Thursday 19 February 2009

~ 'Lellow's' and Other Things ~


What is a 'Lellow', I hear you ask?
Well let me tell you another little bird story about 'The Lellow's'.

We have been recently been entertained by Eastern Yellow Robins around the garden and we named them 'The Lellow's'. This name stems from our little 2 year 9 month granddaughter, darling little Miss Milly, who can talk like a book and can say words of four syllables, but can't yet get her tongue around the word 'yellow'. Well the 'Lellow's' became part of our daily life and we got huge joy from seeing them (a little couple) flying around our garden every day for must have been almost a month or more. We would always be saying to each other' there is 'Mr or Mrs Lellow' as we would watch them looking for insects and grubs. We had got used to their song and in the evenings would sometimes go out and call to them and sit and watch them in the garden. When we called them they would come up and cock their heads to one side to 'size us up' We knew they must have had a nest either in our garden or somewhere nearby but had never found it, however on Saturday, I heard them singing a beautiful chorus and flying around and around the garden but there were now four of them so I think it must have been the parents and their babies and time for them to leave and they were giving us their victory fly over to say their goodbyes. I don't know for sure if that was the case or not but they seem to have left the garden now and I am happy that another generation of birds has enjoyed the use of our garden and given us the pleasure of sharing in a small part of their lives.

You know the old saying ~ 'Good things come in small packages' well, this week proved that when a tiny package arrived in the mail for me from my DF Shirley. Let me show you what she sent me and it isn't even my birthday. How lucky am I!!!!!




This gorgeous stumpwork pansy fob measures only 2 inches square and the pansy is surrounded by delicate gold work and tiny amethyst crystal beads with a deeper purple bead in the centre.
Thank you very much Shirley, I will treasure my fob.

I have not been making a great deal of progress on the stitching front myself over the last week and am even a bit behind in my SAL with Sandra. I need to catch up soon so we can work on the assembly of the box together. Isn't the Internet a wonderful thing how it can bring us together through the enjoyment of our hobby, even although we are on opposite sides of the world.

"And there is pansies, that's for thoughts."

~ William Shakespeare



Monday 9 February 2009

~ Bush Fires In Victoria ~


Our nation grieves today for the people of Victoria and the tragic loss of lives, homes and animals the bushfires have caused. So far 106 lives and 750 homes. It is beyond belief and our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd has said 'hell's fury has been unleashed on Victoria'. I am just at a loss for words to convey the devastation these fires have caused. Our nation grieves for Victoria and please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers.


Saturday 7 February 2009

~ Autumn Song ~


Here is our progress to date on our current SAL ~ Blackbird Designs Autumn Song. Sandra and I are stitching for three hours a week on this one and have just finished week 6.


Here is mine

and here is Sandra's



You can see Sandra has completed a little more in her time than what I have but that is fine. As we both agree, we are supposed to be 'enjoying the journey'.


We are both really enjoying this project and once the stitching is finished we then have the assembling to do which consists of painting the box and applying a crackle finish and lining it which could prove to be quite a challenge. I am also going to attempt to 'antique' my lining fabric which consists of removing the colour and then over-dyeing with tan fabric dye. Sounds interesting!! Watch this space LOL!!


Sandra has some beautiful photos in her album of recent snowfalls at her place on the other side of the world whilst here in Australia, some parts of the country are sweltering in temperatures in the 40's and other parts are having horrific floods. Isn't the weather crazy!!

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. "

~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book