Winter Sun = Fun with my Camera

 Every now and then we get stunning still sunny winter days and this week we found ourselves enjoying one while exploring the Lagoons Beach camping area. I loved wandering the beach with my camera.

Winter Beach Fun by  MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The tiny hooded plovers dart all over the beach and are very hard to get a photo that shows them anything other than tiny dots. I am lucky to own a reasonable zoom lens that helps 😊 Post photo cropping is then useful as well.

Hooded Plovers Uncropped by  MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

So with some cropping the above photo becomes a little more focused on the birds rather than the sand bank behind them.

Hooded Plovers Cropped by  MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

What do you enjoy doing on sunny winter days? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts.

Temperature Stitching

Have you seen some of the fantastic temperature blankets being shared online? They record the daily temperatures of a place over time.

I was inspired by these to start a temperature stitching. My stitching will record the daily maximum and minimum temperatures for the year.

Temperature Stitching by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Each row is 7 days of data and each vesica piscis is a record of the maximum daily temperature and the lines surrounding the vesica piscis are a record of the minimum daily temperature.

I created a key with each colour representing a band of temperatures and have created spreadsheet to work from so that if I get a little behind with the stitching I can come back to it later.

Temperature Stitching Key by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

As I stitch, it is great to see the colour changes occurring as we move through the seasons. Hopefully I will keep up and by the end of the year will have a colourful record of our daily temperature changes over time.

Have you ever created a temperature blanket? What other data could be used to create a stitching record over time? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts.

Larger Silk Fibre bowl

Large Silk Fibre Bowl by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

 I have done some more experimenting with wash away stabiliser and a larger mould to create a bigger bowl. I had a string of LED lights that curled up very nicely inside.

I learnt that I needed a larger piece of stabiliser to make the sides of the bowl taller. I also needed to start my leaf stitching further away from the base of the bowl as much of the stitching is hidden.

I loved using a rainbow of colours with my silk fibre and was very pleased with the end result.

Creating Leaves with Silk Fibres

 

Leaf by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

I have continued my experiments with fabric and thread. I created some leaves with wash away stabiliser, silk fibres and some ORT which were then couched onto a background. 

The background was an experiment with sharpie pens and Isopropyl alcohol where I drew on some calico with the sharpie pens and then applied the Isopropyl alcohol to spread the Sharpie colour across the fabric. I used a large embroidery hoop to stretch the fabric and hold it away from other surfaces while the pigment was being drawn across the fabric with the spreading of the Isopropyl alcohol. An interesting process! Very smelly and best done in a well ventilated area.

With this piece of stitching I also added some lettering which was stitched over with stem stitch and few more smaller stitched leaves to cover an area of the background that was not quite right.

Last of all I add some french knots and other stitches at the bottom of the work before declaring it finished. It was placed in an 8 inch hoop to be hung somewhere.

Have you tried dying fabric? What did you use and how did it work out? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts.

Through the Lens - Beach times

We have now started to settle in to travelling with a caravan that was a 10 month wait before getting it as the time for new builds for caravans at present are long. So far only going on relatively short trips as we work out what is essential to have with us before embarking on the long term plan of seeing more of OZ. On one of our trips we did an overnight stopover at Chain of Lagoons camping area on the East Coast of Tassie. A fantastic self contained free camping area right near the beach. Loved taking photos of the beach and creek that runs out onto the beach.

Chain of Lagoons by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The bright blue float sacs of the bluebottle jellyfish washed up in the waves as we were walking along the beach. They are a summer occurrence on East Coast beaches especially when the easterly winds move them towards the shore. We have had more easterly winds this summer than in previous summers but there will always be a period of time during the summer when people will see these bright blue jellyfish washed up on the beach. They can give a painful sting if you come in contact with them and treatment for the stings include washing off the stinging cells with salt water and then using hot water to reduce the effect of the sting. Do not use vinegar to treat the sting. 

The little birds are hooded plovers and they live on the sandy beaches making their nests as scrapes in the sand or the dunes that might be behind the beach.

52 Tags Challenge - final tags all finished

 

52 Tags all finished by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

I got to the end and finished all 52 tags with a little break over Christmas. They all fit on the ring and are going to continue to hang from my lamp stand in my creating space.

Tag 48 - Sheaf Stitch by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 48 and the challenge was a new embroidery stitch - Sheaf stitch. I used a piece of woven pre-felt that was stitched with random free motion stitches. The pre-felt came from the Thread Studio. The colours suggested Christmas so my sheaf stitch is loosely representing a small tree with a star at the top. I had not tried sheaf stitch before and enjoyed learning a new stitch.

Tag 49 - A Memory by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 49 and the challenge was to include a memory trigger. This one took some thought but eventually I decided to add my brownie badges to this tag as these have been saved away for a long time. The Girl Guide movement was part of my out of school activities as a child as I started as a Brownie and then moved through to Guides and then some time as a Venturer Scout. Nowadays the Girl Guide movement covers all ages rather than how it was divided up when I was a member. My brothers participated in the Scouts and that is why I ended up as a Venturer Scout as well. I remember enjoying the ceremonies and the challenges that we did to earn badges. On my tag is my pack label, sixer stripes and Moora Moora badge. I also kept my Footpath badge, hostess badge and book lover badge.

Tag 50 - Circles by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 50 and Anne gave us a nice easy challenge labelled "Circles". I had some felt circles that were crying out to be used and some lovely busy fabric that complimented the plain circles very well. a little bit of stitching to attach the circles and there was another tag completed.

Tag 51 - A Wreath by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 51 was a stitching challenge and I enjoyed this one lots. The challenge was to stitch a wreath using the stitches we had progressivey learnt. My base was Fly stitch worked around a circle and it was a very good way to use fly stitch. I decided to leave the top of my circle open and added most of my design to the bottom section of the circle and I just added sections until it seemed to be finished. The addition of a tiny red bow was all the tag needed to be complete. My background fabric was a piece of osnaburg backed with a stabilizer. I stitched the tag on a hoop and then trimmed to size. So much fun!

Tag 52 - Macrame Tree by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

And I made it - just a little after Christmas. Tag 52 and the challenge was to create a macrame tree. A long time since I have played with macrame and so it was fun to reconnect with this creative use of knotted threads. I decided to stick with osnaburg as my background fabric and used some more of the fabric from Tag 50 for the pot. All through the challenge it has been fun to have some fabrics and notions turn up on more than one tag. Thanks to Anne's great instructions the tree was very easy to create and all it needed was a touch of gold at the top. This was done with a tiny bead and then I couched the tree to the background at stitched the pot over the trunk of the tree. 

Many thanks to Anne Brooke for such a terrific challenge that was taken up by so many creatives around the globe. Search Instagram using the hashtag #52tagshannemade to see the many ways each challenge was interpreted. Visit Anne's youtube channel to watch the videos and join in with some tag creating.

What do you like to create? Which medium do you choose most often for your creations? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts.

Through The Lens - Nov 2021

 We have taken some time to explore around our local area with several day drives for a picnic lunch. We are so lucky to have amazing views to see. Here are some photos of the sights seen on our travels. I have cropped some of these and used a little post photo editing. I loved trying to get shots of the black cockatoos as they flew past.

What do you like to take photos of? Do you have a favourite place to go and enjoy the view? Does that view change depending on the time of day and the weather? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts.