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.

 

ADELAIDE TRIP - Part Three.

 Sorry about the lateness of these posts, but we have a lot happening and been so busy of late.                        I'll try and catch up over the next few days.

Leaving Mt. Gambier, we headed for Warrnambool for one last night before wending our way home.

On the way we noticed a few things and also stopped in at Dartmoor, which I have shown before, but a few photos were beckoning.

The sign for the beautiful carved trees.

We'd stopped for a cuppa near these ones, though pity it was garbage day.

A little further along the road I spied this beauty.

Such a sweet tractor, which makes you smile.

Then we saw this,  what was evidently a museum of sorts, which is now up for sale.

Outside there were placed some lovely old machinery bits and I think what must have been a shop.  Couldn't find much information about it anywhere.

Part of what must have been the complex.

Lovely old machinery and the old store.

More rusting relics.

Along a side road, the sign pointed to a beach, so a quick trip to see this out of the way spot.

If you click on this photo, you will spy hundreds of little birds, which I expect were baby seagulls, although there was a sign warning of pesky plovers too.

Arriving in Warrnambool, we parked up the van and went for a little drive back out to a lookout we pass along the highway, but haven't stopped before.  A few photos follow of what is at Tower Hill Lookout.

The view from the roadside of the lookout, over the water which is looking south.

From the other side we this rock formation and the view further along is more water (below), either the Hopkins River or part of what was the last active volcano in Victoria.  I should have found out more.

Off down that road you see, which takes you down into the reserve and what did I spy along the way, but an emu or two, one of which is shown below.

We made our way back to the caravan, stopping at one of the whale viewing areas, but alas no whales were sighted.

The beach with waves rolling in & a few people wandering along.

The timber viewing area with great views if only there hadn't been a sea mist covering the cliffs further along.

That's it for today and hope you enjoy seeing the last of our trip and I will try and get back with another quick trip away, some garden photos and crafty bits soon.

As I explained, we've had a lot on our plates and to top it all of, DD and family are moving back to Sydney for her hubbies work.  I so miss our kids and grandkids these days.

Another thing is this Blogging Dilemma we seem to be experiencing with commenting and replies...............will we see some sort of fixing or is it another thing which is changing.  I'm tired of keeping up with so much change, chaos and worldwide unrest.

Thanks for hopefully some friends still following.

Take care all and hugs from Susan.

ADELAIDE TRIP - Part Two.

 Apologies to all.  I am trying to leave comments on the blogs I follow, but some won't take and then replies to me come back through my email as subsystem errors, so I am completely frustrated & getting somewhat disheartened, but will try and keep up.

Back again after such a long spell away from blogging.  It's been hectic since we got back with all sorts, me not sleeping well, cataracts forming on both eyes, which isn't helping with sewing etc., medical appointments, keeping up to date with little brothers NDIS stuff and another quick trip away.  That little one should also be blogged about too, soon.

Let's see what else we saw on our trip in September.  After a great night at the Quilt Trunk Show, we opted to head out to Victor Harbour on the Saturday and to our surprise...................it was their Rock'n'Roll weekend.  Arriving, and not knowing what was happening to start with, meant finding a parking spot was hard and then, we noticed what was happening.  To cut a long story short, there was also a vintage/veteran car display too.  A few photos follow of this lovely little town and yes we have been there with the kids a long time ago.

All sorts of cars and this was only a small sample of what was there.

A couple from my childhood and teenage years.

OH!!!!!!!  I remember these well as it was my first car when I was about 17 1/2.
Nearly the same colour too. 😂

Some other attractions in Victor Harbour.

The gorgeous horse float that brings a gorgeous horse to town.

The horse drawn tram which travels all the way on the causeway to Granite Island.
We went on the older one many years ago.

There were also camel rides along the beach.

Stumps from the old causeway.

We also spotted a National Trust building and as we are members, explored and I can't remember exactly what it was originally and didn't take any photos telling me, did manage a few snaps.

Trim, Matthew Flinders cat, which I think most of us oldies have heard about. (giggle).

Part of the very pretty walkway.

Ooh.............and a quilt hanging on the wall.

And,  what!  a redback spider on the toilet seat.
Most Aussies will remember the song.

Sunday saw us head over to Lara's for morning tea, up in the beautiful hills of Adelaide.

Lara is one of the co-founders of the on-line digital magazine Make Modern & we have met before, but was great meeting her hubby and children too.

Next day saw us making our way to Mount Gambier for the night and here is what we saw at Kingston South East  on the way,  which will round up today's post.

The Big Lobster.

A carved fur seal.

The most unusual (if not gross) algae floating on the water in a small creek.

Beautiful reflection in the pond.

OK, still having trouble with blogger, not playing like it used to.

I'll leave it at that for today, publish this hoping there are no silly errors and see if anyone is still following me.  

Take care all and hugs from Susan.

ADELAIDE TRIP - PART ONE.

 We set off for Adelaide with van in tow and spent the first night in Horsham in the western districts of Victoria, but unfortunately I've no photos of this part of the trip.

After leaving Horsham the following morning, we headed for Bordertown to stop off to see if my friend Judy was home, but alas, no answer.  Next was a stop in Keith for lunch, then as we travelled on, a photo stop was found at Coonalpyn where there were some painted silos.

The silos and the best photo I could get from the edge of the road.

A little about these silos.

An old bank building, long disused I think.

A lovely little church in the middle of town, which is relatively small.

We finally arrived at the caravan park and had a little wander once we were set up.  Not a caravan park we've used before and it was right under the flight path from the airport, which was noisy during the day, and luckily they have a curfew , so no noise through the night.

On our meander, we found this enormous old Moreton Bay Fig, so photos were a must.  I remember as a child playing around the root systems of these trees in Centennial Park in Sydney, especially at my Dad's work Christmas picnics.

Hubby standing near the huge roots.

The sign near to the tree.

Some of the branches now lay on the ground.

The original homestead which is now used for holiday lets.

The next day before we needed to go to Glenelg for the quilt trunk show, which I was to attend at 7pm, we headed for the hills and opted for Gumeracha, where there is an almighty large rocking horse, toy factory and wildlife rescue park.  We had a lovely few hours and without boring you too much, some photos follow.  As you go into the park, you can purchase a small pack of animal pellets to feed the animals, so that was a must.

This beautiful little goat followed me for quite a while, then wandered off towards some children who had food too.  As I was walking further around the park, it suddenly ran across and accompanied me around to the exit gate.  It was so hard to get a good photo as he kept cuddling up and knocking the camera.  

Another lovely moment happened when I saw this little one laying behind the tree.  It looked up, noticed I had food, stood up, ate some then hung on to my little finger.  Oh so cute and these little ones made my day.

The large rocking horse at the entrance.

The above 3 photos are of the newly painted murals on the amenities blocks.

The signpost for places all over the world above and below are places in Australia.

You may need to click on these last 2 photos to read the names properly.

We left Gumeracha, headed for Glenelg, ate fish and chips in the mall area, as parts of the beach area were closed off due to some repair work, then I went to my trunk show by Jemima Flendt, which was great.  Hubby had a wander, then read a book till I came down and we went back to the van park.

Our first few days were good, the weather was fine and the next installment will be posted soon.

Take care all and hugs.

Susan.

CATCHING UP SLOWLY.

 I'm so sorry to be somewhat AWOL lately, but I'm having lots of trouble with my "old" laptop & now my PC too which needs updating, as I've still got Windows 7.  Hopefully over the coming weeks I'll have some of it sorted.                                                                                                                                                BUT.....for now, we'll do a little catching up on a slow basis.  We have had a quick trip away to Adelaide which is part of the slow start and now after explaining why and where, I'll pop on a couple of local photos and hope to do more as the week progresses.

Driving through the back of Yarragon one afternoon, I suddenly noticed these 2 deer.
Never seen them before, so out with the camera and this was the best I could get as it was overcast and I couldn't get close as there was a big ditch along the side of the road near the fence line.

Just to the south of town we have the most wonderful daffodil fields and they never fail to enchant me each Spring.

We did have a great break, except for cracking our windscreen, which will be replaced next week.  A large truck threw up a stone, much to our annoyance.

Not sure what is happening with Blogger as I'm having trouble commenting on some blogs and seems some people are having the same issues.  Hope all is fixed soon.

I'll finish off for today and hopefully tomorrow or later this week, a post will appear about our latest trip and maybe a bit of crafty stuff.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Take care all and hugs from down under.

Susan.  xox    

                               

 large truck threw a stone up which is so annoying.