WAITING GAME..............

 Not a lot to tell, but we are still waiting for our car to be fixed and just don't know when that will be.          A quick catch up on my lovely Sunday at DD's with a tasty BBQ lunch & a few presents.  Lucky me.   We went across in the Morris & Master L who is now 15, had actually never been for a ride in it and was so chuffed when we all went to Bunnings & Pop took him in it.  The smiles said it all.

A few photos follow of  bits'n'bobs I captured yesterday.

My visitor first thing Monday morning and he sat for quite a while.  The photo was taken through the kitchen window as I didn't want to disturb him in case he flew off before I could take the snap.

My camellia called Volunteer has it's first open bloom.
Isn't she beautiful.

Freesia foliage appearing in the front garden bed.
It was a very murky day yesterday, so not the best photos. 

    

Part of my Mothers' Day present were the 2 small plants on the right & the two on the left were my own splurge while at  Bunnings Garden Centre.  I made the mosaic pot many years ago when I was a volunteer at our Vision Australia day program.  This photo & the 2 that follow were taken on the verandah potting bench with our weather screen stuff  behind which seems to make the background very blurry.

A few bits I've been playing with lately. The small white urn was purchased at Rusted Garden Art which I blogged about last month.

My old macrame hanger which I made in the 80's while living in Batlow and not used for many a year, now sports an old container & a few plants I hope will soon fill out.

The corner isn't quite as colourful, but still looks OK with a few things waiting to be either potted or go in the garden.  We aren't quite on top the garden with ideas coming to halt until we have the car fixed and see how it hit the finances.😔

The long terracotta pot (above) and the gorgeous carved timber container (below) were both picked up from a nearby reclamation centre for next to nothing and silly me just couldn't leave them.
I'd forgotten to take any photos when we acquired them and I'm about to plant up the long one with a few wayward forget-me-not plants growing near the blueberries.

This post came about because of these two presents & also why I got the Bottle Baby plants.  My granddaughter bought me the bunch of tulips and DD gave me the book so I can have a go at terrariums.  I did try once and not very successful, so watch this space.

One last photo, in case some of my followers haven't seen the Morris which I've been talking of a bit lately.

And.......with it's own quilt I made way back in the very late 80s for our black Morris sedan we used when the kids were young. Sadly we no longer have that one and
five of us definitely wouldn't have fitted in the ute(lol), which was our later project.

OK, enough of my babble today and I will be back on Friday for the photo hunt.

Thanks for reading, take care, stay safe and huggles.

Susan.

FEBRUARY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT...2020

Linking up for the second hunt of 2020 with Kate from I live, I love, I craft, I am me.
Our list of words for this month, weren't necessarily tough, but the weather has not been conducive for getting out much, even with it being summer.  Had to do quite a bit of searching through the archives & photo bombing inside.😖  I've also come up with a few doubles & a little bottom heavy(lol), you'll see what I mean as you scroll down!!
So here goes.....

1.  HEART/S.

Can you see the heart shapes indented into this rock?  I took the photo at Smith's Beach on Phillip Island some years ago.  I often wonder how rocks get to look as they do with etchings or bands of beautiful colour.  Our world is so fascinating!😖
2.  REPAIR.

I thought of many things for this word & then DH got involved & suggested repairs to our lovely MM which has happened many times over the years since we got her in 1991.  In August 2015, it was decided her timber tray back needed replacing & I happened to take a few photos of the progress.  Looking through the folder of photos, DH spotted this one & said, ooh, that one is good.
After the next photo, you'll know why I underlined a certain word.😊
3.  TAIL.

Left was the obvious one I chose to start with.
I took this photo at Melbourne Zoo a few years ago when we went with DD, Master L & Missy Moo.  I was looking at the peacock, camera in hand & he suddenly opened his tail & stood looking at me as though waiting for me to take his photo.  I obliged.






Next as I was looking at other photos, I realised that so many people are fascinated by our local wildlife, that I'd pop on this one too, to feature the size & strength of a kangaroo's tail.  Er!!  That underlined word has just made another appearance in this photo & I wasn't going to use it, but DH thought the coincidence was funny & everyone may get a good laugh.  Certainly need to smile with so much in amongst all the bad news this year seems to be inflicting on this huge rotating orb.


4.  KEY.

Me being silly once again.  I thought of so many for this one & failed to get out to find a few I'd thought of.  Hence a photo was needed of something & as the last few days have been quite dark, dreary & wet, I needed to put my thinking cap on.  Here we have piano keys, a timber key rack & an old style key on a big ring made at Sovereign Hill (based on a gold mining town) in Ballarat.  And why the monkey?  Monkey ends with "key"....ha ha!  This one with it's rather flat tail, was eldest son
A's, when he was little & he chewed that tail.
5.  KNOT.

I had this one in mind for heart, but when I couldn't find my old Macrame Knot plant hanger, I changed my mind and chose my Colonial Knot embroidery of a heart.  Again I took this photo yesterday & the light just didn't do anything justice.
6.  MY OWN CHOICE.
Can I have 2 again?

                                              A dream space for a sewing studio.......yes?
This garden room is at Harlow Carr, the RHS garden in Harrogate, North Yorkshire where they hold talk, lectures etc. and I think it is gorgeous.  Or you could be viewing this from it's windows...........

                                                        Aren't you ever so cute Mr. Caterpillar?
Also photographed at Harlow Carr last year in August.  I really must catch up on some posts about our trip, as I've lots of lovely photos.
OK, that's my lot of being a bit wacky this time.  Hopefully there will be lots of giggles.
Thanks Kate for supplying the words & now I'm off to link up.
Take care all & huggles.
Susan.

NOVEMBER SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT 2018.

Linking with Kate for the last hunt of this year.  And what a year it has been for most of the Hunters with such beautiful photos from all that participate.  This month's word list was a bit tricky, but it is amazing what you see & have in the archives.  Here goes.

1.  POST/MAILBOX.

The row of mailboxes at the corner of Bumbalong Road on the Monaro Highway between Canberra                                                                               & Cooma.

2.  DECAY.

An abandoned shop in the small settlement of Beeac on the road between Colac & Cressy  west of                                                                                Melbourne.
3.  SECONDHAND.

Our dressing table, with bed reflected in the mirror.  This is Edwardian & both it & the bed were purchased in about 1987/88 when we moved to Tasmania.  Sitting at a set of traffic lights outside a shop called Boomerang Furniture, I excitedly announced, "I want that dressing table in the window".
Some weeks later I walked from the Bank (where I was working), up to the shop & was able to 'lay-bye' it & pick up when it was all payed for.  When I arrived to pick it up, the owner told me, he'd had a bed come in that was also in blackwood & would look good with it, so, lo & behold, we went home with 2 items.  We still have them to this day, although the bed has been converted to a queen size, as hubby is 6'3".

4.  STRAND.   
 On the right is the small set of drawers I keep my 'stranded' cottons in.  The bottom 2 drawers are the neat & tidy ones. 






Below we have an old rowing boat stranded on a sandbank on Westernport Bay near Hastings.  It  may even be covered at high tide.                                                                               

5.  FOLD.

This is sort of a "now you see it, now you don't" when folded up, then opened.
So sorry about the quality of these photos, but they are actually prints I've had to scan onto this post.
Our camper trailer (no longer with us), that we towed with the Morris & it saw many adventures.
This was the one I found tricky, as I really wanted it to be different, as I'd thought of all sorts, but they were just not right.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

As I love animals of all kinds so much, what better way to end this year's final hunt, but with a beautiful little lizard. I took this photo many years ago in Lane Cove National Park in Sydney.  We were staying at the caravan park there & saw possum & kookaburras, but just couldn't capture them on camera, then I spotted this little beauty sunning himself on the path.
Browsing the archives nets some great photos, that we sometimes forget about, so thanks to Kate, they appear here many years later.

THANK YOU KATE......and to all who take their time to be a part of this fabulous hunt hosted by Kate.  The photos and accompanying stories always amaze, amuse & make me feel a part of a wider community of friends from near & far.
Take care all and huggles.
Susan.

THE MM STORY.

Here's a short version and some photos of our Morris Minor.

Back in 1991, whilst living in Tasmania, hubby spied an MM poking out from some large blackberry bushes on a farm.  He approached the farmer to buy it and was told, "If you can get it out, it's yours."
He and the 2 boys went along and managed to extract it and brought it home in this state.

Originally a panel van.

This what it looked like at first.  So much rust and a broken chassis meant a radical rethink.  All the work was done by hubby except for a few minor bits, such as re-chroming the radiator grill and new upholstery on the seats (eventually).

Top:  rust.  Bottom: broken chassis.

The next few photos are of the work in progress.  I've scanned these photos and some aren't the best quality (or poses), but you'll see the scale of the work involved.

Work underway whilst on her side.

Extending the cab to fit in my 6'3" other half.

The cab back finished.

Once a lot more work was done on the chassis, it was remounted and ready for an engine.  As it came without an engine, we bought a MM engine, which we later replaced with a Toyota engine.

Sprayed red, engine and 2 additions which kept popping up in all the later photos. (Our two boys as teenagers)

As it was not possible to keep the van part, hubby decided to make it into a ute (pickup).  Below is the start of the tray for the back.

Uhm, not the best photo in the world, but the only one we have of the progress on this bit.

Now for the exciting part.  Done, except for the sides of the tray.

Here she is for a photo with DD's Mini, our black sedan and part of my Cortina.

We'd had the black one since 1988 and belonged to the MM Club of Tasmania and it was great for outings with our 3 children, but hubby also loves a challenge.

In 1992, it was finally ready for it's first big challenge.  A trip to South Australia with The Morris Minor Touring Club of Australia.  We would be camping (just the 2 of us), which we'd not done very much of.  Here we are ready to go.

Err!  Yes, that is us.  How times change.

She has travelled to many places over the years including Alice Springs (7,000kms round trip), Ceduna on the edge of the Nullabor, back to Tasmania and lots of places in between. In that time we went from camping to using a camper van, shown below.  Camping in a 3 man tent wasn't all that comfortable and I'll leave it to your imagination as to how a tall person gets dressed in one.

The camper trailer.

 Hubby used her as his work vehicle as well, hence the amount of time that's being spent on her now.  She's been back on the road for 23 years now.


FOOTNOTE.

My first car when I was 18 in 1967.  My grandfather helped me purchase it and I had it for nearly 2 years and had lots of fun in her.  This is the "only" photo I have.

Wash day!

A short story of CARS, not quilting, but then we all have lots to life outside our hobbies.
Take care all.
Susan.

THE ODD BUNCH.

First I'd like to thank all for last post's comments.  We had a couple of those scary phone calls from someone with a foreign accent, saying they were going to cut our internet off, so tried to use it fleetingly for a couple of days.   They didn't of course, and as soon as they say that, I just hang up. Getting nothing from this old lady, though if they ring again, I'll be calling the complaints number.

A few odd photos.

LAST 4 XMAS GIFTS.

Fox oven mitt, socks to keep my tootsies toasty warm, 2 scented candles and a candle mat handmade by Jo, a souvenir pin and a love spoon key ring.  

Close-up of pin depicting an Australian flag crossed with a Welsh one.  A very fitting end to a wonderful swap.

I can't thank Jo(2) enough for her lovely gifts and thoughtfulness.  Also a big thanks to my other Jo(1), for initiating the 12 Days of Xmas Swap.

CRAFT.
I've finished the body of my CAL rug and have taken a photo, albeit in the garden over the handrail of our stairs, so that you don't see my wavy edges.  I still need to do the borders, which don't seem too easy.  Ugh!

I'm also working on this lot of fabric, all from my stash and last quilt I'm making for "that" book (giggle).

GARDEN
Not a lot happening on this front due to lack of rain, and our weird weather.  Although it's not been hot over the last week, it's been strange, sort of cloudy and close.  Hubby bought me 2 roses for Xmas, one being a favourite I've had before.  Pierre de Ronsard, which is a climber.  It has started flowering with very strange looking flowers, so cut one and took it out to the Rose Nursery, where we found that his are also the same at the moment.  He thinks it is because of our very hot days around Xmas and not much rain.

Poor Pierre, which should be pale pink.

My black scabious looking good though.

THE MORRIS.
I did say that I'd show a photo of our Morris once hubby had finished doing the back.

Taken this afternoon out at the Rose Nursery.

TAKING NOTE.
Today, I noticed that it's been a good day.  First, I actually sold some blueberries to one of our local fruit and veg shops.  We've had heaps and they said they'd take some if I took them in.  I've been giving them away as well and met some of our neighbours in the process.  I'm even going to make a small amount of jam, I think.
At the nursery, it was great talking roses with someone else who loves them.
This morning  in town, I called in at a shop that opened whilst we lived in Ballarat and found that one of the salesgirls is an avid quilter.  This shop sells cookware and has some lovely range cookers and also have cooking classes, which I certainly didn't know about.  She took my  phone number and said she'd love to come around and see my big machine.   Funny how things can come about.
Enough of my ramblings for now.  The weekend is nearly here for us.  Wonder what it will bring?
Take care all, Susan.

PROGRESS!

A REVEAL.

My FPP star quilt.

This is the quilt I've been trying to get to the pieced top stage and now all I need to do is add a border, although the original didn't have one.  The pattern was in a magazine called Quilts with Style (now discontinued) and ran over 6 issues in 2006.  Janette and I started ours, we think, sometime in 2008, so definitely what you would call a long term project.  Once I've worked out a border, I'll tell a bit about why it took me so long.

WORKS IN PROGRESS!

The Garden, which will always be a work in progress.

The two hellebores I inherited with this garden, which still amazes me, as it basically filled with so-called "low maintenance" planting.  I've always loved hellebores and these two are beauties.  I have two more in pots which I brought with me awaiting planting.

Along the back fence which shows what I meant in the last caption.  12 pittosporums, lomandras, (spiky things) and seaside daisy (erigeron), which spreads and self seeds in gardens here in Oz and just a jolly nuisance.  This bed will eventually be planted with some lovely small trees and shrubs with perennials, bulbs and annuals in front. 

Looking toward the shed where hubby has his woodworking gear setup and we store garden tools.  As you can see more of the yukky stuff, but on the right in the photo is an olive tree (we don't like olives), but there is a new nest that the magpies have built, so this tree will definitely being staying, as I love our birdlife.

The first rose to be planted in the garden.  There are no roses at all here and that just won't do.  This one is Julia's Rose, which I've had in most of my recent gardens.  We think there are two blueberry bushes behind it,  I'll have to wait and see.

Behind the little shed is this area, where we found the potatoes and which I'll use for now as the veg bed, until we see how much shade that tree casts.  The parsley was already there and I've just put in a rhubarb plant (a must).  You may have to click to enlarge to see it.

We also planted a magnolia, but the photo has disappeared, so I'll have to take another one and post again sometime.  More garden photos will hopefully be popping up often as the weather improves.  It was lovely spending time in the garden yesterday and finding a couple more spuds when I was digging over the above bed.

TWO MORE WIP's.
No. 1.
I'm still working on my giant granny rug, though not as much done as I would have liked, but am also handsewing a binding to a quilt.  Have to work on these alternately as the chillblains are still hanging around.

Rug

No. 2.

Poor old Brute.

On my first ever blog post in January 2013, I showed our beloved Morris Minor.  Over the years she has been on the road, she's taken us to many places in Australia as part of the Morris Minor Touring Club, towing for a while our small camper trailer, on local club outings, then as hubby's transport to work for the last ten years before he retired.  Now she really does need some extra TLC.  We acquired her in 1991 when we saw her in a blackberry patch.  The local farmer said if we could get her out, she was ours.  Hubby and the two boys managed to wangle her out and she's been with us ever since.  Originally a panel van, but as the back was just completely rusted away, she became a ute (pickup), was registered in 1992 and went on her first trip that year to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.  Hubby did all the work himself, but she doesn't have her original engine, has had the cab extended a little as he's quite tall (6'3") lovely timber boards on the back and runs on both gas and petrol.  OK, for those who are new to following, I'll pop on the better photo too.

OK, enough for now, so I can post this and get to a few other things as the sun is shining after a few brief showers this morning.
Hope all had a great weekend and take care.
Susan.