some This n Thats and mixed feelings but mostly good!

Hello!

Well in our little part of the world, we woke to a frosty morning... here's a shot I rugged up and walked down to take from the back of our yard a few days ago.

I don't usually do this on my blog but I'm getting a bit deep in my thoughts following this photo...

It's always a tranquil view - no matter what the weather.  A nice spot to look out and contemplate things, important things, things like how darn lucky we are to be enjoying such peace.
I feel for those people who are battling far too early bushfires in two of our States - lots of them lit by vandals would you believe! Our dedicated firefighters and their supporters are brave beyond words.
The recent hurricane victims overseas - so much devastation - so much to do to rebuild. The trauma.
The uncaring and meanness of some of our politicians (small 'p') appals me.
I shall stop now and get back on to the brighter side of life but just had to let that out.

~ Thanks for listening Dear Blogfriends ~

Earlier in the week ... spotted in the supermarket... cold tootsies!:

but then I saw some pretties:

I remembered a lovely blogfriend,   Denise  of  'An English Girl Rambles' blog, did a recipe for strawberry bread (I've taken the liberty of including the link to that Denise ... thanks in advance). Well, strawberries are plentiful and cheap here atm so Hubby popped a few extra into the trolley this week.
Last night I felt we needed cake in our lives again - Hubby agreed - so I made one inspired by Denise:

We both loved seeing that ooze of strawberry peeking though

... and it was yum, nice and moist and hit the spot.
A bit crusty but that was because I was on the computer and forgot it until I smelt something cooking in the oven - oh the joys of this certain age lol ;D)

Now, I'm feeling really chipper, got to say.
Some may recall a recent post I did on my felting.

Well, after meeting with Joy from the local Art & Information Centre they initially took  4 of my felted pots (on commission).  One has sold already and I was asked to bring in another two  - woo hoo - as I said to one of our granddaughters... I'm doing a (grandma-version of a happy dance)!

there they are... sitting next to other local artists' work and I'm thrilled!

They also bought a selection of my cards and will be putting them out soon.  It's a bit quiet at the moment but once the tourist season starts it gets more active.

There they are, there's my babies - each one painted with happiness!

just one more look:

Thanks for popping in and, as always, its lovely to catch up with everyone. 

Cheers now, and extra special good thoughts to my blogfriends in Queensland and New South Wales, Sue xx
oh yes, nearly forgot... I'm on Instagram now (thanks to our other granddaughter who taught me about hashtags etc xx).  Have already met up with blogfriends on it and would love to see you there too if we haven't already connected!

Instagram@fancifuls.bysue

Painting with Wool ~ Happy PPF!

Hello!

Sharing this week's entry for Paint Party Friday...

I'm painting with Wool this week.  Its fun to select a colour (or, intuitively, the colour seems to select itself!) and use my felting needle as a paintbrush to create my version of a Nest... many nests in fact.

Felting has been my latest go-to activity and making Nests has become an obsession!

Nests with eggs:

Nests with hearts:

Am looking very purpley in my comfy chair and surrounds but I do love that colour and all the shades of and around it!
Thank you to my Dear Hubby for taking that shot of moi... I gave him attitude all the way through lol 💑

Some random shots of others.
I enjoy taking photos of them as well as creating:

As such, when my obsessions hit, I've been known on occasion to suggest, encourage, ok, force some dear family members to make Nests too:

...and it was a lovely shared time together recently

My previous post on Needle Felting is Here... and its where my obsession began 😊

~ Thank you for popping in and taking a look ~

There are so many beautifully creative artists over at Eva and Kristin's PPF blogspot.  If you'd like to see what everyone is up to this week just click on the button below:

Needle Felting 'Painting' ~ Happy PPF!

Hello!

I'm a bit late-ish, but here's my entry for this week's Paint Party Friday. 

At our Monday painting group, one of the ladies,  very kindly taught us how to needle felt.  She'd been telling us for a few years now, just how easy it was... and she was right. 
This is my first piece:

"Old Bush Woman" 

A closeup of the little nesting bird in her hair.  The feather is one I'd saved, it's from the head plumage of a Gang-Gang Cockatoo:

For anyone who doesn't know about flat needle felting,  a special barbed felting needle is used to stab into small pieces of wool which causes it to interlock into the felt.  A backing sponge is used so that the needle has somewhere to go.  Every so often, the felt is lifted free of the sponge.  Simple as that! 
Here's a shot of when I was making my old bush woman:

I'll include some links at the end of this post, of some tutorials I also found helpful.  There are many other types of felting that can be done too.

Here's some more pieces that I've made recently:

"Lollipop Flowers"

Being able to randomly place the wool and needle it in place really appeals to me.  It's just like painting... only with wool!
A closeup of the previous photo:

I made my own hangers from wire that hubby had bought for me.  It's nice and pliable to use:

... so I played around and came up with a few hanger designs, then painted them with gold acrylic paint.  It was purely an experiment, I wasn't sure whether the paint would dry properly on the wire but it did. 
Here they are drying on a sheet of plastic, no sticking either:

I'd recently made a gift of this for a dear one... choosing the hanger:

Here's how it turned out:

"Daisies with Hearts of Gold"

because I'm not all that keen on stitching, I popped some gold acrylic paint on the felted wool... that worked too!

Thanks very much for visiting, and if you love art of any kind, you're welcome to join in or just have a browse through all the exciting work shared on Eva and Kristin's PPF blogspot.  Just click on the button below:

Here's some links regarding needle felting, I hope you give it a go... it's fun:
kaystir.blogspot - Flat Needle Felting Tutorial
tamsyng - How to needle felt a bird brooch