Self Portrait

The latest theme for our Stitching Across the Ditch challenge was 'Self Portrait'. I've always wanted to do a really colourful self portrait (as I've seen in Quilting Arts magazines) and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I traced an outline of my face from a photo and then went crazy with fabric choices! It was a lot of fun!!
Spending a lot of time with my mother, who is now in residential care, and attending to all her financial affairs has really taken up a lot of my time lately. My blog has suffered accordingly but I have been following all my favourite blogs.
One day off we had recently was spent taking our 10 year old granddaughter to Monarto Zoo to 'meet' the giraffes. It was a great experience! I thought we would stand on a tall platform to feed them but instead we stood on the ground. Giraffes are very TALL!!!  I took heaps of photos. They truly are a magnificent animal.

Roy G Biv - Blue

I'm afraid my blog has been severely neglected! Visiting my sick mother in hospital nearly every day for the last six weeks has really used up a lot of my time!
My search for blue only came up with two things this month!
A letterbox spotted on one of my walks....

And a sand filled frilled-neck lizard belonging to one of my granddaughters! He's actually a mixture of blue and aqua.

 

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Roy G Biv - Green

I had fun looking for green this month. I have fun looking for the colours every month!

The first photo is part of my sea glass collection. Lots of shades of green!

 

Apples and a pear in my fruit bowl.

 

A pretty succulent with the green turning pink on the tips of the leaves.

 

A palm leaf on one of my walks!

 

 

This is a grassy creeper that has grown up and along a fence, with all the other shades of green in the vegetation and on the hills behind. Again seen on one of my walks.

 

And seaweed on the beach comes in all shades of green!

 

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Seaching for Roy G Biv - YELLOW

I didn't think I'd see much yellow around my neighbourhood but ended up finding more images than I needed! I did enjoy looking for them all.

First of all the slippery dip in our local park.

Some selected pebbles on the beach. A pale browny shade of yellow!

A very pale shade of yellow for these grasses by the side of the road.

An unusual sculpture with a yellow surf board in someone's front yard.

Some yellow yarn tied to a post near the beach.

A road sign telling you to turn right, unless you want to end up over the cliff and onto the beach!!

The last of the summer wattle. (The floral emblem of Australia.)

And a selection of yellow threads.

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Circus

Our latest challenge for Stitching Across the Ditch (12 x9) was CIRCUS. I had some cuttings from an old magazine of some posters that I thought were interesting and after a bit of searching on Google I was able to determine that they were old Polish circus posters. I really liked the contortionist and used her as inspiration for my little quilt. I added star sequins to add to the spotlight feel of the circus.

 

At the moment I am holidaying in a lovely little town on the Yorke Peninsular called Moonta. Our caravan is parked right by the seafront and this is our view every morning. The sun is just coming up and the clouds disappeared a short time later. We have walked the length of the jetty several times!

Searching for Roy G Biv - ORANGE

I can't believe it's a month since my last post for Roy G Biv! This time I searched outside for all things ORANGE and managed to find quite a few. (Here is a link to Julie's blog for more information about the challenge.)

Tiny Hooded Plovers are often seen on our beach and there is a sign on the ramp telling you about them. They have a bright orange surround on their eye and an orange beak.

Some builder's fencing mesh.

I have no idea what this flower is but the bush also has bright blue berries!

Another flower whose identity I do not know! I need to brush up on my gardening!

 The roof on our local phone box which vandals regularly try to destroy! One lot crashed into it with their car, another set fire to it and it is often covered in graffiti! (and bird droppings of course!)

Orange bracelets on the arm of a woman in a lovely print I have on the wall. Not such a good photo because of the reflection from the glass but I like the patterns.

Beach graffiti

Little creatures under the sand were busy bees this morning! Lots and lots of these marks on the beach. Looks like graffiti.

  

The horse trainers had their trotting buggies deep in the water this morning. I can't imagine the salt water does much for them!

Although it was a beautiful warm morning on the beach there was a rolling fog over the hills. 

Lots more giraffe drawing and painting. I am really enjoying this online class. The other participants are very inspiring. I've dug out my father's water colour paints and have really enjoyed working with them. (My father has been dead for 22 years and only started painting himself a few years before he died. This is the first time I've used his paints.)

And another paper collage, just because they are so much fun to do! The background has been stamped with celery and carrot!

Searching for Roy G Biv - RED

I have joined the search for Roy G Biv! (For those that don't know this is a way to remember the colours of the rainbow, usually learnt when you were in primary school. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.) There is a small challenge put out by Julie B Booth and Jennifer Coyne Qudeen to post 5 photos per month of each colour. This month we are looking for RED. A quick whiz around the house and I found I had quite a few red things.

 A fun mug bought in USA many years ago.

 A red supermarket carry bag.

 A mug from one of my daughters.

 The only piece of red seaglass in my vast collection of blues, greens and whites. 

 A print of my granddaughter's feet when she was born. 

Next month I will look further afield in my search for orange.

Busy, having fun!

Busy, busy, busy drawing and painting giraffes!  Thought I'd be getting sick of giraffes by now but I'm not. In fact I'm a bit obsessed. Can't wait to try something new each day. It's fun to stick to one subject and see how many ways you can interpret it. I've even done a bit of paper collage. Lots of fun but certainly not up to the standard of Amanda White on a blog I follow. Do go and have a look - amazing!

Our last challenge for Stitching Across the Ditch (12" x 9") was COLOURS. I found some photos on the internet and came up with my interpretation of a paint box. The background fabric was in my stash and comes from a range called Paintbox!

The weather has been beautiful lately so there has been a lot of this.....

under this.....

Bliss......