FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - GIFT/S

                                                    

Today I'm linking with my friend Kate at I live, I love, I craft, I am me, a single word each Friday for now and this week's is GIFT/S.

The most important gift I can think of would be my wonderful husband and our 4 children, a photo of all 4, the only we have shown below.  Due to distance we rarely get together and a few belated birthday wishes here for them too.  December is a busy month with our eldest son on 11th (44), my stepdaughter on 15th (48), my daughter 28th (48) and our youngest son on 4th January (43),  so all within 3 weeks & Christmas in the middle.  

A secondary type of gift was when I was 10 & given my first camera, a second hand box Brownie, which started my love affair with photography.  This has led over the years from good old black & white prints, through to colour, then the wonderful world of digital.  I've so enjoyed & this photo hunt run by Kate has given me even more incentive of late, so the wonderful gift of photography is my go-to today with a few photos of our amazing wildlife.  Hard to capture at times, but worth the effort.

Hope you're ready for this.................

The white Kangaroos in their enclosure in
Bordertown  S.A.

A Koala sitting in the middle of the road near 
Powelltown just north of where we live.
We did eventually shoo it off the road.

            

Above is a black Swan wandering along the path on Raymond Island on our east coast.

The photo on the left I snapped as we were coming down through a forested area on the eastern side of Victoria.  A large Goanna climbing a tree.  Even I was gob-smacked that I got him before he saw me & went too high.

These two photos were taken a few years ago on Wilson's Promontory & shows two Emus above and a mother Wombat & her baby just disappearing into their burrow.  Missed them face on.

Now closer to home and the wonderful bird life we get in our own backyard.

A beautiful male King Parrot sitting on the railing above the blueberry bushes, several years ago.

Our lovely Butcher bird who is visiting us quite regularly.  His mate is often around too.
This was taken very recently.

Now for my Magpies who make us laugh so often with their antics.  Both of these photos have been taken after Christmas.

Here a  mum and baby wondering if there are any breadcrumbs available.  They come right up to the door, but when I open it they move away to the side, so the photo was taken through the screen door & I should have cropped it, but there you have my messy bookcase to the left.

For some reason they occasionally fall in love with our bunched up netting and have a little snooze on it.  I find this rather amusing.

OK, my lot done and although I'm sure this post is not what Kate had in mind, I needed to think outside the box and hopefully bring a smile to everyone's face.  I'm struggling with the enormity of this horrendous time and will endeavour to keep blogging and keeping in touch with my blogpals.

Please take care all, stay safe and huge virtual hugs from down under.

Susan.😊💖

PS.......................Why won't my photos and text stay where I put them once it is published?

Can anyone help?

UK TRIP 2019 - HARLOW CARR.

Celebrating 70!!!

In late August last year we spent the day at RHS's most northerly garden of Harlow Carr, to celebrate my 70th.  I'd actually planned something else, but it didn't happen, so as we'd gone out to HC earlier in our trip & not been able to get a parking space due to school holidays, we made our way back on this day & I got my garden fix.  Following are a lot of photos of a great day.

Beds brimming with flowers.

Couldn't resist this fellow in the Owl display.

A corner of the Alpine House.  I think that is what it is called.

Glasshouse envy.

Did this "little" piggy go to market?

A long vista.

Pink cyclamen beneath the trees.

White cyclamen among the leaves.

Are you vicious?

I just love this higgledy-piggledy wood.

The sunken garden was captivating.

Creativeness in a pot.

These nasturtiums were the most amazing colours, some of which I just couldn't get a photo of.

More beauty.

A great day topped off by these lovely presents I was given by family.

This t-shirt, front above & back below was given to me by my niece & nephew after we told them about a funny happening at a shop in Keswick.  Keith bought me the White Rose Pendant.

OK, that was a birthday to remember & I'm not having a say on the current situation we find ourselves in today, but will post occasionally about our trip last year and what we are getting up to on the home front with crafting, gardening & amusing ourselves in isolation.  Best go as I can really smell my loaf of bread baking, so must nearly be ready.
PLEASE stay safe all, take care & giant huggles from down under.
PS:  Thanks to all my wonderful blogging pals, I really need you now.
Susan.
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY & A CRAFTY CATCHUP.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

And we have another birthday!!!!!  Today it's our youngest.   Son J,  celebrates his 41st.  Happy birthday.  That's our 4 done with birthdays till December this year.  I omitted  two, as I just wasn't blogging, so we now have our older son who is 42 & my stepdaughter who is now also 46 too, 13 days older than my daughter.  All have done us proud.  Thanks a squillion kids.

CRAFTY FINISHES.
A few very old, small UFO's have been finished.

An apron I designed from curtain fabric samples I was given & a 10 degree wedge ruler.

Leftovers from a baby quilt, which I may donate as a premi baby quilt.

A table mat I designed, along with a laundry hanger.  I blew up letters from the computer, popped them onto fabric & appliqued them.  These two were lots of fun just playing around.

That is my problem at times, as I love designing & then suddenly, I think of something else & it gets put aside.  I also have another problem of getting tops quilted, if they are not being given away immediately.  I still have my "tub of shame", though it is a little lighter after quilting this lot, below.

Dilly Dally Deco.

I know I've shown this before it was quilted, whilst I was piecing it.  I designed it to use the leftovers from a jelly roll I used to make Dotty Custard. (this post).

Detail of quilting above, the pattern being Japanese Tiles by Kerryn Emmerson.

Fair Isle,

Another of my designs, now quilted & bound, which I took with me and started at a Quilt Retreat in Bordertown, which I blogged about here.

Mormors Quilt No.2

This was the second time I'd made this particular quilt from a very old book called More Lap Quilting by Georgia Bonesteel (1985).  Made around 1996/7 from a border fabric print and made with both templates and a rotary cutter.  Very different from the first one I started in 1986, before rotary cutter days and using templates, tape measure & scissors.  No. 1 was finally finished  with a meandering quilt pattern, using my first short-arm quilting machine purchased  in 1999 after I was made redundant from the bank.  No 2 has a lovely all-over pattern called Little Leaves, also by Kerryn Emmerson, even though it was suggested I do a custom job on it.  I think it works beautifully as is and the fabric is too busy to see much anyway.

Mormors Quilt No.1

I've two others I've done, but bindings aren't finished yet, so will show them soon.

I talked about our hectic 2018, but forgot all about a few odd hiccups throughout the year.
April saw our 13 year old microwave die and also on the Thursday before Christmas our 18 year old washing machine took its last wash.  I am now the owner of a (my first ever), front loading washer.  I also needed new glasses, which added to our expense list, but we did make a few purchases, that we've both been hankering after for a while.

Bandsaw for K.

And he started this.

     

A lovely neat & comfortable chair for my sewing area.
I used one of these over at Judy's, & it is much better than my larger office type chair I used.

One more photo for today, then I'll retire from the study, to a cooler part of the house.

Low loader now finished.

BTW, did I mention that it is HOT today.  Our weather station is showing  42.6deg & the wind is blowing from the north, straight from the middle of Australia, where the mercury has been in the 40s this week around Alice Springs.  A cool change is forecast for later this evening & hopefully in the low 20s tomorrow.  Can't wait for that................😌
A few last words........ Thanks to all my blogpals for taking the time to read this little blog, commenting & being my friends, although I've not met all of you.  I didn't think I'd ever be able to do this, but come the end of January, I have  blogiversary   "No. 6".   Can you believe it?
Oh, one of the highlights from last year, was that I was published in an on-line magazine.  Maybe again this year!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK, I'm off for a cool drink & to veg in front of the cricket for a while.
Take care and huggles from Susan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY & THE YEAR THAT WAS!!!!!!!!

Today, 46 years ago I had my first baby & here she is when she was about 2 years old.  She is a wonderful daughter, wife, mother of two and works as a library technician.  You couldn't ask for  more.  Happy Birthday daughter.

OUR WACKY, HECTIC & EXPENSIVE YEAR.

A quick wrap up of the year in words. If you think it may be boring, skip this post.
This time last year we were entertaining our nephew & partner, who were visiting from the UK.  Once they had departed, it was a trip to Canberra for some child minding in late January.  Come February I did a workshop in Torquay with Angie from Gnome Angel at Amitie Textiles.  On to March & our step granddaughter arrived from UK & stayed with us & we also celebrated hubby's 70th.  May saw us making an emergency trip to Sydney for my little brother who spent a week in hospital. This was the start of many car repairs, having to have a new alternator fitted whilst away.  June saw our DD have a foot operation and  at the end of June we took a trip to Bordertown for a Mystery Case Retreat with Judy,  (News from Jude blog), and to meet with my friend Joy, (Days filled with Joy blog), who was visiting from Dubai, when she isn't at home in Oz.  At the beginning of August we headed north to Queensland for a family get together, as my stepdaughter & family from the UK, were visiting friends up there.  Whilst on our way to where we were staying, we broke down (with caravan in tow) & had to be towed to Ipswich, where we had a new radiator & 2 thermostats fitted.  Expensive!!  We arrived home just before my birthday & were (may I use this word?), knackered.  A quick few days in Geelong was lovely, as we had  day in Ballarat too & saw Joy again, & as she is living back here in Oz, we'll be able to spend a bit more time seeing each other & talking quilting.  We decided at the very beginning of December, we would take time out for a week to visit our two boys in N.S.W. & the A.C.T.  By just after lunch on the first day, we were on our way home again, once more on the back of a tow truck.  Luckily for us this fix wasn't too expensive, but we are yet to see if it is going to be the last in a series of mishaps.  Christmas saw us over at DD's for the day, with no incidents.  Yay! 
I now think I know, from putting this on paper, why I may have been a bit overwhelmed by 2018.

TODAY.
We are in second day of some very extreme weather.  I made the effort to pick some blueberries this morning, but just one small section from one of my two bushes.

600 grams worth in this lot.  I'm keeping a tally on the fridge.  Some of this lot will be in my freezer                                                                             for next year.

Our weather station reading just before lunch.  It has only gone up to 36.3 so far &is still around that temperature.  Yesterday, it reached 39.6 here, though there were places in north western Victoria and South Australia which were in the 40's.  Marble Bar in central Australia, reached......48 degrees. Ouch, that's way to hot.

OK, enough from me today and I'll post a roundup of some crafty moments in the last few months, that, I think,  I'm proud of.  I've been in "finish that up" mode, even though I've been very flat metally.  I'd not realised that I'd actually done quite as much.  Hubby has also been busy with his woodwork, so I'll sort some photos & give you a bit of an overload possibly.  I've also got a few posts I'd like to do next year with some odd days out & holiday snaps, taken in Queensland.
Until then,  take care & huggles from Susan.
PS>  Thanks if you do take the time to read this.

LATE BIRTHDAY POST & OTHER BITS.

FIRST BIT.

Wednesday dawned fine, but very hot, but we pootled our way over to Bairnsdale to buy hubby this.

The box says it all, plus the adaptor.

Then it was nearly time for lunch, so we drove out to Paynesville to sit by the water.  It looks out over Lake Victoria, part of the Gippsland Lakes system & a car ferry runs to Raymond Island.   I blogged about in January 2013, which was my "second" ever post.

                                    The above are 2 views from near where we sat for lunch.

                                     This oversize fish sits at the back of the public amenities.

The car ferry I mentioned above, coming back from Raymond Island and probably takes all of 5 minutes.  This load has a cement mix truck aboard I noticed.  Must be building something over there.

GARDEN.

Not much happening on this front as it has been hot & dry for March so far.  Rain predicted for tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.

One last flower on my hydrangea has managed to survive the heat. The few roses I have are doing OK, but tend to be going over very quickly.

I also had this cheery chappy again on Friday morning, but there was no seed left in the feeder.
He only visits occasionally.  This was taken through the kitchen window, so not the best pic as we also have flyscreens on all our windows.  As you do here in Australia.

CRAFT.

It's been a bit hit and miss on this front lately, as I've talked about quite a few outings, not feeling the best (new physio is going to put ongoing pain to rights 😩).  Yeah!  But, I do have a few things to show and talk about.
The cupcake rug has just one more round to do on the border, then the big TAHDAH!
The black quilt I showed partly done on the machine and the table runner have both come off now, and got their bindings today.

This one named for Little E photographed on the clothesline this afternoon.  Remember I made this one to use more of a jellyroll from making Missy Moo's quilt.

The table runner I designed from some floor tiles in a fish & chip shop, whilst on holiday in Sydney.  It must have been before 2010.  I drew it up on a paper napkin, then used my handy graph paper pad to work out the sizes.
I have custom quilted it (to get back in the swing of things), as I've not done much on the Bubs lately.
I have a little plan for this.........

I also have a design from my Quilt Wizard program, that I've just started.  This is the final in my trio of quilts named for my grand daughters.  Miss A's is being made from my stash and has had the fabrics reworked a couple of times already, as some of the bits pulled from the cupboard haven't been enough.  Would you like to see it as I do the blocks?  The the full reveal will come later.

I only needed to make one of this.
The fabric in the centre was the feature fabric I chose.  I then picked colours from this, for the rest of the blocks.

I've made 8 of this simple block.

Just to keeping you guessing what it will be like.
Doing this may get me posting a little more often, though we do have the Photo Scavenger Hunt, this coming Friday and I'm finding this one really hard.  Still need a few photos.

That's about it from me today.  Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend & at least a bit cooler than we had (36deg on our outdoor weather station just now at 4.30pm).
Take care all.
Susan.