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.

WE WERE AWAY FOR A WEEK.

Middle of this month we went away north toward Sydney for my young brother, hence why I've been so quiet.  Just some paperwork to sign, catch up with carers and his yearly review.

On our way early one morning, the stopping for a tea break at Bairnsdale near the river.

Next stop was luchtime at Cann River where there is a beautiful sculpture of Lyrebird.

Across the rod we have a lovely old timber church.

Finally arriving in Eden at the caravan park, where this local lot call home too.  Biggest problem here is looking out for all the kangaroo poo.😊

After spending a few days doing all we had too, seeing brother, then two of my cousins the next day & visiting both sons on the next two days, there wasn't much time for photo stops.  The above is a gorgeous view from Jamberoo Lookout near Kiama.  You can see so much bushland, farming country & the sea.

Heading towards home on the Monday, a comfort stop was needed in Ulladulla, where I snapped the harbour.

Further down the coast towards Batemans Bay, we always look out for this derelict old barn.

An afternoon break was wanting, so a quick cuppa was had at the Tuross Heads turnoff, where I took the above photo.  Below we have a row of Illawarra Flame trees, which are in flower August/Sepember.

Nearer to home lunch was needed and while at Lakes Entrance I too some time to snap the black swans.

Then we had a little walk along the foreshore, then back to the car where there were many Corellas on the grass.  Someone disturbed them and they flew into the trees.  Looked quite spectacular if you click to enlarge the photo.

Short and sweet for today, so I'll  end it here so I don't overwhelm you with photos                                   We've been uber busy since we got home, but I'll try and settle down a bit and catch up with some posts of what else we've been up to.

Thanks to all my lovely blog pals for my cards and birthday wishes too.  What would I do without you all.

Take care all and big hugs from Susan.

 

LAGGING BEHIND..................A BIT OF THIS & THAT!

 We'll start with apologies for not blogging lately and that is just due to my mood, weather and so many changes going on in our world.  Now let's see what we've been up to during winter so far, though it will be mostly quilt stuff, as I need to link with Meadow Mist Designs.

A couple of finishes and photo shoots have finally happened in July.

Two photos  taken outside in a local town park of THE VILLAGE quilt I did as QAL with Sandra from mmmquilts and now it has taken up residence at our towns Special School.  More about that later.

Deco Delight
Now quilted and bound & photographed sideways on a friend's stationary tram.
It's been hard to take photos outside due to the weather.  One of my own designs.

WHIMSEY NO.2
This is another of my own designs, made after my first Whimsey, which was made to replicate colours in a crocheted rug by the lovely Lucy at Attic24 blog.
Photo taken yesterday inside due weather constraints again.

So good to have these out of the tub of shame & finished.

I'm also participating in a book blog hop with Cheryl, again from Meadow Mist Designs and am showing my progress on Snapdragon Cove from her latest quilt book, called Just 2 Charm Packs.

It's not working out as well as I'd hoped and that is my own fault with the Layer Cake I chose to use up.

It has been hanging around on the shelf for a long time and if I remember rightly was a thank you gift from someone from long ago.  I'll persevere and hope to finish the flimsy soon, get it quilted and bound. I'm thinking of gifting it to Windgap Foundation for the Christmas Raffle they run at the end of the year.

What has happened so far.

HSTs done & sorted.  Quite a lot.

Starting the placement of a few, then sewing together.

This is how far I've progressed up till yesterday.

Now for a quick update on the Great Southern Rail Trail.

We started off at Meeniyan & walked back to where we finished our walk last time, then of course had to walk back to Meeniyan and think in all we did between 8-9 kilometres.

Just as we left that signage above we discovered a gorgeous community garden, which I'll do a catch up post later this week.  Below is one of the quirky sculptures in the garden, which I love.

Next a photo of the bridge we crossed with the old rail bridge beside, as you can see, has deteriorated over the years.

OK, I'm finishing up this post for today and will hopefully be back with more this week and must keep my blog up to date, for my own pleasure/sanity and hopefully others who enjoy seeing wacky bits of our life.  

Take care all and big hugs from a cool, but sunny day from down under.

Susan.

STILL AROUND...............CATCHING UP A LITTLE.

 OK, this post will just be a quick summary of a few things.  We've been busy in a weird way, with weather interfering for the plans we'd made for June.  So much for organising our life to get different things done in the garden, a little work on the caravan & getting out in nature for our rail trail walks. 

We'll start with some quilting, then a day out.

My Village quilt which I've been doing as a QAL with Sandra at mmmquilts and isn't going to be quilted before the deadline of 30th June.  It is ready to go, but I just can't get the mojo going.

Two squirrels happened this month, so may link this with Sandra's DrEaMi post.

Let Your Star Shine.
This is a pattern by Sandra, that I've had for a while and thought I could do it with fabric from my stash for a raffle quilt.  It will go to Windgap Foundation who are carers for my young brother.

Square Up.
Just a piece of nonsense to use stash fabric from the baskets of bundles I've put together.
One of my own designs.

The photos aren't the best due to our dreary weather and having to have the lights on all the time.  Natural light is so much better.

A DAY OUT.

We took ourselves out one morning to take some photos of a few quilts in the open air, as the weather was fine & reasonable sunny.  But not long into the journey, clouds came in, then wind and then......rain!  No quilt photos, but I did snap these two things.

We'd gone to Fish Creek, where there is a beautiful art deco hotel, to take photos of my Deco Delight quilt now that it is finished, but that didn't happen.

Whilst there we noticed a new to us mural (above) & snapped it through my open window.

On our way home we noticed this road sign.  Notice anything odd?  I'll see if anyone can guess.

This was taken through a very wet windscreen.

What else has been happening?  Well not a lot except the usual housework, cutting firewood to keep warm & dry the washing and keeping up with mundane bits of life.  I did make a bit of time to gather some thoughts on using up my stash and scraps to start a few charity quilts and try and start writing some patterns.  Will the pattern writing happen?.................maybe.

A few of my own designs laid out and one actually done.
Below are the containers filled with fabric bundles that may become quilts one day.
Excuse the messiness of my sewing room, which has actually gone through a change to accommodate a new set up with my machine table.

Lastly, 2 new books have come my way.  I may even think about going in a BlogHop with the Charm Pack book, although I've never participated in one before.  Should I or shouldn't I?  That is the dilemma.

Well, that has been a strange post for me, but until I get myself together properly, it will have to do.

Just a thought..................I was talking to a few friends at our Car Club the other weekend and some of us have to come to the conclusion, that we are suffering from "Pandemic Hangover" as the world has changed so much.  With most of us being on the older side, it's been hard to deal with so much change.

OK, enough babble from me.  If you take the time to read this, Thank You.

Take care all and hugs from another dreary wet morning here down under.

Susan.

MY QUILT VILLAGE...............SO FAR.

 

I'm linking today with Sandra from mmmquilts in Canada with what I have achieved so far with my take on her Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL.  Mine is to be a quaint village, reminiscent of English villages and will be going to the Special School to hang on the wall.  

I'll start with an overall photo on the design wall and then each individual building.  Two still need to have embroidered letters for School & Library.  Wonder if you might guess which 2 they are?  Here goes..........

I've completed 8 of the 9 so far.

Trying so hard to put 2 photos on side by side so they don't take up much space, but cannot work it out.

These 4 above are my houses.

Next we have..................

The garden Pot Shop or maybe even an actual pottery.

Next comes.................

The Post Office.

I will see if anyone can guess what the next 2 might be.

I mirror reversed this one which will be in the centre of the 9.

Last of the eight I've done.

If you look closely or click to make the image larger, there is a giveaway hint in the windowpane.

The last building to come is something I think my friend Jo will probably guess before anyone else.

After nearly spitting the dummy, this will have to do for the layout of this post.  Maybe one day I'll learn the easy way of popping 2 photos side by side.

One last note of a funny day out on Sunday.  I was talking to someone at the Car Club on Saturday who just happened to mention his wife (not met her yet), was at a small local Quilt Show that was on the weekend, so off we headed on Sunday, only to find it was on Saturday ONLY.  So what did we do?

Went for a drive and ate some lunch looking out over Bass Strait & came home on some back roads.  A few photos follow.  I might add that the day was strange weather wise, with strong winds, cloud, a bit of rain occasionally followed by snippets of sun.

Taken from the car as it was so windy.
Kilcunda.

Driving through Mirboo North on a street we generally don't go down I noticed this gorgeous mural.

                                Not really the best photos as it was just starting to rain again.

OK, that's my lot for today and I'm posting this as is and must sort out a few more posts of catching up with our meanderings of late, The Silo Trail and other trivial bits.  The weather is absolutely foul again today, cold and wet and we have the woodburner lit.  Trying to dry washing too & have to do the grocery shopping this afternoon.  

Take care all and big warm hugs from down under.

Susan.