The blue lake

Part of the trip we did at christmas was to an old haunt of mine and a very favourite place (although it has become sadly touristy recently. The blue lake is actually the remains of an old gold mine which got so deep that the pumping system broke and the whole thing filled with water. The reef they were following went under the township of St Bathans so there was no further work done. The white clay base made the lake look very blue indeed when I was young but there was a creek overflow with agricultural run off which mostly destroyed the base and now the colour is rather green instead but it is still a very beautiful place despite being man made. So here are some pictures taken by me, Matt and the boys.

And a gratuitous cat pic because I don't know how to delete it :) Yet!

Steampunk

We did a trip to Oamaru last year and I have a heap of interesting photos so I thought I would post a few here. The exhibition was very good.

We had a really great day :)

viv

whew

And now back to normal transmissions :) I killed the comments section by trying a new widget. Very bad! Took a while to get the comments back again but they are now working properly (I hope).

We did a short trip to Milton the other day to visit the wool factory shop. I got quite a bit of wool and a new pullover for Matt. Amongst the wool, I got some noodles (half spun wool) which I am going to make hats out of as it knits quite well. When I had finished untangling and winding the wool into balls there was a bit left over so I decided to try a needle felt object. I've done a lot of felting but I've never tried needle felting before. I only had black and white so I ended up with this.....

He is under 2 inches high and cost me a lot of finger pricks because I am new to this but I thought he came out quite sweet :) He is now sitting on my keyboard. I won't be pricking my fingers so much next time :) If there is a next time......

Morris dancers

A whole crowd of Morris dancers morrised their way up the street the other day. There was a convention in town apparently :)

So there you have it :) A little bit of interest for the day.

viv

Cut away pieces

The Art fibre Dunedin site has a couple of photos of me and my things but I thought I would post a couple of my own pics as well because I did two of them and Pat got the photo the wrong way round:)

The orange and blue thing was using a piece we did at the marbling event earlier along with a few bits of plain commercial stuff. I was rather pleased with the outcome as I have struggled to use this fabric in other directions (there's a derelict piece hiding in the corner looking at me mournfully right now!). Then I got keen and set out with a piece of fake fur in lurid yellow, a piece of old curtain net. part of an old blouse and a bit of reject dark brown stuff. The result was definitely interesting. Somehow there are animals in that set of random shapes :)

I think I might explore this type of design a bit more.....

viv

ps the yellow is much brighter in real life - I should have used the flash or something :)

viv

small pictures

I got keen for a bit last week and decided to finally quilt up the four little pictures I made a month back. They have been sitting in a dejected heap since then so now they have nice new clouds and waves. I had thought I might keep one but now I don't know which as they all have their good points. The rest are to go for sale eventually - probably on 'Felt' where I have already put a few bits and pieces.

Someday I'd really like to have my own shop site just to display stuff and sell the odd thing.

See what you think is the best:)

viv

And just for good measure - a small felted picture

viv

Christmas bells

Its been Christmas bells all the way round here. I think over half the kindy and school have already gone there and so have a selection of adults. I have to admit that they do look good. We have used ex kindy paintings this year (the ones either not named or done by teachers/helpers) as they are on pretty good quality paper and cut up really well.

The bells are easy to make. The kindy ones I make with three sides and bells around the bottom edge. Even the three year olds can tie a few knots and cut a bit of line when encouraged :) The senior kids and adults make the eight sided ones. I have found that pegs are great for holding things in place whilst knots are tied.

I tried lining one with gold paper but it was a large amount of work getting it together and it was really stiff to fold. I didn't think it was worth the effort so won't go there again. If anyone would like the pattern, leave me a note on e mail and I'll get back to you :)

viv

Ballet

William got a part in the Royal Ballet performance of The Sleeping Beauty. It was more than a walk on part this time. The four boys had to actually dance with the big people this time and they all did very well indeed.

William was the Arabian Prince (junior) so without further ado, here are some photos.

(I made him take off the socks under his tights after this!)

The last image was taken during the technical rehearsal. Very impressive sets!!!!

viv

Island woolly thing

I have at last got access to the photos taken on St Martins Island.

For the record, we had a blast and nearly everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves. I got a little sunburned which I wasn't expecting. It was just about a perfect day. The felting went really well and I'm only sorry I didn't have a chance to do all the other activities. I did have a go at spinning with a spindle and, despite not having spun anything for 10 or so years, I did manage to turn out a reasonable thread on a spindle made out of an old stick and a potato.

The dyeing looked wonderful hung out along the fence and I did manage to get photos of most of the felt pieces although my battery did die a bit too soon for my liking.

I took the spindle idea to the kindy on Monday (where I occasionally do relief work) and we made a spindle out of an old apple and a twig. Several of the 6 year olds got quite a reasonable thread. I'm aiming to tackle the dyed fleece this week once I give the spinning wheel a long overdue overhaul. Anyhow, here is a selection of the photos (not all taken by me).

These are not in order btw.
enjoy

viv

I forgot to add this. Matt took this photo of the boat returning with us from the island.

And this of us unloading at Port Chalmers.

viv

slow!

Just a quick post to say I'm still alive but down to dial up speed because the boys used all the data.

William got his plates today so his mouth is full of correctional gear and he isn't speaking right yet although that will improve with time :)

It is raining fit to burst outside so my garden efforts are put off briefly until the sun arrives back. There should be lots of late blossom to photo by then as the trees are well budded up and colouring now. The rhododendrons are looking spectacular through the rain. Hopefully they will hold until the weather improves so I can get some good photos this year. Both the new apple trees are doing well and we have a brand new crab apple courtesy of the council which accidentally ring barked our last one whilst weed whacking the empty paper road next door. The new one looks about the same age as the old one so we haven't lost out and we are happy with the outcome. The man from the council said that they take on lots of temporary staff at this time of the year so there are occasions like this. I'm just pleased they apologised :)

Viv

wet felt pictures

It occurred to me that some of you might like to know just how these pics are wet felted so here it is.....

Materials needed

one piece bubble wrap with the bubbles facing up
one piece whitebait netting (the square kind) enough to fold over the top as well as the bottom.
various multicoloured fine merino wools (carded)
an old plastic bag
soap and water

Method

lay out the bubble wrap and the netting
Cut two pieces of wool (three if the top is to look plain) and tease out carefully to the size wanted. These should be very thin and see through for the best (and quickest) result.

Lay the first piece horizontal, the second piece vertical and then make the picture piece horizontal on the netting (sandwich like).

Fold the net over these three layers keeping the fold away from the edge. Damp down carefully with water and then rub with soap.

Work with the plastic bag crumpled up horizontally and vertically checking every so often by lifting the net (this also helps prevent too much sticking) When the piece is solid enough, turn it over and work the back. When the three layers are bonded so that they don't separate when pinched, wash the felt and then bash it lots. (the children had a great time throwing theirs at the floor :) This will make the fibres close up and the whole thing shrink.

This whole process should take about half an hour. Then let it dry and embellish as you like :)

Note - if you want more even edges it pays to lift the net and fold or push them into place well before finishing the rubbing.

viv

Felt

I teach several craft classes at the local Steiner School where my kids attend/ed and for the last three weeks we have been making felt pictures using a wet felt technique and then adding embellishments by needle felting or sewing things on. I took a number of pictures so here they are...

These are class 4 and 5 students (and their normal teacher)

And the obligatory Sprocket pic.

viv