Almost finished!!

 I have finished weaving my tapestry!! It is sitting on the loom with the warp loosened so I can cut it off tomorrow, all being well.

The theme is Where the Road Leads (or something like that). I originally thought that I would have a road leading to a grave - that seemed a bit too depressing. So I had the wonderful idea of putting in a map with all  sorts of directions I could take - that turned out to be beyond me. 

I have done some road signs, not particularly well, and it has turned out to be a bit whimsical. There are roundabouts, slippery roads, etc. I was going to put in a STOP sign but that also seemed a bit final. So now there is a stop sign shape and colour with a question mark. Does it stop here or do I go on??? 

Also, I have a lot of green pastures but they tend to get dryer as we travel further. 

Note that some of the roads do stop at the red sign but some bypass it and life goes on. 

The top has the greener pastures idea - moving on to greener pastures. 

I am going to enter it in the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, coming up in July. I actually have it done in good time!

Autumn leaves

 We have had a much warmer than usual autumn recently but the very recent colder weather has arrived. I may be wrong but I think that the colder weather has given us some lovely reddish and orange leaves. We had a lot of yellowish leaves before this. 

Anyway, I was looking at the fallen leaves on my walks with the dog in the last few days. 

I found a leaf from our pear tree - not that we get many pears, the possums beat us to them. But the leaves are gorgeous. I know that I have posted about them in the past but just had to do so again today.    

I am also trying to get some enthusiasm up for either fabric dyeing or some collage and have collected some nicely shaped leaves from other trees too.

I just realised that I didn't get any fig leaves from the small tree that determinately grows in our garden. It is very small and doesn't give us any figs but it does have lovely shaped leaves. I really love the shapes, so I will go out tomorrow and get some. 

 

Compelling date: 25/5/25

 As the header says, today's date is pushing me to do a post. Not that I  have much to post about! I am still struggling with my tapestry! I am trying to do a bit of weaving every few days - can't seem to get it done every day.

I am working on an incomplete cartoon - mostly because I have made some mistakes and have not bothered to be too fraught about them. Also, I didn't do a coloured background in the cartoon so am making it up as I go. 

The theme seems to be that the longer we go through life, the dryer the surrounds become - a bit negative but that is how it is feeling! We are in drought here despite it not being officially acknowledged- we have had very little rain recently!!

Anyway, I am beavering away at it - sometimes. 

I usually do small tapestries, this one is not big but is bigger than I usually do. So I am finding that the seat and table I use are not that comfortable. I have lowered the table as far as it will go, have lowered the chair as far as it will go. I am trying to keep my arms at the level that is recommended for using a computer, having your elbows at a right angle. At this stage I am managing that but have to spread my legs more than I am used to as they no longer fit under the table. 

Ah, the sufferings we have to put up with. 

Anyway, it is going along and I hope to get it finished in time for the Bendigo Wool Show (also known as the Australian Sheep and Wool Show). I should have time, as long as I can stop myself from pulling out lots of it. 

On another note: there was an article about the textile course I did at RMIT. Not specifically about the course I did but relevant. Here is a link to the article.: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/25/a-new-room-for-a-doomed-loom-and-the-battle-to-save-australias-slowly-dying-crafts

The interesting thing is that it reminded me about the course I did, the changes that happened in the few years I studied and the fact that the Lost Trades Centre in Ballarat is going to take the old loom. 

Not much progress!

 I'm still working on the small tapestry. It is not helped by the fact that I have changed the cartoon while work is in progress. As I said in my last post, I have reduced the number of traffic signs. But I may not have made the larger roundabout sign big enough. 

I have woven, unpicked, woven, unpicked, etc. I think I have done it 4 times! I have decided to just do it, life is imperfect, so will the tapestry be.

On a brighter note: the weather is warm and pleasant at the moment. It's probably not good really, still drought and unusually warm. But it does entice me out. 

On my perambulations (what we call a walk when we don't want to use that w word! - we have a dog.) I saw some interesting faces in places - things that look like faces, or aliens, or animals . 

Here are some random pictures.

I am doing a post because I was reminded of the date (thanks Sue). It is 5/5/25. 

It keeps me entertained!

25/4/25

 ANZAC Day. Lots of stories about the world wars and other wars our people were involved in. Some amazing stories! Many sad stories. 

But I took the day off and tried not to get involved in all the stories - and the upcoming election!

I am working on a small tapestry. The theme is about Where the Road Leads. Initially I wanted to do a road leading to a grave - after all, that is where we end up.  But I decided that was probably too depressing. 

So I am working on an image that has road signs that indicate the trials of our travels through life. Lots of warnings, turn arounds, etc. 

I was having trouble doing all the signs so have reduced the number that I had thought to use. 

I decided to make the background grass - we are currently in an unofficial drought  - not sure why it isn't being declared. So I have been influenced by that! 

I have also tried to use up some of the bits and pieces used in other pieces. Therefore, the green is a bit random. 

Here is an image of the piece so far. 

A Blast from the Past!!

 I used to walk down at Darebin Parklands a lot with our previous dog. We haven't been recently because our present dog hasn't had a lot of off-lead walking. But we took her there recently - we are having quite warm weather at present, seemingly later than usual. So we are still needing to wary of snakes. 

I was amazed to see the cliff face looking so different from previous years. I'll have to find photos to compare the colours. 

And I have a tapestry based on the rocks that is quite purplish. No purple visible today!!

I also have a small tapestry based on a photo of a branch of a tree - it is not looking very inspiring now.

This has an enormous dead branch! Don't think it is the one I used as inspiration but I suppose it may have grown a lot in the intervening years. It is so long ago that I can't find any images since my proper computer died. All I could find was this link to my own blog. 

I also have a fabric collage I did from photos of the mulberry trees - they are gone! There are some small ones planted but of a different type. Actually, the link I found shows the trees not looking that much better - but they are deciduous and it was winter. They weren't so dead!

We have not had much rain for quite a few months now, it is drought-like. I read an article in the newspaper this last week, saying that the government doesn't declare drought conditions now. I didn't really understand why - but we are in a drought around here. 

Maybe getting some inspiration.

 I went to the AQC today, haven't been for a few years. 

It was busy around all the stalls, lots of lovely things I could have bought. I was relatively restrained but did buy a few little things - no fabric though, I have quite a good stash as it is. 

But I saw a couple of quilts that spoke to me. There were many beautiful and amazing quilts but these ones may be able to get me going again. One hopes. 

These will hopefully inspire me to do (and use) some more sun dyeing and eco-dyeing. I loved them!

  This was an amazing piece with free motion machine drawing!!

I liked this one because I like using scrim. And one of the members of our free motion machine embroidery group happened to bring a whole lot along last weekend - of course I took some, not knowing what I might use it for - now I am getting some ideas. 

All in all, a good day out!