Happy New Year and some Holiday Activities

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2012

I would like to wish everyone who reads my blog a Happy New Year. Thanks for your support and kind comments throughout the year. May 2012 be a good year for all. 

It's all about an Australian Holiday, it's all about the beach, sun, sand and cricket games. I'm fortunate to spend my holiday with my family this year. A day at the beach was bliss!

Each year I try to come up with some unique gifts to make for my friends. My gifts tell about what I do at that time. I have been working on blue and indigo these last couple of years. So my gifts are naturally indigo related. A set of three coasters with my very own indigo dyed fabric and the Thai's indigo motifs and hand stitching lend themselves well together. I have sent most out as gifts in time for Christmas, but some are still a work in progress...!

On my last post I talked about pre Christmas eco-dyed bundles. I opened them after a few days and the result is as you can see above. They were dyed with eucalyptus leaves and rusty nails. The effect of rusty nails gave the dark purple grey patches. I'm loving this.

In the above photo is the bottom part of the linen skirt dyed as one of the Christmas bundles. I used pieces from all the bundles for this skirt. 

One of the bundles was a linen skirt from an op-shop. I mordant it with alum and wrapped it generously with lots of eucalyptus leaves. 

A close up of the patches in the front of the skirt. I stitched around some of the leaf imprints just to highlight it. What I need now is to find an occasion to wear it! 

Every other summer our apricot tree gives us abundant fruit. This year is the same. In Australia we have big problem with birds. We tried to cover the tree with netting to keep them out, but the birds are so clever and managed to find their way under the net. We got what was leftover from the birds and bottled some of the fruit. 

I blogged about the bottling method the last time we had apricots. You can read it here.

I can't take the credit for this home made production. DIL was here and did everything for me as she did two years ago. DIL is a prolific gardener and home-maker. We are so lucky to have her join our family. 

Well, that was quite a lot of activities for this holiday! The weather is getting warm. It's going to be warmer in the next couple of days. Thank goodness for the air-conditioning! We got a small paddling pool on the back deck for our DGD, but this afternoon some of the adults where in there trying to cool off. I never thought I would say this, but I'm looking forward to getting back to work where I have air-conditioning!!!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and is enjoying New Year's Eve. I'm about to get out there and join my family for a New Year drink or two. 

Happy New Year everyone.

Nat