Home Again (photo heavy)

What a wonderful three and a half weeks we've just had touring around Australia!  We're absolutely pooped now so I hope most of this will make sense.

We arrived in Sydney rather early but luckily the hotel was ready to serve breakfast while we waited a bit for our room. We had a wonderful sunrise to greet us over coffee and croissants with unmistakable landmarks below.  

We did a fabulous tour of the city.

We were both surprised at how small Bondi Beach is!

Eventually we picked up a car and drove to Hunter Valley for a couple of days.  Local lawn mowers in action.

And some of the cute kind though we were warned not to do the petting thing as they can 'anoint' you, as it were.

After dropping the car off back in Sydney we flew over to Adelaide and a trip around the Barossa Valley too.  (Ok so wine has been a bit of a theme so far but they do it so well).  This is the actual Jacobs Creek that runs through the area.

In Adelaide we picked up the local train for the next stage of our journey. Isn't it beautiful and shiny?  We had a fairly short one of only 24 carriages which was nearly 700 metres long, it's often longer.

After just over 24 hours and 1500 or so miles we arrived in Alice Springs.  It was mid afternoon and we still had a 400 km drive ahead of us to our stop that night in Kings Canyon.  The hire company tried to give us a Yarris.  We explained we would be taking it the short way (yes 400kms is the short way) and needed something with a bit more gravitas for the unsealed road ahead.  A lot of verbal wrangling and we eventually drove to the airport to pick up this instead.

Much more suitable!  As you can imagine the day was drifting on and we finally set out about 4pm.  After 100km of sealed (tarmaced) road it turns into this.

Another 200km of corrugated gravel!  And the sun was setting directly in front of us.

Guess who was grinning the whole way.

We were back on sealed road for the last 100km which was good as it was pitch black by then and we had no idea where we were going.  Eventually we passed a resort in Kings Canyon and knew we were on the right road so kept going to find our stop.  After another hour or so we were just about to turn around when we saw the sign to the glamping lodges and arrived at 9pm.  We were fed and watered by a constantly smiling Graham and gladly went to bed.

The following morning we were on the way down to Uluru and the trusty steed was still raring to go. John is still grinning.

Thankfully were we back on tarmac for the rest of the trip.

And still on the stuff an hour later.

Oh look, a car in the distance!! The scale of this place is phenomenal and we are convinced an Australian kilometre is actually 2 miles long.

Much later that day we eventually reached our destination.

We had some fabulous events arranged for us here and we even treated ourselves to a helicopter ride over the area. This is our hotel and Uluru in the garden just after take off. Our extremely glam tent is the third from the left.

The Kata Tjuta are the often forgotten sisters of Uluru and a part of the same park.  The pilot pointed out the similarity to broaching whales which is ironic since I don't think there is anywhere further from the sea!

After three days exploring we flew back to Alice Springs and boarded the Ghan again for the second half of our journey.  Somebody also had a celebration and our fellow carriage companions sang him Happy Birthday.

We did stop for a tour of Katherine Gorge which was rather beautiful and calm with the low river.

Eventually, after another 24 hours and another 1500 or so miles, we arrived in Darwin.  We had a wonderful trip into Kakadu from here and found some of the residents interesting.  Never smile at a crocodile.....

Still prowling.  They can move surprisingly fast for their size!

The guide said the pelicans were the most confident birds out there!!!! I guess they would make a tasty meal.

Another couple of nights later we flew over to Broome.  We had four nights of total relaxation here and we treated it as our holiday to recover from the holiday! On the Friday we took a yacht Karma IV out to do some whale watching with a group of about 30 others.  There was plenty of wildlife out there including jellyfish, turtles and sea snakes.

And as if they weren't a deterrent enough they then put out a dragnet so people could swim!! No thank you!! Those that did had a great time though and it was certainly cooling.

But then we did see what we had gone out there for.  In total I think we must have seen about 15 whales.

This was a mother and calf playing together.  She was trying to teach him broaching and he wasn't doing to bad!

 
In the end just as we were having the sail put up to turn back home they waved goodbye. It was all pretty fantastic!

There was plenty of sitting by the pool and trying more wine before we flew back to Perth, on to Sydney and back home again.  Considering I managed to leave my camera charger at home so I took most of the photos on my phone I don't think I did too bad!  There are another few hundred to go through but I won't bore you with those.

We're almost back on UK time now and I hope to be back in the studio very soon!

That Was a Week That Was

We thought we had been organised in using the back bedroom to store everything from the hall and bathroom but then the plumbers arrived.  That meant emptying the airing cupboard too.  And then they wanted the carpets and floorboards up as well. John was here alone as I had been rushed into hospital and so everything was moved rather quickly into the only room left, our bedroom!  Well that was a bit of a mess.

The thermo store looks like something Heath Robinson would be so proud of.  John managed to take out the remains of a chimney in there and gained a lot of room. There is still plenty of work to be done to tidy everything up and totally rebuild the airing cupboard but we have heating and hot water again. 

I was in hospital from the Monday to Friday night as I had lost 8 pints of blood in less than 36 hours from 3 lesions in my stomach.  Looking at the photos of inside I have very thin stomach lining and I know I'm ulcer prone, too many years taking Voltarol.  Unfortunately one of these lesions seems to of happened over a vein and bled rather heavily.  We can only guess that, as it is very near my hernia, it rolled and split. I wasn't very well for a time and had to have four blood transfusions. Mind you with all the moving of stuff and no water perhaps the hospital was the best place to be for a while there! 

The rest of the build is coming along nicely with more plumbing in the bathrooms being finished, plasterboard going up and the whole of the old roof being replaced as well as the new bit. We also opted, after a lot of thought and looking at many options, to go for lovely eco cedar cladding along the back and gable cheeks. That has also all arrived.  

The new windows arrived two weeks ago but they had made them in the wrong colour.  As they were timber and not painted they have had to be totally remade again, a bit of a delay!!! In less than two weeks we leave for Australia.  Luckily the builder is staying here to carry on and hopefully the windows will arrive for him to fit so he won't be working in the dark for too long! 

As you can imagine I haven't been too well to make much. The brain has been more than a little foggy.  Not sure if it's lack of blood, lack of oxygen or just me in general! I could spend a little time sitting at the kitchen sink using up some of the felting wools I bought for the Fiona Duthie workshop on making felt wrapped soaps.  Quite a pleasant task and something to go on the charity table at next years open studios. 

I also completed the online workshop to make wands.  A strange subject I know but one that took my fancy. I also made a stand to keep them in and this is the end result. 

They were very hard to photograph!  I think it was because of all the bling and spangles. 

I think I have an appointment to finalise the bedrooms today and then I will go and potter in the studio.  No bending or lifting to strain the tum and plenty of sitting down as I run out of puff pretty quick. 

A Few Little Cuties!

I posted about the machines on Facebook and totally forgot to blog about them!

Aren't they sweet!

John bought me the Wilcox & Gibbs.  She is 10" to the top of the wheel and sews a beautiful chain stitch like a dream.

As that one looked a bit lonely we then bought the immaculate little Essex which also sews beautifully and is 7" to the top of the spool pin.

And it came with this diddy, teeny child's Casige which is only 5.5" to the top of the spool pin and works too.

In the making department I have been cracking on with the EG Course and two Artful Gathering workshops.  I would show progress pictures but I usually don't because the course tutor has gone to a lot of trouble to put these together and I think progress pictures would undermine that and probably breech a copyright or two. They are also paid for courses and again it's wouldn't be fair on the tutor to bandy her lessons about freely on the internet.  I'm sure you understand!

I did finish another Olivia cardie.

It just needs blocking and buttons but it's a lovely crinkly lightweight yarn by Sirdar called Raffaella.  I have so many spare and odd balls now I can see where the term Granny Blanket came from!  I must do something with them all.  Perhaps a crocheted blanket.....

It was also Mike's birthday a couple of weekends ago and I drew a portrait of Grandpup Remi for him.

In case you were wondering about the rusty nails panel, they have oozed a little!

Don't forget all pictures can be clicked on to be made bigger.

I will confess that in the beginning I did spray with a little salty water but other than that they've done their own thing.  No idea why some marks went up and some down but I'm happy with that.

The build is plodding along.  We are all Celotexed in so it's almost like having real walls.  The roofer starts next week.  Wiring for the solar panels is in place as is most of the rest of the wiring.  The Plumber is also starting next week to install a whole new thermal store system, could be fun juggling the amount of water we have to use! Bathrooms are all ready to be delivererd and the bedrooms are in the plans stage.  Can't move in the garage for 'stuff'!

Finally hello to new followers, waving madly from the outer reaches of Dorset.  I'm glad you found your way over.

Keep cool in the heat everyone!  Unless you're down under of course.

1st Attempt: Eco Printing

When I went to the Brockenhurst Needlework Fiesta a few weeks ago I purchased some Eco print fabric from Caroline Bell.  I knew I wanted something to sit in with my rusted fabrics.  I cobbled them together and made this cloth.  

It's 36 x 23 inches and a good size to cart around with some neutral thread and stitch into.  

I've wanted to have a go at eco printing for a while and have most of the kit.  Last week I finally gathered up some fabrics and put them on to boil for a couple of hours.  I then let them soak in an alum solution before selecting several varieties of leaves to fold into them and simmer away on Friday.

After a couple more hours I switched off and left them in the pan in the utility room to steep. 

Over the weekend I took Ellie over Dorchester way to do some tracker training.  She certainly got those little grey cells working and I was very proud of her achievements.  Within the Pointer groups I am a member of on FB there are several who do this on what could almost be classed as a professional level working with search and rescue teams finding people and lost dogs etc.  Very rewarding for both owners and dog.  I'm not sure Ellie will go up to their level but she certainly rose to the challenges set her.  Obviously we were too busy to take photos but this is Ellie and I with the other ladies and their dogs who were with us.

When I came back I rinsed out the fabrics and hung them to dry in the shade.  I've just taken them in to iron.  They didn't come out fantastically and I was amazed at how yellow most of it was. I will have to look into which leaf it was that did that.  Here are some photos of the better bits.

There were some bits of shirt, old table linen, turban cloth, silk, calico and good white cotton.  I'm not sure if I should now post mordant them to see if they change colour again.  I think I need to read a bit more into it again unless anyone has any experience they wish to share. Also the camera has lied a little and made the colour a little more vivid than they are.  For a first attempt I'm pleased at least some pieces came out usable and the rest of the fabric also has some good tones if not leaf patterns.  

In other areas I have been fiddling a bit.  The coursework's latest session is almost done and I am doing two workshops online with Artful Gathering again this year, mainly for technique but they are fun too.  Knitting has almost come to a stand still but I've had a few books and magazines arrive so I read them in the evenings rather than knit. 

I made these three door slams this morning.  

Now it's finally becoming warm the doors have a habit of slamming shut with everything open. These save the dog's noses or them being locked in let alone unsuspecting fingers. As for the build, we can now see shapes of rooms with walls going in and the roof timbers are on. I did like the shadows the wiring cast the other morning, they reminded me of the cow parsley I've been using in my coursework. 

We are on our third total rewire of the house.  The first time was because all the old stuff had to come out.  The second time was when we had an extension built 7 years ago and there was a lot of rat damage and rerouting.  This time the rats have eaten us out of most cables so this stuff is rodent repellant and semi armoured.  We have also had perforated trays made to block access in the cavities and are using scrunched chicken wire in other areas.  We will win this battle! 

And finally if anyone ever tells you online friends are not really friends you can poke them in the eye.  I had a lovely gift and card in the post to cheer me up.  

Thank you Benta. They are in and on my bag so I'm never bagless. XXX