and sheen to some Edmar thread I had. I dyed it as I do with silk ribbon, in the microwave using Ozecraft dyes. Unlike the silk ribbon though, I didn't dry it on paper towels in the microwave, but hung it to dry naturally on my verandah. I found that each bundle of about 10-12 thread lengths had to be knotted together at each end as it is very prone to unravelling especially when subjected to the rinsing process. I was very happy with the results as I've saved myself quite a bit of money. One of the greens and a mauve are very subtly variegated but I don't think it shows too well in the pic. The green on the far left is a silk thread.

More 'Fibreworks' pics

Here are a few pics of the 'Fibreworks' Exhibition.

WELCOME TO MY BLOG
For my first posting, I thought I'd tell you about the Rosalie Gallery in Goombungee. A small town just 8 kms from where I live. Each month there is a different exhibition. This month's was entitled 'Fibre Works' a celebration of fibre. The felted items on display illustrated traditional methods, nuno, modern, artistic pictorial and needlesculpture. There were woven articles including delicate silk scarves, garments and everyday items. Other crafts on display included latch hooking, patchwork both crazy and sane, knitting, crochet and bobbin and knitted lace.
There may be a felting workshop starting up quite soon, as there were so many expressions of interest from those attending the exhibition ( including Yours Truly of course ) so here's hoping!