Ecodyeing uses

Some of the ways I've been using my ecodyeing.

Scraps to boro mend the back of a quilt my grandma made me.

I cut out some of the leaf prints to make into a mobile which hangs in my new studio. Yay studios!

 

Climbing Mt Rogers

The other day I walked to the top of our local hill. It took me 2 hrs there and back. My legs felt it the next day, but I made it OK!

The views from the top were worth it.

The trig station.

The beautiful countryside.

 

And our glorious mountains...the Brindabellas.

Lake Gininderra (our local lake) peeks through the foliage.

Black Mountain is visible with it's iconic tower.

Belconnen (our local centre) is on the shores of the lake.

We live to the left of the lake.

Juvenile Rosellas kept me company on the mountain top.

Are you puffed yet? Ready to walk home? It's all downhill from here!

 

Wonder wander

Our world is turning gold.

From my daily walks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

poplars like gas jets

set alight the riverbanks

igniting my world

 

Wedding anniversary spirals

We gift ourselves a piece of art for our Wedding Anniversary each year.

This is the latest!

So fascinating to watch as it spins and reflects.

 

Gauzy philosophy + BeautyScope 286

Firstly, thanks so much for your warm comments on my last post.

Sometimes things that seem a negative in your life can open up new improved pastures.

Yes, I know, New Age speak. (Do people even refer to New Age anymore?)

We had a run of difficulties last year including my son's declining health leading to us removing him from school. This year we have embraced homeschooling not one but two kids.

This may seem like a disaster, but it is actually suiting us beautifully.

Disaster turned into joy.

But if we hadn't had the difficult challenge that wrenched us from our current routine, we never would have found this current wonder.

Similarly I've been struggling with my blogging commitments as you may remember. Since my holiday I've had to remove myself and felt a dryness and deadness which worried me. I wondered if the blog was on the wane due to the other energy requirements in my life.

But with wise counsel from you all, and some talking to myself, I think I've come up with a plan.

To continue blogging when I can, when I have a fun idea or artwork or news to share, but without any timing requirements. As my wise friend Natalia says, " I think we sometimes take our blogging responsibilities too seriously". I certainly tend to take on responsibility like a cruel task master, but no more!

So all this means I have now come through to a better place which will suit me more.

I will enjoy my blogging time and won't feel pressured to perform.

So don't despair if you are currently fighting through changes...there is fresh air to come!

a lifetime's meetings

cobwebs fine

precious networks

glisten across time

I hope we can continue to reach out to each other across the maelstrom of our daily lives.

Much love,

Jazzy Jack

PS I recommend signing up for posts as they won't be on any regular schedule! Just enter your email in the box at the top of the sidebar on the right.

 

Hiatus

What a beautiful word.

A space between but not an end.

We have had a lovely hiatus where we visited the beach for a month.

Such a blast.

I enjoyed the blogging and online break.

But now we are home and I'm struggling to reengage.

In my day to day offline life I feel I am nesting. Creating a new space for my young ones to learn.

I spend my days gardening and rearranging the furniture. Finding new storage solutions and dreaming of new organisation.

I feel little interest in showing my clothes as I have become enamoured of my smaller (but still interesting) wardrobe.

I feel I've said it all with my BeautyScopes.

I'm going through a dry spell and concentrating my energies elsewhere.

I also feel what I do have to say has been said before by so many, so much more eloquently!

I am not creating much except mess...but eventually I hope to have a new space for sewing. A studio if you will. At the moment it is the room all the junk is temporarilly stored in.

So we will continue the online hiatus until the brain kicks back into gear after this time of flux.

But we did have the most astonishingly wonderful time away at the beach!

The view from our deck at the holiday house

All my love,

Jazzy Jack

 

Ancestry

Some more old photos from the album. These are of my maternal grandparents, taken around the turn of the century...1900s.

My grandfather, Poppi as we called him, was an identical twin. Numbers 11 and 12 in the family...or was it 13 and 14? You lose track among such big numbers!

I love the clothes and the stares. I imagine their mother hastily tidying their hair, brushing their fringes to the side, adjusting the bows.

They were harum scarum young men. Imagine how hard to make them stay still. I love the skewiff belt buckles.

My Poppi is on the right below. Belted jackets were all the rage obviously. And bows.

I love the props and various chairs.

He grew to be an electrician. Working on the boats in Sydney Harbour during the War. He was a tease and a raconteur and had a heart of gold.

And here is the girl he was to marry. My grandma whom we called Mardi (on the right)

I love the interestingly shaped chair and the beautifully embroidered dress.

Note the carefully turned socks with elastic underneath. I remember doing that before socks had elastane.

She was a savvy business woman who ran a succesful sandwich shop at the law courts in Sydney for many years.

She made beautiful clothes herself, and used to trim hats professionally.

She lived many years on her own and used to support my parents' mission work by taking in any passing mission worker who needed a place for the night. We used to invade her house for months on end when we had leave every three years. We remember it fondly. And I can still remember how her house smelled...a distictive but pleasant mix of summer grass, musty old house and furniture polish.

I hope you enjoyed meeting my ancestors!

What stands out to you?

Love,

Jazzy Jack