A walk through the old swamp lands

My husband and I went for a really nice walk this morning in the Onkaparinga old swamp land area. Its a very strange area as there is very little signs of life other than a few kangaroo droppings and a few swans on the section of the river that fans out into the swamps.

We did find a tent and campsite hidden under some trees in our trek, my husband suggested we not go too close. I wasn't so much worried about who lived there, I was more concerned that the person might be deceased. We got close enough to see that it had been recently inhabited and there were no unusual smells. All good thankfully.

Below is a general photo of the area we were. From a distance I thought there were lots of black rocks in the water (should wear my glasses more often), I then realised they were actually swans.

I found some wonderful snails living on a dead bush as you can see below.

I love all these pieces of dead sea weed, I might have to collect

 some in the future for paper making.

These holes in the mud intrigued me, I'd love to know what 

made them. Worms, yabbies maybe?

This is the swamp ground below where all the water is drying up.

I love this last photo. I think it is 'lichen' maybe?

Another sample of hand turned applique

Here is my other sample of hand turned applique I just found. This was my first ever sample and therefore it certainly is not the best ever piece.

Applique Unit- Teaching starts tomorrow

Well tomorrow is the start of the Applique unit for my Certificate 3 class. We start with a general introduction to applique, where I show them lots of photos and real examples as well. My plan is to complete a new sample of work for each of the techniques as we go.

We are studying
                                Needle/Hand turn
                                Outline stitch
                                Naive
                                Satin stitch
                                Reverse
                                Raw edge
                                Sheers

Tomorrow we are starting with Needle turn or Hand turn. Some people seem to call it different things. My definition it is simply applying shapes to a base piece of fabric using invisible stitches. I use freezer paper when I do my hand turned work, I find it so much easier.

Below is an example of some past pieces of my hand turned work.

This piece above is actually stretched around a canvas frame.

This piece above is all hand turned and I've then used obvious stitching to highlight the design.

Another example of hand turned work using stitching as decoration.

The picture above is hand turned on both the bird and the border and then has decorative stitching.

Oh by the way, all my work in the applique samples revolve around a 'bird' theme.