Monday, November 8, 2010

In Search of Wildflowers

 

Blair's track Kaye

Plenty of this. Plus a beautiful copper bellied snake slithering across our path.

 

black boy grass

Will never tire of the native grass trees.

 

Blotched orchid @ Rifle Range 2

The prize of the day – a blotched sun orchid T. benthamiana – the first time I have seen one in this area. Thanks to Kaye’s diligence.

 

Mitty's flowers

And an excellent bunch of flowers from Mitty’s garden.

Tiny Teddies

teddy bear tree

A gift from Jill. A tiny teddy each in the colour we use the least of. I received the blue one.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Introducing ‘Flaps’ the mountain duck

Flaps the mountain duck 2

Found wandering in the local caravan park, following anyone who happened to pass by.

Flaps was handed into the Parks office and from there found his way here. Flaps would have been a lot better of with his mother but that wasn’t to be.

We have had him for almost two weeks now and he has grown A LOT!

He requires quite a bit of attention but he has been worth it.

Flaps the mountain duck 1 

For more information on Australia’s largest duck go to here

Monday, August 30, 2010

Just a few more.

magic mushroom

A magic mushie nestled in pine needles.

Moonlight Heads walk 6

Windfall under the sheoaks.

Moonlight Heads walk  - Wreck Beach 2

A coastal garden landscaped perfectly by the weather.

Moonlight Heads walk  - Wreck Beach

So many earthy colours in the one place.

Moonlight Heads walk  - Wreck Beach 3

Shipwrecked, and this is relatively mild sea conditions. The ‘Marie Gabrielle’ was wrecked here in 1869 while carrying tea from China to Melbourne. The three-masted French barque was driven ashore at 1am on November 24.

paddocks in winter

Plenty of green stuff for the animals to eat this year.

Colours of August

We have had an amazing amount of water fall to the earth this month. Everything is soggy and quite luscious. And the farmers are rejoicing.

Mepunga wetland

There is water in our water holes and the water birds can be seen in great numbers.

kangaroos

A walk through the green paddocks and the kangaroos are not that sure they want to share.

Moonlight Heads walk 1

Plenty of this going on.

Moonlight Heads walk 2

And this.

Moonlight Heads walk 3

And this.

Moonlight Heads walk 5

And this.

Moonlight Heads walk 4

But also a sign that spring is on it’s way.

There are more participants in the COLOURS OF EACH MONTH over at Sue’s blog LIFE LOOMS LARGE. Go over and check it out here.

Woven Creations

Finally getting around to posting images of the woven creations of other students. These items were exhibited at the Hamilton Sheepvention Show early this month and will also be shown at The Royal Melbourne Show. The majority of fibre used was alpaca, being part of a deal done with the Alpaca Association and SouthWest TAFE here in Warrnambool.

First off the ranks are three scarves woven by Jeanette Tollerbond.

Jeanetter with scarf 1 Jeanetter with scarf 2 Jeanetter with scarf 3

And two wraps also woven by Jeanette.

Jeanetter shawl 1 Jeanetter shawl 2

The next four items are by Georgie Crow. As a matter of interest the bottom wrap in the second image as well as the wraps in the final two images were all woven on the same warp.

Georgie beret Georgie shawl and wrap 3 Georgie wrap 1 Georgie wrap 2

The next four are a variety of knits by Jill Hunter.

Jill's cravats 2 Jill's knitted wrap Jill's knitted wrap 2 Jill's wrap

And last but definitely not least are items by Rocky Blair. Rocky has used alpaca fibre from her own alpacas and felted it to produce these hats with the final image being a skirt and wrap woven on the same warp.

rocky's hat and scarf 1 rocky's hat and scarf 2 rocky's hat and scarf 3 Rocky's skirt and top cloth

And to conclude, I must thank our stunning model who suffered all types of indignities without complaint for this photo shoot.

Hamilton Sheepvention - TAFE weaving

The display at Hamilton.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Clifton Beach to Gibson Steps

It was the middle of winter and a beautiful day. So we went for a walk.

pic 001

Leaving the Great Ocean Walk track and coming onto the beach at Clifton.

pic 005

 

pic 017

 

pic 037

Last time we did this walk we had to climb over rocks to get past this point, but this time nature had worked for us with a fresh cliff fall, and we were able to walk through the sand passage behind the fall.

pic 050

Annie with her found treasures.

pic 051

All set for the Hamilton Sheepvention Show

All the designing and making for the Alpaca Association has been completed. It has been packed and shipped off to the Hamilton Sheepvention Show for display. A description of the project can be found here.

Last week was somewhat frantic finalising my required three pieces but I did it!

alpaca shawl

A very soft and thick wrap from 3 ply commercially spun alpaca.

alpaca skirt

I’m really happy with this skirt. I initially got the idea from a picture in an old ‘Handwoven’ magazine. It began as 2 ply white alpaca yarn for the weft and 100% wool for the warp (to add strength to the cloth for wear). I dyed both the warp and weft after lots of experimentation with colours.  I blogged about a bit of the process here. So the yarn was dyed, woven and sewn into this skirt.

alpaca vest

And this vest completed my contribution. The warp is 100% black wool and the weft is handspun alpaca of a natural mahogany colour. And I really like the results with this one too.

Thanks Kirsty for the pin fastener. I love it. It is made from the wood of dead bull oak trees.

In the next post I’ll show images of the work of other students in the class.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Colours of July

Not a whole lot of bloggin’ the past month. Must have been having too much fun elsewhere.

But for some unknown reason I don’t like missing out on the ‘Colours of the Month’ organised and maintained by Sue over at Life Looms Large. Check out other contributions.

Early in the month we went walking in Melba Gully State Park, an amazing rainforest not far from here. 

ferns and water 

 

fungi 2

The following photographs were taken in our front yard.

rain drops

 

pic 105