Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Big Tree









When this Red River Gum was a wee seedling, William the Conqueror was saying to his mates " Do any of you boys fancy a boat trip to Britain ?"

and in a stunning display of originality this mammoth example of local flora is known officially as The Big Tree. [ Nadie included for scale ]

Two roads were rerouted around the tree in the 90s when it was discovered that the roots were being compressed. and they moved the power lines rather than prune the branches. Now THAT'S having your priorities right!
today I've been:
[re] reading Raisins and Almonds by Kerrie Greenwood for the fourth time
  • also Knit 2 together by Tracy Ullman and Mel Clark. A good knitterly read, amusing, with good patterns including THE perfect shrug. I wish though that the wool requirements had those little ball of wool symbols that the American Yarn Council is so fond of, or a general discription, not just a brand name I've never heard of. Not everyone lives in America. Not everyone orders expensive brand name yarns over the internet.
  • back to working on the never ending baby shawl

  • tried out the swift that Maz and Chris lent me on Sunday to make a hank of some lovely BWM wool/alpaca blend 12 ply [ worsted ] and then dyed it in a mixture of burgundy and brown. The brown just nicely toned down the burgundy to a more subtle shade.

  • stencilled japanese fans in copper on black cotton for a future japanes silk table runner

  • disassembled a whole bunch of vintage silk kimono pieces... some of the linings had wonderful little hand sewn mends and patches so these were carefully put aside. The little leftover shreds and strings were bagged up ... just too precious to discard. I need help.






11 comments:

crazyhaberdasher said...

What are you intending to do with the kimono pieces?

crazyhaberdasher said...

.....added to the first comment, (I think I am in shock at the thought of you pulling apart kimonos), I am surprised!

catsmum said...

oh god no... I didn't cut them up. They come in packs like that. Sort of slices straight across a front or a sleeve with all the linings and facings and bands also cut across so one has to pick them apart and discard [or not ] the rubbishy bits.
These are going to be simple curtains for under a cupboard at friend Zoe's shop at daylesford. Zoe being the one who sells said kimono fabric packs.

crazyhaberdasher said...

Thanks Susan, I understand now, and am much relieved!

Rose Red said...

I love the Big Tree. The main street of my home town is crooked, because it was built (if that's the right word for a road) around a tree (which is long gone). Nice!

Sheepish Annie said...

Yup...that is one big tree!!! Nothing like that around here at all. Very impressive!

Bells said...

that's a serious tree. Just beautiful! I do love trees.

mehitabel said...

Gorgeous tree! We had a 150-year-old California Holly Oak in our yard until a year ago, when there was so much rain it toppled over. I miss that tree! Love the idea of the kimono packs--and I think the shreds ought to be saved and eventually spun into something wonderful. Hmmm... could even become trimming on a quilt made with kimono pieces. Oh great. Now I need to go look for kimono pieces here!

Val said...

That was the big tree in Guildford, right? If you face east, cross the Midland Hwy, keep going, you'll eventually pass our place.

That stencilled Japanese fan sounds wonderful - will you post a photo?

Laume said...

That tree is gorgeous! It reminds me of the eucalyptus that grew near the coast here in California. Hmmm, a gum tree isn't the same thing as a eucalyptus, is it? Is that gray, strippy bark common to must Australian trees? I put up a few photos of trees on my studio blog today too. GMTA?

Of course I think we have you beat over here with our native sequoias. Hehe.

Laume said...

Sigh. I shouldn't try to leave comments in the middle of the night. It sounds like I'm talking about ONE eucalyptus tree that USED to grow on the coast. I mean the many eucalyptus that continue to grow there. They all came from AU, they're not native to California, but they sure love growing here.
I also meant "most Australian trees", not "must Australian trees".

Oh, and speaking of BIG TREES, a really big one fell and flattened my sister's home a couple of days ago!