3 Bags Full!

Yay! I’ve finally completed my first pennant for Quilts 4 London! (As Australian Coordinator I thought it was high time I got this completed and added onto the Quilts 4 London website) I’m very pleased with how it’s turned out!

'Chains of Ponds'

Pennant

I have added a hanging sleeve to the back but not the label yet as I will print out a few at a time onto Inkjet Fabric. There are many hours of linen french knots embellishing a discharge dyed background. I also used fabric paint. I have blogged about the process previously, so if you're interested please go back to the last few months of my blog!

Detail of embroidery and binding

Detail of backing fabric and binding

The objective of Quilts 4 London is to make a pennant (a mini journal/art quilt in any textile medium) to present to each participant at the 2012 London Olympic Games. I thought this was such a wonderful idea when I came across it that I knew I wanted to be involved!

There are instructions for making a pennant on the website if you’d like to participate as well as a gallery of completed pennants, and lots of useful links. Email me if you live in Australia and have any questions or admin if you live elsewhere.

Edited to add website (as these links may not be working.....)  www.quilts4london.org.uk  Just cut and paste into your browser.

On a completely different note; I got my sheep shorn today- all 6 of them! The weather has been around the 40deg C (about 100deg F) mark for about a week now with little relief and I’ve felt so sorry for the larger ewes who were carrying a lot of wool. I managed to track down a portable shearer and now have 3 bags full of wool! (Well, 2 ½ anyway; so I have more than enough to play around with!)

I want to teach myself to spin first and I also want to make felt using the natural colours (I have black, silver and a couple of fleeces that are tri coloured!).

Now, I need to find some carding combs!

Black Sheep

It was my birthday on Monday and my darling hubby gave me the most amazing present! You really will never guess what it is!

We have 23 acres with 5 dairy steers, 5 Highland heifers, 3 alpacas, 4 Chickens, a dog, 2 cats and now I am the proud owner of 6 sheep! 3 ewes and 3 lambs! They arrived Saturday and I am ecstatic!

Twins! Double Trouble!

Aren’t they the cutest things you’ve ever seen?

I bought a spinning wheel about 2 ½ years ago and have only had a tentative play with it (I had to buy some wool) It has been a dream of mine forever to have my own wool to spin and weave and knit!

We’ve had the alpacas for more than a year now and I really need to get them shorn! (and their nails clipped – note to self) I’ve been dreaming of a couple of sheep; one black and one white. Well, hubby went a bit overboard and we now have 3 different colours! They are Merinos so the wool should be fantastic!

Mum to the twins...........

The largest ewe is the mother of the twins and the darkest who is the mother of the smallest lamb wouldn’t let me get close enough for a good photo shoot!

Mum and Lambi!

The little black lambi is getting used to me though and was quite inquisitive!

Happy Birthday to me!!!