A BIT OF THIS'N'THAT CATCH UP.

 Having had intermittent internet recently, I am happy to say that I "think", we are OK with technical stuff now.  Just a quick post with some photos of what is going on around here.

IN THE GARDEN.

Although I feel we've neglected the garden this year due to the rather dull and inclement weather, it is surviving, but I'd love to get it restructured so I can work in it easier.  Being quite steep & my ongoing back problems it is becoming increasingly difficult .  I love pottering outside.

The Garrya is flowering well this year after one lonely tassel last year.

The violets smell beautiful.

Some of the Hellebore buds are now out.

Looking across the top terrace & it really does need a bit of attention to make it look like I want it.

The veg beds have been tidied & really need moving to somewhere sunnier, so that is on the to-do list.
I harvested the last of the carrots & removed all the spent vegetation last week on a dry day.

FIREWOOD.

A car club friend had trees come down on their property just outside of town, some over the boundary fencing, so off we went to cut firewood to feed our woodburner.

Roadside trees down.

The beautiful views over our countryside.  This is the view I had whilst loading the wood.

DH busy with chain saw.

The mess these gum trees make when they fall. This one came down over the boundary fence.

IN THE SEWING ROOM.

My design wall is looking quite full at the moment with Quiltalong sewing bits.  I'm participating in 3 at the moment & will talk about each one under the separate photos.

The Bedding Plants qal being run by Jo Avery in Scotland.
I've just started row 3 & have been a bit of a rebel as usual.  I'll try and update more often.

3 of the 4 blocks in a small version of the Sewcialite QAL being hosted by my friend Joy.  These will be sewn together in our own setting, so will make for an interesting reveal by all who are participating.

Also being hosted by Joy above is the year long Let's Stay Home QAL with stitcheries and piecing.  As these only come once a month, there is plenty of time to embroider of a night while watching mindless TV.  Sorry about the not so good photos as the light has been woeful, even inside.  I'll try and get better ones next time.  

OK, enough from me and I'm off to do some more catching up.

Take care all, stay safe & huggles.

Susan.

FOLLOW YOUR OWN PATH FINISH & LINKUP.

Today I am linking with Sandra from mmm.quilts to finally reveal my two versions of Follow Your Own Path which she ran as a QAL.  

We started this in early April and I put up a teaser a couple of posts ago which was this.....

The backings & quilting detail.
If you click on any of the photos, they will be brought up larger for more detail.

Folded and waiting patiently for some "In the Wild" photos which weren't quite what I had in mind due to our inclement weather.  I suppose it is winter.........😒

I worked on the one below first and went just a little wayward, using an old Rainbows pack (jelly roll) from Victorian Textiles and finding some neutral pale grey fabric for the background.  I also renamed both whilst stitching them together.

The first photo was taken in the reserve on one of the new estates we walk through over a small rotunda railing.

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                                                                     I DID IT MY WAY.                                                    

This  lower photo was taken along a short boardwalk in a local park which we pass on our local walking routes and I was surprised to find many "chimneys" made by our Burrowing Crayfish which are supposed to be endangered, but we see these around in many of our walks lately.

The said mud chimneys.

The small boardwalk.

Next up came this one below and I again used a Rainbows pack, but this time a black/white one & was actually able to shop for a red background in May.  Of course we are limited again at the moment with enforced restrictions throughout Victoria, hence also having to find local places for my photos.

I found a sign on our travels one day with an "ARROW" and took a photo draped over, with poor DH holding it as I definitely couldn't reach, being less than 5ft these days.  Thank heavens for a tall better half.  Wonder if anyone was amused by what we were doing?

Which Direction.

Another two photos of each taken inside in my sewing room when we had a little sunshine happening.  I had so many ideas for photos but the weather just has not been playing along.  

Which Direction measures 40.5" x 44.5" and is quilted with 
a pattern called Point the Way by Naomi Hynes using
Signature thread, colour Cherry.

I Did It My Way is 32.5" x 43.5", quilted with a pattern
called Which Direction also by Naomi Hynes.
The thread is Signature in colour Oyster Shell.

Not often I give details, but thought it might be interesting to do that.

OK, that is enough of my waffling.  Thanks for taking a peek;

Take care all, stay safe & hugs from down under.

Susan.

PS:  I am also participating in a few other QALs at the moment, so I will be back shortly.

THANK YOU!!!!!!

 A very quick Thank you to all my lovely blog pals who commented on my Photo Scavenger Hunt post last Friday.  As we'd had much storm damage throughout the area, though none here in my local vicinity, except for a few fallen trees and branches, the devastation elsewhere in Gippsland suffered flooding & downed power lines which interrupted some i'net services intermittently over several days. 

Take care all, stay safe and hugs from down under.

Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - BERRY

 A few hiccups over the last few days, but here we are linking with Astrid for the Scavenger Hunt.

Today's word is BERRY & although I'd thought about getting out to take a few photos, the weather has not played ball at all.  Thank heavens for our archives, so here we go & I know my loyal followers will know me well enough to that they'll see the inevitable from our garden.

Our blueberry bushes with new berries before they ripen.

My trug with ripe berries.  Last seasons haul was around 30kgs overall.

And what do they become at times?  Why, blueberry muffins among other things.

Pyracantha berries (I think) that grow in a small reserve near our local railway crossing.

And lastly, an arrangement I made whilst living in Ballarat from both my garden & some foraged roadside bits.

Not even going to try and identify these, though we do have inky black berries in there.

OK, quick and easy for me today after forgetting all about it.  We've had computer  problems, along with so much storm damage here in south eastern Australia.  There are so many trees down in Gippsland and floods in some areas with more rain forecast over coming days.  As we still can't have visitors to our house or go visiting, it is a matter of staying at home & keeping busy, warm & dry and trying not to stress or worry.  I've been appliqueing flowers on my next row of the Bedding Plants QAL, which is quite time consuming as I've not done any raw edge applique for a while.  I'll do a show & tell later next week.

Take care all, stay safe & huggles from a very soggy down under.

Susan.

QUICK PROGRESS REPORT.

 Popping in tonight with a photo of my first row for the Bedding Plants Quiltalong.

This is actually the bottom row of "Roses" in the pattern.
As I'm using my scraps, it could look very different from those of the other participants, which I will not see until the full reveal as I don't use either FB or IG, but I am having fun so far and finding all sorts in my scrap tubs which I'd forgotten about.

Not much else to report on today, except that it basically rained all day non-stop, is freezing cold and we've had a few wind gusts, so outside has been a no-no.  Probably the reason I actually finished my row of 6.  Tomorrow I'm having a long overdue haircut and I'm procrastinating as to how short I want to go in this cold weather.  Time will tell.

Take care all, stay safe & huggles from down under.

Susan.

QAL PROGRESS.

 A very quick progress about a couple of Quiltalongs I am joining in with at the moment.

One is with my good friend Joy in Ballarat from Days filled with Joy blog and this is a small wall hanging we are participating in.  Our first block was a doddle, which is good as another I decided to join in with is quite fiddly.  First photo is of the Sewcial Quilt block No. 17.

Now the next QAL is from Jo Avery in Scotland and she is someone I've followed in Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine from Britain which I've purchased for many years.  It sounded quite interesting so I'm giving it a go, though in a slightly smaller version.

Her book.

This is the quilt and the row at the bottom is the one we are starting with.
As of yesterday I had completed one rose block.

I am going to use scraps for all my flowers and an assortment of white leftovers from my stash for each row background.  Could be an interesting exercise.

Behind the book photo which I took on my ironing board is some new fabric on the top of board, because I ended up with a very worn spot and then ripped it, hence replaced old fabric, shown below.  It's really cute.

One last snippet.

I think I mentioned another QAL with Sandra from mmm.quilts who has her link up and reveal on the 15th of June, but here is a little teaser.  I made two of Follow your own Path.  They are both finished, but not labelled.  Want to have a look..................

The back of each one.

OK enough from me now and I will pop on progress reports of the QALs from time to time and should catch up with some garden photos too.

Thanks for all my lovely comments lately, take care, stay safe and hugs from down under.

Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT. - GLASS

 Once again Friday has come & gone with me not posting, but I am here with a titbit of "glass" and linking with Astrid.  A couple from my archives & 2 I took today after a baking session.  Very cold and even though we have a "little" freedom, I'm not going anywhere yet for safety's sake.

NOTRE DAME ROSE WINDOW.

As you can see from the date it is well before the terrible fire.  We did a quick tour of a portion of Europe as a side trip when we visited UK that year for a wedding of one of our nephews.

GLASSHOUSE.

This is the glasshouse at RHS Rosemoor which are lovely gardens in Devon.  Taken in 2011 on another trip for a niece's wedding.

BAKING.

My very old Pyrex glass loaf dish which has seen a lot of use over the years for ginger cake, lemon drizzle cake and even meatloaves.  The cake above is a Maori Loaf & ever so quick & easy.  The recipe was given to me by a friend in the 80s, who had a sister-in-law in New Zealand & she made it quite often.

The biscuits above are from a very old Women's Weekly recipe book, which I've been making since I first got married.  Our eldest granddaughter, now 24 loved them.  The glass dish I displayed them in is one I've also had for a long time.  They are now in the tin & we may have one for afternoon tea.........or maybe a piece of cake.  

OK, my lot done & dusted and hope everyone is having a great weekend.  I'll link this, then later will pop in to have a peek at the other hunters' photos.

Take care all, stay safe & hugs from down under.

Susan.

PS:  I may have a little post about some quilting tomorrow.😏