Spring Down Under

Spring is here. We have two beautiful fruit trees in our back yard. One is apricot and the other one is plum. They are both producing gorgeous blossoms in Spring and fruit in Summer. 

Many little projects are always on the go here in my Treehouse Studio. Also the dyeing pot is steaming away on the back deck. I often gather some dye-able leaves on my walks during the week and in the weekend I quickly prepare dye bundles and steam. I love the feeling of participation when I reveal the dye bundles. 

I'm also working on some gentle stitch projects using old doilies, lace, embroideries and beads. I have been collecting old doilies and old lace over the years. It's time to put them into good use. Another project is crazy quilt block I'm doing online. I'm really enjoying it, but a bit slow with precise stitches. It's coming along very well.  

Below are various photos of life happenings at Notjustnat's residence!

Spring blossom

A birthday present for Treehouse Studio

Lots of doilies

Book cover in the making

The Book of Tea is wrapped!

Tiny little box

First book cover using doilies

Tin-Cushions

Dyed and drying

More dyeing

Old leaves to dye for

CQ basic block

Spring time wouldn't be the same without some spring seedlings. I potted some Petunia and Lobelia for the Treehouse Studio's landing. Can't wait for them to flower! The apricot is also full of blossoms. I hope they will give us lots of fruit this summer. I know some of you are heading into Fall/Autumn. Changing seasons is always welcome. Enjoy!

Until next time.

Nat    

Autumn/Fall Colours

A few activities plus some outings happened these last couple of weeks. First of all, I finished a quilt I started in 2013 and posted here and here. It's now on a bed in our guest room. I called it Red Star & Blue Sea a simple name for a simple quilt. I would be jealous if it was not mine, but it is! I'm so happy. I had an outing to the Australian Quilt Convention at the Royal Melbourne Exhibition Building a couple of Saturdays ago. I went alone on the spur of the moment and thoroughly enjoyed it. I stopped at Ziguzagu for the warehouse sale; can't miss that! I got a few goodies from there. 

ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) commemorates it's 100th year this year on Apr. 25th. I had a small part in the commemoration by making red poppies, Anzac biscuits and made a display of old photographs and documents from WWI in 1915. Another thing I did was to go on an outing to Alowyne Gardens in Yarra Glen with Mr Notjustnat. I have been there once before.

Last but not least, I put on a large batch of dye after we got home from Alowyne Gardens. I gathered some autumn leaves from there and I was itching to dye with them. Below are some photos from the various activities. 

Red Star & Blue Sea quilt nice spread on the bed.

A woollen quilt by Segolaine Schweitzer,
exhibit at AQC

Double Wedding Ring Quilts Tradition Made Modern
by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

The nation commemorated the centenary of ANZAC Day on 25 April this year. The idea is to try to remember those who lost their lives in WWI, and in the Gallipoli campaign in particular. 

Red poppies represented ANZAC Day.

ANZAC biscuits I made on the day.  

Persimmons from Alowyne Gardens

Another shot from Alowyne Gardens

At the visit to Alowyne Gardens I gathered some autumn leaves to dye with that afternoon. With the Eucalyptus leaves I gathered during the week, I was ready to wrap and roll! 

Dyeing alone is never fun! Over dyed
with Grevillea tree leaves

Colour is seeping through after steaming.

Bundles bundles!

Juvenile blue gum leaves on wool.

Grevillea tree leaves on silk

Blue gum leaves on vintage silk.

Nettle and Prunus leaves on vintage silk.

Some vintage goodness from Ziguzagu
Warehouse's sale.

Lucky find: My lucky find for this post are these fine porcelain cups with hand painted blue cherry blossoms. The porcelain is so fine and translucent you can almost see through it. A nice set of three perfect for a cup of green tea. I found them at ZiguZagu's Warehouse sale along with other goodies above. 

Autumn or Fall for some is well settled here. The leaves turn from yellow to red and brown. A beautiful time of year. I love Autumn/Fall! 

Some exciting news here is that I have ordered a blog book. I have put a lot of thought into my blog lately. My blog is really my journal. It is a journal of what I have made and done over the last 6 years since I started blogging. I have recorded everything I made in my blog. Recently a horrible thought came to my mind of possibly losing my blog forever! After looking into a few blog-to-print services I choose to go with Blog2Print and printed one year to see how it would look. If I'm happy with it, I will print the other years since 2009. I'm excited to get my first blog book. Hope it comes soon!

Until next time

Nat

Easter is Coming!

Just in case I haven't got around to blogging again before Easter I wish you all a Happy Easter 2015. We are having 5 days off at Easter! When you have a full time job, any day off is really appreciated. I know it's going to be a busy 5 days, but that's how I like it. 

Last Saturday I attended coiled basket workshop with Jacky, Dot and Lee. As you know I'm a basket weaver and I love baskets in all shapes and sizes. I thought it would be fun to go along to a workshop with friends. The workshop was held at Alowyn Gardens in Yarra Glen. It was run by Ruth Woods of Craft School Oz. The venue is about an hour's drive from Melbourne. Below are some photos of the event. Enjoy!

Workshop samples

My basket base using natural raffia and indigo dyed raffia

Jacky's and my bases

These are all the basket bases the class did that day

I added more to the base

It's getting bigger

Twined Together is a book inspired by bush baskets

Rock feature garden at Alowyn Gardens

Original mining cottage 

Rustic chair in the original condition

Sculptural arch 

Garden maze

Another arch

I thought that I had not been doing much this last couple of weeks until I gathered together the photos and realised that I have been quite busy. Below are some photos of textile related activities I have been creating. 

This is the journal cover I'm making for my travel journal. I used  BORO style piecing, but used traditional embroidery stitches on it. I've add more embroidery since I took this photo. I will share with you again once it is completed. 

And this is the Civil War Quilts block I mentioned in the last post. The red fabric is a "F" (featured) fabric found at an opshop/thriftshop. I've featured it in every block I have made. Barbara put out free pattern for 52 blocks, but I think I'm only going to make about 30 blocks and set them on points and alternate with plain fabric.  

I hope you didn't miss the International Day of Happiness? At my work we had a little fun competition to see who would come in to work that day wearing the most colourful and happy clothes. The prize was a bottle of "happy bubbly". I thought if I wore my Yukata with silk boro patches I would win and I did!  

Blog ending photo for today is this coffee art/heart created by the barista at Market Lane Coffee Prahran Market, South Melbourne. Melbourne is known as the world's best coffee capital. We are spoiled for choice with coffee shops! I have been there twice now and will go back again. 

I hope everyone is keeping well, busy and creative. The weeks and months are moving on so fast that it will be nice to stop and take a breath. I'm looking forward to driving into the sunrise next Friday and heading to see our DS, DIL and DGC in Canberra. Happy Easter Everyone!

Until next time

Nat

Welcome Spring & ZiguZagu Exhibition

Welcome spring! The winter had been long and wet this year. I'm glad spring is finally here. I was moaning about how wet it had been throughout winter, but rain comes with benefits. Look what the rain has done to our garden. I will shut up next time it rains!

I should have shown some of these gorgeous flowers to you a couple of weeks earlier, but I have been so busy lately that I only had a chance to post on my daily photo blog. I really enjoy my photo blog and I feel that my photography skills have improved since I started that blog 65 days ago. This post is photo heavy and not much writing, so please enjoy...

I planted this Wisteria three years ago over the fence between our neighbour and us. It took off beautifully from the first go. Wisteria is my favourite spring flower. Aren't they lovely?

These are apple blossoms I found them on my walk in the university where I work. So delicate and elegant looking!

Our first rose this spring. It's the rose that gives the best scent in our garden. I love yellow roses.

This is an Australian flower; the Waratah. I like to call it Australian Christmas flower. You can find them at the florist through the summer here. Lovely and vibrant colour. Just love it.

First bud of the climbing rose in front of the house. This rose is red, strong and long lasting.

My birthday orchid. It was blooming when I got it. It does not flower during the winter. In August which is my birthday, it starts to flower again. It has been in flower ever since.

The four photos below are of Australian native flowers. Sorry I don't know any of their names, but they are so attractive that I want to share them with you.

What else does spring bring? The apricot tree in our back yard is covered with young apricots. I can see it's going to be a good year for apricots.

The ornamental grapevine at the back of the house is also generating beautiful young leaves. I love them best in autumn when the leaves turn yellow, orange and dark red, gorgeous.

The olive tree is also covered with small olives. This is the second time the tree has produced fruit. I pickled them for the first time here.

The climbing jasmine is gorgeous and gives out a sweet scent. This one is on the fence next to the driveway. As soon as we open the car door the inviting scent of jasmine is very welcoming.

Last but not least, I would like to show you the Japanese indigo seedlings I planted on Fabienne's birthday, September 24th, It took ten days before the first one appeared. We had a little cold spell during that first week so that probably slowed the process down a bit. Anyway, they are starting to come now, how exciting!

You are invited to an exhibition at Ziguzagu. Three pieces of my work are included in the exhibition. If you are in Melbourne between Oct. 13 - 27, I hope you can drop by for a visit. I will be sure to take photos to share with you.

Whether you are in the northern hemisphere or here down under, I hope you enjoy the lovely change of the seasons at this time. I'm glad that I can share with you what I grow in my small garden. 

Until next time.

Nat