Lunch in the Hunter Valley

Last Sunday we went for a drive in the Lower Hunter valley, NSW. The craggy mountain backdrop to the acres of vineyards, cattle and horses grazing with plenty of green is very soothing to me. Crops of calves and foals tell me that Spring is on its way. We stop at our favourite cafe and have a platter of assorted desserts and a pleasant glass of wine! A nice treat. It's still chilly, but the wattle is beautiful everywhere. Winter is behind us now I hope.

Unravelling time

Oh dear! A whole month's worth of knitting disgracefully unpicked and lying there waiting, waiting patiently to be knitted up again into a sample wrap. I can't bear a mistake and it would be so obvious in this pattern. See pattern here on MadelineTosh website.

The variegated yarns of this shade of Noro Silk Garden sock yarn is a little too contrasty for my taste, but once I put a deep frill on it, it may change the whole look. I love the knit fabric of garter stitch which shows up the blending of colours in the yarn so well. (I will have to find some more Austenish good movies to watch and knit by this weekend!)

My first fabric ATCs

Some ATCs traded with swap groups in July, August. The fabric ATCs were scraps from a Sunbonnet Sue quilt that I was making maybe 10 years ago! I kept the piece of patched 'fabric' wondering if I would ever use it! I can't think of a nicer way to use up bits and pieces. Once you start thinking in miniature, you see possibilities everywhere and start dreaming of creations. I will never look at a lifestyle magazine the same way again! All those lovely photos of flowers, home decor... mmm...

I have been having a lot of creative fun with ATCs since being introduced to them March 2010. Collage with pretty papers, magazine images, now experimenting with zentangles and watercolour and fabric. After all, I have been a fabric a holic for nigh on 25 years now! So I hope to slowly use up some of my fabric stash and ephemera. As these miniatures are just that, 2½" x 3½", I can't see the stash disappearing in a hurry, goodness only knows our lovely rumpus room table has become a casualty to collage and ephemera, with nowhere to put all this lovely stash.

Jach and Celia. This is the only photo of my maternal grandparents on their wedding day, so I thought it was worthy of embellishment. I included an Australian postage stamp with bridal roses. It is a mystery as to the flowers Gran may have carried on her day, or perhaps, none at all in lean times and being one of 16 children. I will have to find what year this was! Maybe early '20's?

This photo used to hang suspended from a very high picture rail in their tiny poorly lit loungeroom mostly devoid of ornamentation, encased in a very big oval wooden frame. I often used to stare at this photo as they stared back at me, frozen in time. The couple in the picture seemed to bear no resemblance to the hard working grandparents that I knew in the '50's, '60's and '70's. Gran always in her 'pinnie' and beanie, milking cows on the freezing cold mornings just a smidgeon past dawn, in Bullarto Sth Victoria; scrubbing and rubbing clothes on the wooden washboard until she got a new Pope washer with a hand wringer.

I have fond memories of hanging the washing on the line on a wire propped up on a pole working with Gran. Not the most sophisticated clothes line, but serviceable. Like everything my grandmother had. Their married life was all about hard work on a dairy and produce farm, thrift and recycling as much as possible.