More pottery

Towards christmas I usually make some more potter to sell either at the market, Cronulla mall or at Jazzercise. The pieces I made a little while ago have now been fired. I quite like the result but want to try a variety of the same decorating technique. One of the pieces broke on the way to Cronulla. My kiln is playing up and I have been using our groups kiln.

I bought some more tissue paper and quite like to use it together with loose shapes of the dishes.

The little angels are actually bells to ring in the fast approaching christmas

OOH LA LA!

After my muslin for the pants I tackled the real thing, namely a piece of material bought from Pitt Trading. I walked in there saw it and could not resist! The material is fairly stretchy but still firm, perfect for a pair of pants.  I think it is cotton.

Since the piece I bought was rather on the small side I omitted the pockets all together.
Again, I finished the pair and even though I took in the sides by another 1,5cm they where still a bit to big and I had again to undo the belt and make it smaller. From the very small off cut I also made belt loops. It seems there is no way around of me wearing some sort of a belt to prevent the hitching up!
I also tapered the legs a lot and made little vents. Overall, pretty happy but still not perfect.

 I will have to make an effort to attend some of the meetings of the Sewers Guild in Kirrawee. Perhaps someone will be able to help me to get the perfect fit. I know that a few of you are going to meetings at Rhodes for the Australian Sewing Guild. Unfortunately this is a bit far for me. However I may try Kirrawee and see how it goes.   

Tackling my demons!

There has been a very long silent period on my blog, my apologies! A lot of other things happening in my life and basically no mojo to write about it.
I have once more tackled making pants. I bought a Palmer Pletsch pattern since my measurements are all over the place and adjusted the paper pattern according to the instructions. I made a wearable muslin out of some teal cotton out of my stash. The pants turned out oke-isch but when I wore them a couple of weeks ago I had to hitch them up all the time, what a nuisance! Even though I measured carefully and tried them on in the process of making them. Seam ripper to the fore! I took off the waistband and tightened it and also added belt loops. Wore them today and they are quite comfortable!

Hiking in the mountains

Having lived abroad for so long we are really more like any other tourist than locals when visiting our home country. It is spectacular, no doubt about it! 



This is near Gstaad in the Bernese Oberland.

Much to my husbands "chagrin" who suffers from hay fever, the paddocks were in full summer bloom.

A very original idea to "recycle" an old golf bag as flower pot which is sitting in front of the club house!

Switzerland

From Fort Lauderdale in Florida we flew to Zuerich in Switzerland. There we did a veritable Tour de Swiss. We went to many places which we had not visited for decades. The weather was like in the USA fantastic. One heatwave after the other! 

Display of decorated alligators in a shopping mall in Florida.

Beautiful old buildings in the eastern part of the Switzerland.

 




On the edge of the Bodensee a mother swan tends to her brood.

travels continue

I just realized I have to abbreviate my musings about our trip somewhat otherwise there will be nothing else but "travelling" in my blog! Anyway, on we drove towards the coast, the Gulf of Mexico and on to Houston. There we went to the Space Center, well worth a visit while in the vicinity! To see all the bits and pieces to travel in space and back is most impressiv.

From desert with its many yucca plants to the swampy countryside of Louisiana was just a couple of days drive. Wise mans beard hang in thick bunches in many of the trees.


So called Antebellum Mansions grace the countryside. Sugarcane Barons used to reside in the sprawling estates. 

Unusually shaped bridges span the numerous waterways. They are built this way to allow easy passage for the ships travelling far inland. 

Alligators are very territorial and can be spotted everywhere.

Holidays continue

We had planned to go hiking in Big Bend National Park in Texas bordering on to Mexiko.
However, while we where there temperatures reached 44 degrees at 10 o clock in the morning so we had to change our plans. To somewhat cool of we went swimming in the muddy Rio Grande as much as possible and tried to find a shady spot during the day. Not easy in the desert region which is bare of any decent size trees. 

 Many of the cacti still bloomed. 

 

 We were not popular with the ranger for parking in the shelter which has been built to house the picnic table!