VERY LATE CRAFTY CATCHUP.

Catching up after quite a long break, due to a very hectic time of late & not feeling like I've achieved anything much.  DD is leaving to go back to Sydney for her hubby's work, which I'm finding hard to deal with, little brother's needs are always being seen to with this scheme the government brought in some years ago & seems like lots of signing of papers is never ending & lots of phone calls too. 

Garden is getting out of hand with both my back problems & weather, plus the never ending blueberry picking at this time of year.  I do enjoy giving them away though.  Oh the weather..........it's been strange.

Also, we have internet problems plus my old laptop doesn't do what it used to.  Blogger seems just a bit different too and I have  a hard time leaving comments at times.   OK.......enough of my complaining.

Le'ts play catchup..................firstly an amazing sunset one night & I've not done anything to this photo.

And this next photo is one mornings pick of blueberries.  One of these tubs went to a friend for making jam & another day I gave one of our neighbours a similar tub for her jam making too.

Now for a few bits'n'bobs of craft.............

I've been crocheting these blocks from all my leftover Attic 24 bundles I've done over the years.

They are granny squares with the idea coming from a book by Jemima Flendt called Quilt It, Crochet It.

So far it's been fun, but now the sewing together must start...........soon I hope.

A few tops I've done and possibly not shown.

1.   

This one I've call SCRAPS APLENTY  and is one of my own designs.

2.     

Another one of my designs which I have named "S" is for...............

3.                    

I made this one last year from one of Sandra's patterns from mmmquilts., but alas it is also waiting to be quilted.

4.    I have joined in with a couple of quiltalongs with Cheryl Brickey from Meadow Mist Designs.

The first one is the Malted Mystery and we have now made the centre for this medallion type quilt.

Mine so far....................

The other one I have started is from her newest book Just Two Charm Pack Quilts and we can make any one and have a sort of time line.  I'm being naughty old me and having fun with this, but not telling which one I'm doing.

The fabrics I'm using from a layer cake I've shared with a friend who is doing this challenge too.

A little peak at some HST's I've done so far.

Another thing I'm "TRYING" to do is the Chookshed Challenge which I have made the list for here.

Whoops................can't seem to download this one, so we'll leave that till I can work out how to upload the document I did.😞

Now lastly for this post, I have a fun photo of the beautiful container DH made recently sitting on my chest of drawers in the sewing room.  Isn't it just amazing!!!

All for now, but I do hope to do some more catching up with some recent places we've been which may interest a few of my blogpals.  Hopefully after this hiatus I still have a few followers.

I do read all my sidebar blogs, but can only leave comments occasionally.  

Another little problem has been my eyes and hopefully at some stage this year they will do the cataract removal, which I need when they deem necessary.

Thanks to anyone who reads this.  Take care all and hugs from Susan.

 

THANK YOU.

 I've really been slack of late due to both being busyish and unmotivated, but I need to thank everyone who commented on my last post of the year.  Much appreciated.

The busy bit has been a few appointments with doctor/dentist,  and a quick trip to DS1's place to say bon voyage to our eldest grandchild and her partner before she left for England to work for 2 years.  She has already started work & he is still going through a long list of applications.    We also have had our car club picnic for Australia Day and trying to get the garden in shape, though that is tough at the moment with our "very" hot weather and so many blueberries being picked too.  Up to about 20kgs so far with many being frozen, and others for neighbours and friends.

Lack of motivation has been another issue with my crafting, but I'm slowly get myself back into it, I hope. DH also had a very, very large jigsaw on the go that he got for Xmas from DD which ate up table space for me and my old laptop which is not quite as efficient as it used to be, so hence my lack of commenting on other blogs.  I'm in the study doing this on the PC, which is what I should do more often.

A few quick snaps and hopefully I'll catch up with some more very soon.  I took a good handful while away, but not much else has happened this month, so I'll do one of our quick trip next week.

BLUEBERRRIES.

Not something I'd normally show, but I've had a fridge full of blueberries at times and then some packed and ready to go to the clubrooms for the "old" guys.😊

THE JIGSAW.

DS1 & J's new babies.

Two miniature goats.

AN AFTERNOON DRIVE.

One Sunday we headed to Leongatha to see an embroidery/quilt show, which was very small, but with some beautiful work and only 4 quilts.  As we headed home we stopped at Inverloch to go for a quick walk and noticed the sail boats out on the water beyond the stretch of sand.  You may need to click on the photo to see the boats.

 TO BE FINISHED.

Needing "MOTIVATION"  to get this lot quilted............push me!

Poor Bubs hasn't been up and running since early December & I've so many ideas running around my head, but I must get stuck into some of these first.

OK that is my lot and hopefully I'll blog more from here on in.  Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed, but I wasn't sure how to get started again.  Thanks again to all my loyal friends.

Take care and hugs from down under.

Susan.

HOT, HOT, HOT.......A WEEK OF MUGGINESS.

 Well, I said I'd do a couple of catchups, but with such humid weather, I've felt very lethargic & not coming into the study due to it's lack of cooling vent, but let's see what has been happening on the home front.  I'm still wary about going anywhere much, but we still keep busy & out into local countryside.  The next two pics are for my friend Kate as she planted the idea.

Bulrushes jut below Middle Farm that I talk about.  We regularly walk passed these from home and someone has used the spare bit of ground to plant up some pumpkins, which they then come and collect when fully grown.

My "leftovers" crochet rug, which I'm just finishing some borders on, thrown over a stone gateway wall just out of town.  Made up the rows as I went.

Yesterday as we were driving back from a drive to the coast & a very quick walk along a beach to the south on Bass Strait, we saw this..............

an old bus parked near Loch where there is a lovely lookout with panorama out to Westernport Bay.   Not something we'd seen there before.

BUSY BOY.

DH has been busy making bird breeding boxes for our friend who breeds Budgies, Canaries & Quail.

Hope she is pleased with them.

It's taken me some time to get my sewjo back, but a design of my own that has been on my to-do list for quite some time has come to fruition and now needs the quilter to work some magic, but then that is another story.

Bubs hasn't been behaving of late, so need to get in touch with my technician once he's back from holidays and maybe a service will be needed.

We've also been flat out picking blueberries early before the heat hits.

This mornings haul of 2150 grams.

THE GARDEN.

I've not had much mojo to garden either in this heat/humidity and last year was a bit wayward too, so just a few photos I've snapped this morning.

One pathetic looking raised bed with a couple of zucchini & a few tomato plants, which luckily have produce on them, as seen below.

The netted blueberries before and during the thunderstorm this morning.  We had 10mls in the rain gauge in an hour.  And we now have another storm brewing with the clouds getting heavy & grey and thunder rolling around now.  Wonder how much rain we'll get from this one?

And the experiment that didn't work as we actually went away for a week before Christmas, though a few marigold seedlings have appeared, so as soon as this humid weather wanes, I''ll be back into the garden, as I've missed it.

Best go as it has just started to rain & the lightning and thunder are too close for me to be still attempting to work on the computer in case there is a blackout.

Hope all is well with everyone and I'll be back next one with a few catchups & crafty bits.

Take care all and hugs.  Did you all hear that...................an almighty crack of thunder.😞

Susan.  xxx

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.

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.😊💗