Evening fireworks

A potter in the garden before going out, and these agapanthus seed-heads caught my attention

then the evening sun hit them from over the fence - golden fireworks

Gifts from Norfolk

Big skies

Beach huts

Lifeboats

Sunsets

and bits of rusty pipe

perfect for trying out a bit of rust dyeing

Water, water everywhere...........

What an incredible 10 days, from Bundeena to Noosa, with several changes of temperature in between, never mind the change in wardrobe.  I am so grateful to my sister and her partner for arranging these wonderful experiences during my stay in Australia.

Bundeena.  Water and cliffs. The sky varied hugely during the three days.

A freezing southerly meant that we needed the open fire every night.

There was no eating outside, so the wildlife had to go hungry this time.

Lovely sunset

Then off to more incredible beaches, with a substantial difference in temperature, with water temperatures of 20 degrees C which seemed chilly to my sister, but almost tropical to me.

I was mesmerised by the colours of the water, the effect of the light on the rocks and  the patterns of the waves.  Too many photos to show but some key memories are below.  Animal encounters this time were: brushturkeys catching an enormous worm; shoals of fish in the shallows as we swam and tumbling through the light shining through the back of a rising wave; and a highlight of finding a pair of sea eagles up a quiet creek, seeing one of them catch a fish and then eat it in front of us.

Work of an anonymous beach artist

 Stitching on the beach

 Stitching and painting with ochre from the local cliffs

Stitching tour of Europe continues

So I am once again on my travels, this time to Basel.  A company meeting coincides with the crazinesss that is the Basel Herbstmesse.  Usually quiet and sedate squares are transformed into blazes of light and throbbing music  - one of them right outside my hotel.  I-phone photos only, hence the quality.

Once again, the hotel decor is simple, quirky and intriguing - painted figures on a backdrop as a headboard.

Travelling stitching

Beautiful sunset, which was rather distracting at the end of a long day of meetings

Late summer, orange

Suburban sunset

Seen in Lower Marsh, part of the Yard Sale Project exhibition.

Still stitching the surprise, so only glimpses here

A tourist in my own city

One of the advantages of doing my course at Morley is that the participants come from parts of London  with which I am not familiar.  They therefore introduce me to areas that I have never visited in all the time I have lived here.  I am almost embarrassed to admit that one of these is Battersea Park.  Yesterday was the day for that visit, particularly as there is an exhibition in The Pumphouse Gallery that includes some work by Janice Gunner.

First, the park, images fixed now, courtesy of Marsedit ( please fix this photo thing Blogger).

Next the exhibition " Beauty is the Only Test".  This is an interesting exploration of the links between maths and craft.   Some lovely pieces of stitching from Janice Gunner, on silk.  

For the completely obsessional, there is a huge piece of work by Lesley Halliwell, made by drawing with Spirograph wheels. 

The building itself is intriguing, over 4 floors ( no lift) with good views on to the park.  The exhibition is small, but free and worth a visit, on until 25th November.

As ever, some interesting textures

Red, white and blue?

Fractals on windows

Lichen and bark

Home at sunset

A break in Devon

So many bloggers show photographs of their work placed in beautiful, natural surroundings, that I was inspired by our accommodation this week to photograph an ongoing project, " Morley Moons" outdoors.



The weather was predictably wet, but where we were staying, had glorious views which enabled me to watch how the sky changed as I was stitching.





Lots of muddy walks, practising map-reading


and finding some great colour studies along the way.


There was even a sunset, but the stars had disappeared by the time we had finished dinner with friends.