Settling in to the New Year!

Dear Friends

Well Happy New Year! I thought I would share some thoughts from my New Year's Day. Every year our family packs up leftover Christmas fare and we go into the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne.

Well they are just splendid with many very old trees and sweeping lawns and lots of places to have a picnic and just chill out. Open places as well as hidey places.

I often take in painting stuff or stitching and we are very weighed down with chairs and blankets and the odd cushion and the thermos and tea bags and ..................you get the idea. Imagine 5 weighed down donkeys and you just about have it.

Well we settled and being a gorgeous day there were many people around. I normally am busy and don't really notice what others may be doing but this day there was a little girl and her brother very hard at work.

You couldn't help but notice them. I think they may have been tourists - I could not make out their language but northern Europe I think.

These little children were so keen on building this little fairy house that they took their time and were very content to work until it was right. I got this shot in quickly which seemed unfair but she was such a joy to watch. Her final touch was to sprinkle grass on top of the creation.

Her family soon set off and I had an opportunity to see her handiwork. 

Here is a better shot of the architects work.

SO instead of keeping busy with a pile of jobs I had brought in to work on - I just decided to sit and listen to the day.  Now the Boxing day picnic is a tradition for many people so groups were a little closer together than normal. These are some of the funny snippets I observed during that afternoon.

As we peered for our little plot to sit on, I heard 2 men earnestly discussing fishing - well actually one man monologuing about his ethos on flys etc 

To our left a lady spoke loudly about the dynamics between teachers and parents

A group behind us were all from the UK and madly debating West Ham football team and whilst one of them looked like Ned Kelly - he lectured the rest about electronics

There was an Indian gentleman who wandered around the lawn, then sat and drank and then was off again - dressed in white and pink gingham. He whistled the whole time. 

A lady read her magazine intently ignoring her family and she had her hair wrapped up in the most gorgeous silk scarf with fab gypsy ear rings - I am always hoping my face will change and I look great with my hair/head wrapped in a silk scarf - never mind. 

A little boy kept marching up and down the hill like a steadfast tin soldier  - hoping his Mum would do the same. 

Three young men perhaps in their early 20's playing hide and seek!!! Just gorgeous!

I am sorry if this sounds a little voyeuristic - I truly wasn't spying on anyone - just observing. I was reminded how very wonderful the world is - when everyone can sit on the grass or run around and just be. The strains and worries of everyday life quite banished - mind you the steadfast tin soldier marching up the hill seemed a very sunny little boy for whom strain was a long way away. 

These magnificent cactus flowers had opened - I don't recall ever having seen them although they are quite old. Some things do take a little longer to come to fruition I guess.

Towards 7.00 pm we trundled home - thermos now empty and nibbles all gone and shadows stretching longer.

Hoping everyone is finding time to just sit and listen to the world around them this week

Happiest of everything to you this coming year
Love
Elizabeth
XXX

Christmas is Upon Us!

Dear Friends,

Well December has rushed on by and tomorrow is Christmas Day - can hardly believe it.

I have been busy renovating sections of the studio. New draws from IKEA I am in LOVE with - I got a glazier to cut me come glass to create a fresh finish to them - making them super easy to keep clean as well.

Fiddling around with what will go in them has taken up a lot of play time in the studio!

Tall CD cabinets cast off from my sister now hold all my paints organised into colour - BLISS! This has freed the table up considerably.

I really need to do other things to the studio but with the joy of Christmas approaching cooking and decorations have taken priority. SO mess galore in the kitchen has resulted in way too many yummy things.

Testing different lollies to set into shortbread was my technical research to our Christmas fare. Boiled lollies simply don't work - but jubes do! These little star ones held onto their shape and went shiny! Perfect!
AND YES they tasted quite lovely.

We ALWAYS have these balls that are crushed biscuits, sweet and condensed milk (mmm....) and dark cocoa. Covered in coconut. So easy to eat - sadly!

OH yes here are the lollies before and after for the shortbread jewels.

I decided to put my tree up on the ceiling in the studio - it used to be in a corner and tended to fall over.
Up on the ceiling it can hold many decorations! FAB!

Along the work tables are the avenue of Santas! Can a girl have too many Santas?

In our lounge room we have candles on every night in the Christmas period.  It is a special time and I am always glad we make the effort to add all the little touches that live in a cupboard for the rest of the year.

The tree is 8 ft tall and the angel just gets in before scraping the tips of her wings on the ceiling!

Well off to the land of nod until the day begins

Much love to everyone who has written in and followed my blog - I so love hearing from you all
Have a splendid holiday season however you celebrate it

Elizabeth
XXX

And the winner is.................................

Dear Friends
Well thankyou for such a lovely response to my Blog Give Away of one of my Felted Birds!

The winner is    GILLIAN CHAPMAN  from the Isle of Wight. Congratulations!

I will be posting your parcel on Monday morning and feel certain it will arrive before Christmas. I hope you have fun displaying him/her somewhere!

I am sorry I can't send one to everyone, they take me such a long time to make from dyeing the fleece, to making the felt through to embroidering the details. There are more available over at Etsy if you are still keen to own one.

So every best wish and happy creating in the run up to Christmas and Holiday Season!
Good grief 2013 is almost here!

Love
Elizabeth
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3 Days to go!

Hi Friends,
Thankyou so much for your wonderful response to the give away! I forgot to mention that if you would prefer a more subdued little bird in quieter tones then no problem.
Like any artist I always assume that everyone likes my colours best, brights, but this doesn't suit us all. If you would prefer a felted friend that is brown/blue/silver colours then that can certainly be arranged! Remember just leave a comment or "follow" my blog and you will be entered into the draw.

Everything is bright and warm here and our first bowl of cherries have been harvested! They have come from a very young tree, earlier than expected and this little dessert bowl was the ENTIRE crop. Henry thinks they are superb - not too certain what they are - but sensational fun to grab the stalk in your teeth and fling it across the table!  Is this young fluff monster entertaining or what? 

The obvious question I guess is, "Should Henry be on the table?"   Mmm...............Oh well...........

Good Luck in the draw!

Love 

Elizabeth

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Give Away!

Hi everyone!

Well I thought it was time to announce a fabulous give away!

Simply leave a comment or "follow" my blog and I will choose a name at random from a hat on the 1st of December.  Your new little felt bird will be winging its' way to you just in time to hang on your tree or anywhere you like. Your little bird is created from handmade felt from my hand dyed wools and then embroidered.

There are a couple of other items in there too but that would be telling.The festive season is supposed to be about surprises anyway!

Good Luck on the 1st of December!

Love

Elizabeth

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Goldilocks

'and then Goldilocks tried the Queen sized bed with the lovely warm quilt and crept in. Pretty soon he

fell fast asleep and his poor family couldn't find him for ages and ages and were getting quite worried.'

We had a really noisy storm this morning and Henry disappeared. He tried to stick it out and kept running from window to window - upstairs downstairs and all over. After a while we couldn't find him - sure enough
the most reassuring place for us all was his chosen spot as well - IN BED!

Happy snoozing!

Elizabeth
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Spring is truly here!

Hello Everyone!
Well Spring is truly here and our wet wet wet winter is really paying off now. All the roses are just so joyous and I am guessing that extra deep soak has given them a real boost.
The kitties are loving rolling outside again after clinging to heating vents and fighting over the favourite chair.\
As you may know Nelly has not accepted Henry although a bare toleration is in progress and she has stopped hissing at every doorway - just in case he might be in that particular room. (You will be able to see them both if you click on the pic)

Here you can see them very close together outside and Nell just couldn't be bothered rising to chase him away.  A rare day. We are having a small summerhouse built in the backyard - a nice place to dream really.

These little daisies were about the size of my thumb nail  - thankyou macro lense! They were in the down the street and just so gorgeous. I think that more than any other flower, daisies signal that heat is on the way.
I am going to try and paint them this week.

For the first time in years the foxgloves are marching around the garden all by themselves. As we have such a deciduous garden, they get a good start before everything is in full leaf. I just love them!

After a sudden shower last week followed by wretched wind, the roses here just littered the driveway in the loveliest way!

Spring can be so unpredictable but whilst the lovely days are lingering we are all taking advantage of them.

Hoping you all get some outside time this week
Love
Elizabeth
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