Wednesday 4 July 2018

Lace Cover and Lyrebird Song

Welcome Friends,

In these Winter months I've been enjoying sorting through my collection of vintage baby clothes, reminiscing and washing any with marks that have appeared over time. 

I put one dress on the display stand for a while and spray-painted a cake stand pale pink for a little vignette of velvet roses, a tiny bear and vintage baby shoes with a fairy (my sweet daughter 13 years ago - she's not impressed with being a fairy!). She wore the baby shoes with the many vintage dresses I showed her off in. The roses are from my garden. I only have a few blooming, but it's the middle of Winter here on the south east coast of Australia. We had a trace of a frost this morning, but now it's glorious sunshine.


http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html


Previously I showed you my plans for the cover of an old lace sample book I have been working on. 



Lace cover by Jesse Rowan


It's now finished, but it turned out a little differently from my first plan - but looking back, I like them both! I should have made two!! Here's the finished cover.


http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



The back cover...



http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



Gorgeous old cotton reels...


http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html


http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



A close-up of some of the lace...



http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



Here's one of the lace sampler pages inside...



http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



This mauve velvet millinery flower just matched this post...



http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html


Here are some of my chrysanthemums from a few weeks ago - they are finishing now, looking bedraggled. But here they are in all their Mother's Day glory!



http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html


And a superb David Austin mauve rose...


http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



Now for a natural interlude... Our local lyrebirds are calling away madly trying to attract a mate. There are mounds just near our house - this forest is at our back fence.


http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html


A perfect habitat for lyrebirds, a myriad of other birds, possums, gliders, wallabies and snakes. We've only seen red-bellied black snakes in our garden, not the browns, thankfully, but they are around here too.



http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html


The lyrebird's sounds echo through our little glen as I hang out the washing. One day I decided to stalk him with my phone camera in hand... 



http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html


I had to leave the track to follow his sound - not an easy walk! Sneaking as quietly as I could as I came closer, closer, so slowly - they are so timid and can run fast through the undergrowth. I was rewarded! My camera was not so good, and it was so hard to hold it still in the low light understory of the trees.


http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



Here he is with his tail over his body like an umbrella... calling his heart out for a mate! I was about two metres away from him, trying not to crack a stick under my feet.


http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



So awesome! His song was so loud! I tried to move to get closer only while he was singing, so he couldn't hear me.



http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/2018/07/lace-cover-and-lyrebird-song.html



His song was amazing, mimicking crows, magpies, cockatoos, whipbirds and other local birds, as well as what sounds like a nail gun to me. I managed to video him for about an hour, and edited it down to this:



I'm joining Wen at Appleapricot for Simply Neutral Tuesday #46 . There you'll find a meeting of like minds and hearts who love using neutrals in their artworks. 

See you soon, and I wish you a creative boost as you enjoy all this neutral beauty.

Love,

9 comments:

  1. Hello sweetie, I envy you with your backgardenforest!! And such exotic wildlife too. That bird is amazing, what a beautiful song he has. We have nothing like that here in the Netherlands. Thank you for sharing your video of him!
    And your gorgeous lace cover, so beautifully done. I love how it turned out. With the soft hints of colour and those gorgeous laces.
    Wishing you a beautiful day, big hugs and love to you, xx

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    1. Thank you, Wen. I envy you so many countries to visit from your back door. Amazing!
      I'm glad you enjoyed our lyrebird's song.
      Hugs,
      Jesse XX

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  2. What a strange and interesting bird! I've never seen or heard of a lyrebird. Are they native to Australia? How awesome that you were able to capture as many shots of him as you did. Are there many of these birds? I hope they aren't endangered, they are so unusual.

    I love Wen's posts about neutrals. That palette really speaks to something in me. Maybe because it is calming. I admit I do need calming quite often!

    I also want to mention how beautiful all the laces that you've worked with are. Wherever did you find the sample book? It's amazing. What I love the most, though, is the baby dress. I have a few of the little white dresses that my sister and brother and I wore as babies and really treasure them. ( And, yes, they did dress the boy babies in those white dresses! At least here in the States.)

    Thanks for all the beautiful images in your post, Jesse.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Naomi,
      Yes, my boys wore little white dresses too. Occasionally they were mistaken for a girl, especially my second boy as he was so blonde and cute. I love old baby clothes, and I will be showing more soon on my blog. The lyrebird is an Australian native bird, and we have a lot in this area. They seem to have plenty of habitat at the moment, but as new suburbs get built they are pushed further out. Luckily we have many national parks where they are protected. I explained more about the old sample book in a previous post here: http://lace-age-girl.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2018-06-21T16:48:00-07:00&max-results=7
      I don't think it links but you could copy and paste the text into your browser to find it, or go back two posts in my blog. Enjoy!
      Hugs,
      Jesse XX

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  3. Hello ! It is hard to imagine winter as it is 90 degrees here today. I love your beautiful lace journal and sweet baby vignette. your outdoor life is amazing...I miss living among nature. Have a great day!

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    1. Hi Nancy, Thanks for visiting here on my blog. I am pruning my roses now ready for Spring, with a bright sunny but cool day. enjoy your Summer - go swimming! :)
      love and hugs,
      Jesse XX

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  4. What a wonderful post Jesse! Simply gorgeous!
    Greetings from Austria!
    HUgs, Susi

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Thank you so much for your friendly comments. It makes my day to hear from you about my artworks and topics.