Linen and Threads SAL travels through the Australian Outback to the Great Barrier Reef

For the longest time we have talked about 'The Road Trip'.  A trip that takes us away from city life and through outback Australia.  

And so, when we talked about going to Queensland, it seemed like a good idea to make *this* our road trip,  4 long days of travelling in the middle of no-where for most of the day, keeping watch for kangaroos, emus and wild goats that might run into the path of the car, not enough toilet stops along the way, sleeping in some basic accommodation, and most importantly, hours of stitching time in the car. 

 

Taken from the car window along the Barrier Highway, about 8 hours drive from home.

We started off in high spirits, travelling to Broken Hill (known for its silver mines), which is such a pretty town and somewhere we would like to go back and stay longer. There was plenty of wildlife, kangaroos and emus were close to the road, and although I have often seen kangaroos on country roads, I have never seen emus so close and the wild goats were everywhere. 

We travelled on to 'Warrawong on the Darling' where we spent our first night. The owners had the cabin's air-conditioner on when we arrived, and it felt like heaven walking into a lovely cool room.  Although I didn't stitch in the car, as I was either driving or on 'roo watch, I did manage to put a few stitches in that evening.

Two billabongs, formed next to the Darling River

Good ole gum tree!

Lately, the Darling River has been in the news as some of the water users upstream have been taking more of their allocation,  and so the Darling is drying up. I was interested in seeing the condition first hand.

Darling River

Well, the photo speaks for itself...

Final finishes of 2017

Well! This is a novel experience! Usually when I take photos with my tablet or phone I have great difficulty uploading them from google photos, but it seems Blogger has changed things since my last post.  So, here's the 2017 Christmas ornaments that I sent to a friend!

Tiny Modernist -Winter Cuties

I traced around the inside of the inner hoop on foam board, cut it out with a craft knife and then gently pushed foam board into the back for a neat finish.

If you haven't discovered Tiny Modernist yet, here's the etsy shop for some instant gratification

Tiny Modernist

I love to make a little Christmas mat each year to send.

The backing was just as interesting as the front!


I hope 2018 has gotten of to a great start for you.  

DMC Stitchable Mesh, Anyone?

Whilst wandering through the world of blogs, I came across, on an embroidery site, mesh from DMC that is stichable.  A quick check from Joanne at 123 revealed this -http://www.123stitch.com/item/DMC-Stitchable-Mesh-Fabric-Reversible-GoldSilver-10x10/DMC-MSH

From what I've read on a couple of embroidery blogs, the mesh retains hoop marks, so that would be an issue for cross-stitchers. But has any one used this mesh and found any other issues?

I am intrigued at its possibilities! Thoughts, please!!