Sunday 30 October 2016

30 October Loom with a View

This was the view I had today while threading up my loom with a fine alpaca/silk warp for a wrap. It was nice to be able to have the door open.
 

29 October Nostalgia

It's family birthday season and some of the old photos are being dusted off. This is me with two of my sisters, Norma and Mary.
 

28 October Milanese Lace Lady

I wonder if I will ever be proficient enough to make this.
 

27 October Blackbird


Sunday 23 October 2016

23 October Clematis 1 and Clematis 2

This is the deciduous one, tangling with the roses on my fence.

And this is the native evergreen one, covering an untidy spot as planned but also taking off up every tree it can find.
 


 

Saturday 22 October 2016

22 October Alpaca Award

I sent a handwoven wrap to the national Alpaca show recently and have been expecting it back now the show is over.  A package came in today's mail. It didn't seem big enough for a wrap . . . this is what it contained.
 Along with it was a $50 voucher to spend at Felt & Fibre . . . to add more stash to the stash I already have and don't have time to use! AND a note to say the wrap was sold and "the cheque is in the mail!"
This is the wrap. In a way I am sorry to see it go but hey - more money, more stash! I do have another in the same colour but with not so much pattern. Perhaps I will repeat this one in the same alpaca/silk in a vibrant peacock colour that has been looking at me for a while.

21 October Scott Street in Bloom

The blossom is lovely but the wind is giving it a hard time.

Thursday 20 October 2016

20 October A Starling Party!

What's the collective noun for a whole lot of starlings? There were probably not as many as four-and-twenty but a whole lot of them were having a party on my lawn today.

I don't know what they were eating but I sure hope it was weed seeds.
 

19 October Wisteria

Wisteria at its best - lovely while it lasts.

18 October Spilling over Fences

Walking home along Hospital Road all these shrubs were coming over their fences to greet me. It made me remember that there are still several things I want in my garden - especially the lilacs.

Saturday 15 October 2016

Thursday 13 October 2016

October 13 Roaring Meg Pinot Noir

This relates to Tuesday's lunch at the Honest Lawyer. (Goes well with lamb shanks)
 

Wednesday 12 October 2016

12 October Lacemakers visit Creative Fibre Guild

Lacemakers were guests at the CF Guild meeting today so I was there with two hats on. This is the lace pillow I am working on at the moment, working out variations of Milanese lace to build up a little collection of samples.
 

11 October A Nice Place for Lunch

What better place for lunch with friends and family? The Honest Lawyer in Nelson is always worth a visit and this day I was with Lane, Yvonne and Anne.
 

10 October Weaving for Once

I took a couple of days to spend some time at the loom and the result is this scarf in baby alpaca, woven in a three-end huck lace diamond pattern. I had just one 50g ball of the beautiful yarn so didn't make the scarf too long in case I ran out. I needn't have worried; it took just 32grams.
 

9 October Teapot Tower

Love this tower I saw in one of the gardens included in a Garden Tour organised by St Andrew's church.

Friday 7 October 2016

8 October Strawberry Fields Forever



7 October Fruit

Wow! this is a "child size" real fruit ice cream.

Hydroponic strawberries. Seconds in the front . . . and would you believe, jam strawberries in the back!

6 October Trilliums

I love these. They disappear and I ignore them; then they pop up among the helebores looking magnificent.

Wednesday 5 October 2016

5 October Hands

For today's topic I chose hands, which made me think of our last Weavers' Group meeting, I was watching my friend Jan making a "walking" braid with her fingers . . . and her feet as well!
 

4 October Plants

On a whim I had collected a handful of the small bulblets (or whatever they're called) from the stems of some lilies in my garden last year. I think every one of them must have grown. They were looking crowded in the two 6-part pots I had planted them in so this is the day I separated them out - all 60+ of them. Anyone want any lilies? (White ones I think/hope)
 

Monday 3 October 2016

3 October Something Old

Staying with the Rock and Mineral show for the moment, here are two "something olds" - but that's OK because "something old" was on both of my lists.  I didn't ask how old these ammonite fossils are but I'm sure they fit the brief by several centuries. Below are fossilized sharks' teeth.
  

 

Sunday 2 October 2016

2 October Unexpected Colour

Unexpected Colour
Today I went to the National Rock and Mineral show, mainly because I had a free ticket for allowing them to put a promotional sign on my fence. I remembered that "unexpected colour" was one of the topics on my photo-a-day list so I jumped at the chance to take a pic of this petrified wood from Arizona. It really did stand out.

Saturday 1 October 2016

A Change of Focus - for a while

I haven't forgotten about my blog, and I haven't forgotten about weaving either, I'm just not doing much of it at the moment. I'm concentrating on learning lacemaking this year and really enjoying it, but my efforts are not worthy of publication yet. I'll be doing samples for some time before I start any projects.

I thought, in the meantime, I could use the blog for "a photo a day". I have acquired two lists of suggestions for topics and may or may not stick to one or other of them - I won't be doing them in order of the list, but will choose something appropriate for the day. And I may not put up a photo taken on that day but I will use a recent one.

Here are a couple from September to start with, and one for today. I will try to put up a photo a day for the whole of October. :)

29 September "Out My Window"

30 September "Spring"
1 October "Childhood Memory"