Mumma's Gift

Just a little piece of silk used to do some Eco-print experiments on. Now being stitched into here and there to eventually make a journal cover for a talented poet :)

Holiday Fun

Spent a lovely day crafting with my 7yr old grandson and he helped me to do a little felting experiment.
A segment in a documentary I recently watched was all about reviving ancient crafts and keeping them alive. Felting was one of the crafts focused on.
To get children interested in the almost magical process of felt a couple of women came up with a brilliant idea. Visiting their local schools they would wrap the children's feet in slivers of carded wool wetted with warm soapy water. The feet were then wrapped with plastic cling wrap and the children asked to put their shoes back on over the wrappings. (Wellies or gumboots r gr8 4 this) After everyone has their shoes back on they all go for a nature walk taking about a half hour or so.
On returning from the walk the children remove their shoes and 'hey presto' felted foot sculptures/slippers :)
A normal 7 yr old lad usually has the attention span of a gnat and my grandson is no exception to the rule so thought he would be a wonderful helper for this experiment and a good test of its practicality in a small classroom situation :)
We had great fun even though I did learn that 2 people doing the wrapping would be much more efficient, quicker and more precise. Also we only walked for about 10mins ha ha ha but see our awesome results below :)
Thanks Boodgie you were a wonderful helper for Narni today xxxx

"Life's Like a Box of Choclats"......

My favourite Forrest Gump quote :)
It holds true when opening textile bundles as you just never know what your going to find. Today's surprise is that the towel I used as a blotter has excelled itself by blotting up ALL the colour, Doh!
Well nearly all the colour....

Spring Time Top

Couldn't wait a second longer to open one of the bundles.
This is the natural coloured hemp top with Kangaroo Paw and native clematis prints.

The Green Man

I've long had a fascination for the ancient symbol of The Green Man so to distract myself from the temptation of unwrapping my textile bundles too early I've begun stitching away at a piece I've been playing with for a while.
It began as large piece of very fine wool fabric given to me by an elderly lady as the leftovers from the sewing of her 'nighties'.
I then printed it with local foliage in the usual manner. An old Lino printblock I had carved some years ago sparked an idea to experiment with concocting a block printing ink from Marri sap.
After a couple of dodgy starts, success :)
I have printed a tshirt for myself and one for my son which have stood up to a fair amount of washing so far.
Anyway back to the 'green man', I printed it onto the wool fabric and have been playing around with it every now n then with stitching, dry felting and quilting etc.

Mystery Sausages

I have three wrapped bundles ah la India Flint Eco-print style (she is such an inspiration) but have worked out a few tricks of my own thru experimenting and I'm just busting a gut to open them!
One is a little natural coloured hemp top I got on sale at the Margaret River Hemp Shop and a white hemp gored skirt from the same sale and a soft grey stretchy knit bamboo long skirt with coral vine, kangaroo paw, river gum leaves and some native clematis working their magic on/in/around them.
Must be patient....must be patient....must be patient.... :( I'm not good at patient ha ha ha
Lets hope I can at least hold out til the weekend :)

Strewth I'm Finally Back!!

Yay, I've finally got the tech difficulties sorted and I'm back! AND I figured it out all by myself which is a miracle in itself hahaha :)
Anyhoooo here's a few snaps to wet ur appetite til I can sit down to a proper catch up.......
Handspun and crocheted cream merino wool shawl dyed with good ol soursob weeds :)