studies in green and yellow

It was a rather dull day yesterday with occaional rain showers but as I walked around my small garden I saw splendour everywhere, with patches of green and yellow or gold wherever I looked. Some plants as they grow, and some showing autumnal colouring -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not necessarily 'perfect' specimens (nor brilliant photos), but beautiful, cheering and inspiring none the less.

one new, several antique quilts

A bit of a contrast here, between the new and the old, between last week and this.
Last week I had a great day at Victor Harbor with Fleurieu Quilters where we made what are generally referred to as 'Bedford quilts'. An amazing group of ladies led by Lessa Siegele  raise money for Bedford Industries, who, in their words, are a trusted and sustainable business that changes the lives of people with disability by building their skills to participate in the community.
For some years now they have been preparing and selling kits containing pre-cut fabric, pattern, and instructions for a quilt top 48" square. The group facilitate days for groups to make the tops, or individuals can purchase the kits and make them at home. To date they have raised an amazing  $250,000. That's a lot of kits at $50 - and an awful lot of fabric cutting!

I finished my blocks at home, though I still have to put them together. It's bright and cheery.

 If you are clever you might spot that one block is wrong - I put one strip on the wrong way around and will need to change it before I join them together. Or maybe I could leave it ...

In contrast, today I attended a great event as part of our South Australian History Month. Hosted by the Inman Valley Quilters, it was a very interesting session on Antique Quilts presented by Pam Holland. Her examples were both Australian and American, well loved utilitarian pieces which highlighted that many quilts were made with what was available, for tops, padding and backing. All made and quilted by hand, some were truly patchwork with bits added this way and that, with differing, colours, fabrics and patterns.

Here are pictures of a few American ones

This was crazy patch blocks including some patterned blocks - quite charming and appealing

 and close up - a lot of care and work  as each piece had been embroidered around

 Heavier furnishing fabric here

 Made from feed sacks and shirting

 Me with Pam

 

 and a pretty 'summer quilt' made of Suffolk puffs

It was well attended - mostly by quilters - and we were well fed by the Inman ladies. Thank you  to them all. What better to do on a cold, dull and rainy day?

 Out in my garden I spotted these mushrooms yesterday - already quite a bit larger today when I photographed them. I had some come up last year around the same tree stump. They are an ochre shade -'orangey brown'

Finally, something a little unusual I captured recently. It might seem larger here, but it was only a small feather, about 3cm, dragged into an ant hole

back in 5 - or more

Under the guidance of friend Cher McGrath who is an expert paper maker, I and some of my Quilters' Dozen friends had fun recently making a few small sheets of paper. The results were very pleasing - much better than when I attempted it with daughter Rachel many years ago.

 

The white is the recent lot hung on my clothes airer to dry. The pink (cardboard thickness but soft and unfoldable and consequently still unused) was what we made years ago - at least I know now where we went wrong. Now we are each tearing up a bucket of natural fibres to return another day and try to make some paper from that.  By way of comparison, I though I'd show how it is done on a bit bigger scale. This is what I saw in Gujurat a few years back, where they were working with calico off cuts, and their sheet size and drying lines were a somewhat bigger!

 

While I had some spare time in the city recently, I thought I would check out a shop called Sahara which I had been meaning to do for some time. It sells Moroccan and Middle Eastern goods, and had lovely colourful mosaics on the outside.

 

 

 

Just my luck though, it had a 'Back in 5 minutes' sign on the door. Since it is in a quarter of the city which I know very little about, I thought I would take a walk while waiting.

On the lawns of the nearby square where these ibis

 

 and then in the side streets I found the historic Adelaide Mosque

 

There were once many Afghan shops and properties in the area, and the camel trains provided a very important means os transportation up through the centre of the country. A modern day result of this  is a problem with feral camels in the inland - they are now even exported to the Middle East.
After walking for half an hour the shop still wasn't open so I went on my way. A little later in another park I took these photos. The plane trees, like those near my home, were clearly stressed from lack of rain, and the leaves were just dying rather than turning autumn colours, but they were still quite beautiful against the clear blue sky.

Later I turned around to see this perfect contrail

When I visited the beachside suburb of Brighton another morning (for a fine brunch) these red, knitted poppy words fom the  Anzac Day Rememberance service a few days before, were brilliant against the blue of the sky and ocean.

 

Similarly these red Gawler Hybrid bottle brushes(Callistemon) at Port Noarlunga were striking as the sun shone through them against the clear sky.

As well as looking good they obviously were a great source of nectar, as several New Holland honeyeaters were busy feeding on them. This one was quit happily feeding upside down...

When we finally got some good falls of rain I came out to see these lovely, large water drops on every junction of one of my the 'blackbird proofing' covers in the garden.

Not so lovely the day I found 6 of my cabbages had been eaten by something.!! From this

to this

Just 2 remain, and I had to go out and buy poles and netting to safeguard them. I still don't know the culprit, but at least nothing has attacked the passionfruit vine - or should I be crossing my fingers?