LINKING UP WITH TWO CHALLENGES.

 Today I've linked with 2 other quilty bloggers.

The first is with Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs for the Favourite Finish.

Magic Triangles ( my own design).

These blocks were made many moons ago & sat waiting for inspiration to eventuate.  I finally decided on a setting, made it up, then it sat waiting in the tub of shame till last month.  I did a  very simple custom pattern on it.  

The second is with Patty from Elm Street Quilts & is a monthly goal plan to at least work on "something" you need to get done.

Deco Delight (my own design too).

I have shown this at the end of last year when I was slowly working on it after my silly fall.  Now I've decided it is time to get it quilted and bound, ready for the May Favourite Finish.😉  Wish me luck.

Other than the above, things have been quiet and strange, though we did have a nice walk on Tuesday along the Great Southern Rail Trail, so one more section done.  It was one of our only nice days for the last 3 weeks or so and has been cold, grey and raining for a good part of today.  At least this morning was dry so we could start cutting more wood for the coming winter months.  Below is the view from where we were working.

Not often I show what I've been cooking so here is what was made late last week.

Some buttery Yo Yo biscuits in both a flowery shape & ordinary round ones.
Our eldest granddaughter used to love these.

A lemon drizzle cake too.

Well that is a short post today and I really must finish off the Silo Trail this month.

My lovely friend Sandra at mmmquilts is hosting a QAL which is keeping me some what engrossed with rummaging through my scraps and...............mine is going to be a village.  More to tell as we progress on this.  Motivation has been hard lately.  The garden is looking sorry for itself too.

OK, enough from me now.

Take care all and hugs from a cool, damp 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.

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.😏

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - APRIL - Chocolate!!!!

 

Linking today with our new hostess Astrid at Dragon Stitches and Stuff.

Today we are kicking off April with chocolate.................it must be Easter, but today is also our wedding anniversary, though not much chocolate appears here these days via the bunny.  

Here we go and hopefully I've thought outside the box.  I did have visions of getting photos of a chocolate Bilby or Platypus, a couple of our confections that are truly Australian with money raised to care & protect our endangered species.  Never mind as I'm still joining in.

Playing with a selection of items featuring chocolate, being a cookbook, a quilt book, a bar of cooking chocolate, fabric with the words chocolate all over & an old tin saved from many years ago that had Old Baileys chocolates in it.  Looks good full of foliage & a camellia, which has just started flowering.

And homemade  Chocolate Orange Mousse, which has actually appeared on my blog before.  Not made it for a while, so may remedy that in the coming weeks.

Again I'm doing short and sweet, but enjoyed finding all my "CHOCOLATEY" bits which was part of the challenge for today.😏

I'm off to linkup now, and will pop into the other Hunter's blogs a little later tonight.  Thanks Astrid for taking this on.  Take care all, stay safe & hugs from down under.

Susan.

TWO LINKUPS IN ONE.

 

Today I will link with 2 lovely bloggers who do these on a once a month basis, both at the end of each month.

First up is Sandra from mmmquilts who does the Drop everything and make it post linkup.  Last month I had one  of those moments too and started and actually finished a small quilt.  Even went on the big machine once I had that other one off & had the small one quilted & bound in 2 days with the handfinishing done over a couple of nights in front of mindless TV.  Actually we've been watching the Big Bash cricket.  

Stars Aligned.

This is a pattern by Sandra that she had in a digital magazine,  Modern by the Yard.  Small was something I needed to keep me motivated & it is quite subtle in colouring & not one of my brighter ones. Not the best photo, as I was running very late taking photos and the bright sun was too much, after it had been cloudy all morning. I took this on some church steps while out for a small drive yesterday afternoon.  I will try and get a few better ones during this month.

Second is Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs with the Favourite Finish of the month.  I've actually finished this............

Hydrangea Galaxy.

I posted about this one here.  Binding on & both of these quilts & now need labels.  The one above is definitely a favourite finish, being pieced so long ago, sitting on the big machine for nearly 2 months, but finally done.  I do hope we can soon go away to see our boys, grandchildren and take this with me to give to Miss A our first born grandchild, now 24.

I've just realised that both photos have been taken on steps.  The one above on our steps from the verandah to the top part of our garden.

Talking about doing things.........This morning I baked and thought to take a photo as well.  Here is what I made to get us through the next 10 to 14 days probably.  We do indulge at morning & afternoon teatime with a biscuit or piece of cake or slice.  Not into store bought very often, though we don't mind having afternoon tea out occasionally.

Some Peanut Butter Crinkles, Chocolate Caramel Slice & Blueberry Muffins.  Need to keep using those blueberries & the caramel slice is K's favourite, so he deserves it from to time.

OK, that is enough for today and I'll possibly post during the week & of course our photo hunt on Friday.

Take care all stay safe and hugs from down under.

Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - MY OWN CHOICE.

 Just a little different today with our own choice instead of a chosen word, which although it's what comes as a last item on our monthly hunts, this has thrown me a bit.  I finally came up with an idea yesterday, but have added a little extra to the end.  Linking with the lovely Kate at I live, I love, I craft, I am me.

Men at work.

DH & R at work on the kitchen at our club rooms.  The kitchen was part grant & a thank you from our local hardware store who were able to use the rooms for teaching before opening the BIG new store in the middle of the pandemic.  As the virus hit and lockdowns were happening it all came to a standstill, so our boys took over the finishing touches in December.  All that needed doing was installing the upper cupboards, putting the splashbacks in place & attaching the kickboards.  All finished now & so much nicer to use.

I know............I felt like I spent most of our Christmas picnic lunch day at the sink.

Ruby taking it easy from her job as supervisor.  This lovely lady belongs to our friends R (above) & V. who are members with the lovely burgundy model A Ford that came with them from Zimbabwe.  She's a lovely girl, but her tail is like a whip, which you must be aware of, as I've had a bruise on my leg from so much wagging.  Ouch!

Today has been grey, gloomy & wet, so I spent some time in the kitchen this morning. What did I make?

A small batch of blueberry jam in the breadmaker.  The half filled jar may be popped into some stewed apples to make a crumble over the weekend.  

A strange lot from me, but I decided not to make it too long.  I do have an idea for a post next week, taking in something we did last year which may be of interest to a few.  Nonsense really!!  Well it was a strange year & I think most of us are holding our breath a little, waiting to see what 2021 will bring. 😖

Please take care all, stay safe & huggles.

Susan.

JANUARY.................................NEARLY OVER.

 My goodness!!!!!  Where has this month disappeared to & I've realised the only blog posts I've done are the Scavenger Hunt ones on Friday.  This one will be a bit long, but catching up for both myself & followers.

Early on in the month I was able to pick this little lot from the garden.......

Not much, but we have had more since, although the carrots still aren't big enough to harvest.  I just wanted to see if they were actually growing underneath.😉

As well as the above, we've picked MANY kilos of these.............................

They are frozen, distributed to neighbours & friends, bought by members of our car club, eaten on my porridge and baked into cakes or muffins.

This lot were baked late on Thursday afternoon and taken to DD's on Friday.

A few more garden photos.

The two veg beds which we were going to renew & move last year, but alas it didn't seem to happen.

I have these tomatoes ready to ripen along with tiny yellow plum ones & some cherry tomatoes.  Taking their time as the weather had been quite cool & cloudy till mid January.

I've a few bean plants that didn't get "got" by the snails & we've had a very small amount so far.

This is looking down the yard toward the olive tree.

In the back corner beside K's shed we have a New Zealand Christmas Bush & the following photos are of it in flower and then with it's seed pods forming.

The red flowered tree in the photo.

A close-up of the flowers in all their fluffy glory. These flower in late November, early December.

The rainbow Lorikeets love the nectar of these.

With its seed pods.

A closeup of them.

Just a couple more what has been happening in the garden, although I feel I've neglected it somewhat last year due to the vagaries of the weather & the virus's impact on our lives in general.

Our very wayward Banksia rose, which I will need to cut back soon.  Not today as it's way too hot.

They hydrangea hasn't done too bad with lots of flowers, though it's not one of the big blowsy variety.

Can you see the magnolia flower just peaking through the leaves.  We've had 3 flowers this month.

                                                              Why?  I suppose, just because it can!

Crafting fun...............

Hubby has been very busy, building a desktop for Master L for his new computer setup.

The top ready to go.  This is made from pallet timber & looks pretty spectacular & large.

The logo which got a great big smile of approval from the 15 year old.  It is now in place on a very fancy set of legs which go up and down, so he can stand or sit when using the computer.

And what have I been up to?  I've had some very down days lately, but finally got this quilt off the machine after loading it on 29th November & unpinning it on 20th January.  I don't think I've ever done that before and definitely won't let it slip like that again.  

Miss A's quilt called Hydrangea Galaxy & pieced some time in 2019 from FPP blocks I purchased from Alyce Blyth at Blossom Heart Quilts in Melbourne.  Made them and came up with my own setting.  Once the binding is finished I'll take some better photos.

I've also been sorting some old tubs of UFO's and other paraphernalia & found a project I was working on and hadn't enough of a couple of fabrics and gave up on it.  It was another QAL by Cheryl Brickey at Meadow Mist Design.  I'm resurrecting it into a small baby quilt for "someone"?

On the design wall so far.  A little more to unpick and resew to get it to a good "baby" size.

What it was supposed to be.  Win some, lose some.

 My messy way of working and I really need to do a rearrangement to get the best out of my space.

A couple of things on my to-do list.  

I drew this up the other day on my trusty lightbox and will be able to embroider some nights along with anything else that takes my fancy whilst watching mindless TV.

Macrame!  I've not done any of this for a "long" time so it will be a bit of an adventure for me.  I've still a hanging plant pot holder I made many moons ago and thought I'd try another one.

I'm still working on the labels and couldn't believe how many I've done over the last 9 months when I decided to get them done.  As I was working on them, I realised how many quilts I still have and some are earmarked for new homes, charity & babies.  The one below went to a neighbours daughter last week, who turned 21 on the 21st  in 2021.  How's that?  Not many of us can boast any of our birthdays having lots of numbers the same.

Mississippi Flyaway from a magazine pattern.

And this last photo is for my friend Kate at I live, I love, I craft, I am me.

Does this pattern look familiar?  It reminds me of your lovely frosty window a few posts ago.

OK.......enough waffling from me.  It's HOT💦💦 35℃ not quite what was forecast.  Thankful for that.

Thanks for reading if you've got this far.  Please take care, stay safe & either warm or cool depending on where you are.  Hugs to all.

Susan.😊💗