ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

Well, today we celebrate another birthday.  Our daughter C (mine), is also 41 now.  Three down and one to go.  We wish her all the best whilst on holiday and yes, I've spoken to her, and they are enjoying themselves.

Two people I've to thank for lovely presents from overseas are, Lucie the Happy Quilter, who sent me a lovely thread keeper and my penfriend B from Cornwall who gave me some lovely tea towels and fridge magnets from the Kirstie Allsopp range.  She knows I think KA is entertainment plus.

My lovely gifts.

My reading matter at the moment is quite light.  I've a few magazines and a lovely book.  I try not to buy much in the way of magazines anymore, but some just call me.  Two I can't resist and luckily bi-monthly, are, Landscape and Landlove.  The other shown is Mollie Makes Home.  I've read this from cover to cover.  In the past I've bought 2 copies of Mollie Makes and then handed over to my daughter.  I've far too many quilt/craft magazines so try not to even look, but every now and then something catches my eye.  I don't always come away with it, but sometimes I do.

I am reading a great gardening book, shown below.  I also finished one I showed in an earlier post and loved it too bits.  That one was My Cool Allotments.

The dahlia bud turned out to be white and the two large magnolias in this garden are flowering out of season.
They are dropping quickly  and going quite brown on the edges due to the heat.

It is 4.30pm here in Warragul and 36 deg (hot), but hubby says that at the cricket being held in Melbourne, the temperature has just dropped from 35 deg to 23 deg in 10 minute so the cool change is on the way.  Bad thing is that the wind is gusting at 91 kmph, which is not good if there are any fires about.  They've also had to bring out heavier bales to go on the wickets.  Yes, I do like my cricket, but I've been busy doing other things as well.

All for now, so take care and enjoy your weekend.
Susan.

A BABY QUILT --- TO BE

Now, everyone knows I've been complaining about "stuff" being packed in boxes and not being able to work on certain projects.  Well, on our very hot Thursday, we made a short trip to the storage unit that we took on for the "de-cluttering" before we put the house on the market, to pick up our pedestal fan for future hot days and what did I find, but a plastic tub with a label that said - WIP's and SPECIAL PROJECTS.
Inside, I found the fabric I had bought earlier this year for my niece, thinking she was already pregnant and expecting a girl.  It turned out, she wasn't at the time, but later in the year, I got the news that she was.  Then, her brother spilled the beans that it was a girl.

I am going to talk you through what and how I'll be making this quilt.

First, I designed it on a software program I have called QUILT WIZARD, which is one of the older variety of the Electric Quilt series.  I also design on graph paper.
  It is a simple quilt, but will show a couple of blocks and how I make them, which is my way and not necessarily the right or wrong way.  I've also used fabric from my stash as I'm trying not to buy anymore till it is a little smaller, (and yes it is large), but then I did make my first quilt in 1977, so I'll leave that to your imaginations.  I will do this over several posts.

First, I cut two 9 1/2" strips across the width of the fabric, then cut these into 6 1/2" rectangles.  I needed 9.  These will showcase the lovely focus fabric I bought.

Next, I cut 2 strips 2 3/4" from each of 4 different fabrics, across the width again.
I then sewed each of the strips together to make 2 sets of 4 as shown below.

I ironed the seams to one side and all in the same direction, as this makes cutting easier.  I then cut the strip sets into 12   6 1/2" rectangles.
On this quilt, no seams will have to be matched so makes it easy for a beginner.

Now, we have two sets of blocks put aside and early next week we'll work on another two, one easy and one a little more complicated.
At the end, after the quilt is completed, if anyone thinks my instructions are ok, I will be able to give fabric requirements as well. This is just to see if I can do this sort of thing on my blog.
I've designed many quilts over the years, but just for myself, so we'll see how all this goes.
I'll be back tomorrow as it is another special day.
Take care all, Susan.

QUIET CHRISTMAS

Hubby and I spent a very quiet Xmas day, as our children live far and wide (except 1 daughter who had to go to Sydney), and all were tied up this year with in-laws.  Travelling in the heat is not what we like anymore so we stayed put.

We made a picnic lunch and traveled up into the hills just behind Warragul and had our lunch at the Jindivik Cricket ground looking out over the wonderful view.  We had plenty of company -  "FLIES".  We walked over into the Community Garden, then came home via a friend's who had asked if we would like to stop in for afternoon tea.  Very, very quiet, which I'm not sure whether we've ever experienced before, but I suppose it happens at some stage in most people's lives.

Some photos below of our outing.

2 views from the fence over the cricket pitch and towards the practice nets..

Looking towards the clubhouse.

Community garden sign.

More photos of the gardens.

Flossie the cow.

Bootscooter.

A bird perched on the birdbath made from cutlery.

The outdoor gym (not a good photo) where we had a workout on  a couple of things.
I think I pulled a little tummy muscle as I've not been to the gym for about 18 months because of my back problems and hubby's legs were sore. (giggle).  How unfit are we. 

 When we move to Ballarat, I'm thinking of taking up archery, which I tried once and thoroughly enjoyed and it is supposed to be good for your posture, so helps strengthen your back muscles.  We also hope to do a lot more walking amongst other things.

The garden also had plenty of colour.

We stopped at Tarago Reservoir and had a wander, then took a scenic route to my friend J's so I could take a photo of these two beauties (below 2nd photo).

Tarago Reservoir.

CAMELS.

I'll leave it there for today and will be back tomorrow with a very different post.  I am going to try and show something I've not tried to do on my blog before, so hopefully you'll not think I've gone mad.
Hope everyone has a good Boxing Day.
Take care.
Susan.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Merry Christmas to all those who follow my blog and hope you have a lovely day.  Stay warm in the northern hemisphere and for those of us in the south may we be cool.  It is 7am, mild and sunny so far and predicted to reach 29 deg in our part of Victoria.

Also today a big Happy Birthday to our son-in-law P who celebrates his 44th birthday on this day.

Take care all.
Susan.

JUST A LITTLE LATE

I was hoping to post this early last week, but time got away from me.  Not even sure what I've done in some ways.  Just busy, with two extremely hot days, which I just don't cope with.  Now today is wet, windy and cold (just 16 deg after it being 39 and 33 on Thursday and Friday).  I'd shown a picture of a King parrot, which came to sit beside me while we were out.  On Sunday, we decided to take a drive to find a small twiggy branch for my Xmas tree.  Started out and ended up in Noojee, which is about 40kms north east of where we live.  It is quite hilly and bushy and below are some photos I took.

The old rail trestle bridge at Noojee.

Looking along the bridge from the steps to the top.

Looking down from the bridge to our car and all the lovely tree ferns.

Toorongo Falls.  This is actually downstream from the main falls, which we will visit after Xmas, before we leave this area.  We were running out of time and the walk is uphill for about 2.5 kms, so that will be for another day.

A rusting ute in very long grass.  I just thought it was a good photo.

A very large gum tree in the park.

The Noojee trout farm from a scenic lookout spot.

Multi-coloured silage bales.

Now we did find a twiggy branch for me.
  When our children were younger, we always went and found a largish branch with gumnuts still attached and any dead leaves were stripped and it was placed in a bucket and then decorated with all our lovely baubles etc.   The decorations could always been seen much better, but these days I usually decorate our fake tree, but as both are stored away at the moment, I went for the other option and here it is in all it's teeny glory.

My little tree.

Closeup so you can see the butterflies.

Those two packages under it are from overseas, one being from a blog pal, Lucie the Happy Quilter and the other from my penfriend in Cornwall.  The tree has bows tied all over and it's just for fun as being packed over the holiday season can be a wee bit painful.

I'm off now for a  lovely massage from L whom I'm going to miss once we move, though I should fit in another one before we go.  I'll have to try and find someone else who is good and I do need one each month.

Take care all and have a Happy Xmas and New Year as I know a few who will be too busy to post over the silly season, so will see you all in 2014.
Susan.

XMAS QAL AND A DOUBLE HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Ok, this a double birthday post and the QAL

Happy birthday to D and M and hope you have great days.

Everyone may get the message that we have a lot of birthdays this month.  Yesterday the 14th was our grandsons 13th birthday and today (his Mum), the 15th, is our daughters (my stepdaughter) birthday and she has just turned 41.  Had to put that explanation in for those who don't know that our other daughter (my daughter) celebrates her 41st later this month, so thought it may get quiet confusing.

QAL

I'm afraid I don't have anything new to show, but below is the photo of how far I got with the challenge of using no red and green for a Christmas top.
"Somebody" wondered if anybody would use purple and orange, and silly me, took it up.  I chose most fabrics from my stash except for 2 of the orange bows.  I didn't have much orange to hand.  The pattern is one I received many years ago with my subscription of QNM magazine.  All nine blocks have now been appliqued, but then I had to declutter my studio to put the house on the market for sale.  As we are renting till January, everything is still packed, so this will be finished next year and QuiltSue thought we may have another party. (giggle).

Middle row.

 Below is my early take on Christmas at the moment.  Notice two of the photos are very red and green.

The old fashioned alstromeria, which I think look quite Xmasy.

Dream bars which have bottled fruit mince in the topping.  (sort of Xmasy).

A taster of what we got up to today.  Will have to post again tomorrow as I'm very tired tonight.

It's short and sweet, but I did take up the challenge of no red and green.Take care all and have a lovely Sunday.
Susan.

LAST SUNDAY

On Sunday last week we headed off to Yarragon,  a small village about 10 minutes east of Warragul to attend a general auction where I had a few items of furniture and some pieces of china for sale.  We stayed for a short while, wandered down to the park and ate our lunch, stayed for another hour, but as a few of my items were to go near the end, we left and headed for the hills.  Still not sure how I went with the sale, but hopefully we'll have made a little money.
Now for some photos.

Steam train in the park where we ate our lunch.

Some lovely old cars on display at the Darnum Village Hall.  Not sure what it was as most had already left.

A view of the Strezlecki Hills from the Darnum Musical Village.

Views from the above hills to the north.  Somewhere in the distance is Warragul.

Mailboxes on a side road.  I love  roadside mailboxes, and sometimes there are only a couple and other times there may be 15 or 16.  I nearly always forget to take photos or we can't stop because there is nowhere to park for a photo shot.

The first cherry tomatoes from the self seeded plants.  I also made some chocolate crackles which I've not done for ages.

Just a short post of what I got up to last weekend.
I do believe this weekend is the Xmas QAL and I've nothing to show as it is all packed away and I'm afraid I've not progressed since the  last photo of my project anyway.  I may post something about quilting, but not related to the QAL.  It will be a little bit of fun before Xmas about a subject a couple of people have enquired about.
All for now and take care.
Susan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

A very quick post on something I've just thought of.

Our eldest son is 37 today and just look at that date.     11-12-13.

How many of us would be lucky enough to have 3 running numbers at any time in our lives.  I certainly wouldn't as mine starts with 29.

As I've not posted much about quilting lately, I'll show a quilt I made some years ago for him.

Made from an old issue of Quilters Companion.

That's all for now and hope to post tomorrow about a day out last Sunday.  Take care all.
Susan.

STRESS, WEATHER AND WILDLIFE

It's been a rather stressful week, with two letters arriving a day apart, about problems with pension information for both hubby and my Dad.  Sorting these out always amounts to much time spent sitting and waiting to see someone.  Ours is sorted and hopefully Dad's will be in the next week.

The weather here has been absurd.  Beginning of the week we had a day of 34 deg, then a couple of "much" cooler days with squalls of very heavy rain and  freezing winds.  Today is quite warm and sunny, but comfortable and I did some more weeding this morning and nearly half filled our green waste bin again.  I was accompanied by this beautiful stick insect that we photographed the other day on the flyscreen of one of the windows.  He seems to have made the side passage his home and didn't mind me gardening out there.

The stick insect who is about 12 inches long.

On Thursday we decided to take a trip down to Inverloch, (not realising how cold and wet it was to become), as this is a lovely spot in summer that draws in big crowds to the golden beach and river estuary, so we tend not to go at that time of the year.  I took some photos of how rough it was on the boat ramp and then some more on our way home that I hope everyone may like.

Waves breaking onto the boat ramp.  This stretch of water is usually quite calm.

An echidna I spotted on the side of the road.  As long as I made no noise, he was quite content to let me photograph him.  In fact he seemed quite inquisitive and watched me for a while.  When I stood up and made the leaves rustle he pulled himself into a ball.

This is Eagle Nest Rock, a landmark on the road to Wonthaggi via Cape Patterson.

A view of Westernport Bay.

A wedgetail eagle soaring high in the sky.  I love these birds and although we see quite a few, I never get the chance to take a photo.

That is about all my news for now.  I feel that life is definitely in limbo at the moment as everything I go to do is thwarted by being packed away.  I'm going to think up some crazy ways to make the house look Christmassy over the next week, so you may get a good laugh at some stage.
Take care all and hope you have an enjoyable weekend.

LAST DAY OF SPRING

This is not where I started this blog, but some times it seems to have a mind of it's own when I'm placing the photos, so had better explain these.  Since lunchtime today I've done a little sewing and below is where I've set up my machine on the desk I use to pay the bills etc.  Don't have much choice at the moment and even though it is awkward it will have to suffice.  

Desk in corner with one of my favourite pics above.

The scraps I mentioned before being sewn together and probably going into vertical rows with sashing between.  I'll see how it looks as I go and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I'll quilt it when my machine is set up again.  It will be a charity quilt ready for our winter.

Today dawned quite overcast, but has been sunny since about mid morning and warmed as I weeded the garden.
Came inside for lunch as we noticed the flies became quite active once the sun came out.  Eating alfresco during summer does have some drawbacks here in Oz.
Below are some pics of what I was doing whilst outside.

Wheelbarrow and trug full of weeds, and I'd already put one lot in the greenwaste bin.

Section of garden just weeded.

Size of some of the weeds down side passage, which I've not even started yet.

On Thursday I picked some flowers for the house.

Alstroemarias from the front garden.

Three lovely roses.

Mock orange (philadelphus) on the dressing table.

Over the last few days I've been taking pics of other flowers and fruit appearing in the garden.

A very pale mauve hebe.

I think this is a miniature apple tree.  At first I thought it was a crabapple, but have since changed my mind.
We definitely won't get to taste them as we'll be gone by autumn.

Aquilegia seed heads that I will pick and pop into a brown paper bag and save for my new garden.

Passionfruit vine on side fence of passage.  As you can see, it is forming fruit, but can't remember how long they take to ripen, as I've not grown one for a long time.

OK, that is a quick post of what I've been up to over the last few days.  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and take care.
Susan.