MY FAVOURITE TOOLS

I was once asked what my favourite tools were, (this was in relation to quilting), and my answer was "my hands".  This lady gave me a strange look and walked away.  Jo (Through the Keyhole), got me thinking after her comment about my chillblains and this gave me an idea for this post.

My old hands.

As a child with my little hands,

I learnt:  to feed myself, first with my fingers, then cutlery.
             to play pat a cake, clap and wave.
             to colour in and write.
             to tie my shoelaces.
             to play with toys and dolls.
             to hold and play with my baby brothers.
             to play the piano and recorder.
             to craft, knit, sew and crochet.
             to play tennis.

As I grew older, with my hands,

I learnt:  to play netball.
             set my neighbour's hair in rollers.
             stroke my cat.
             drive a car.
             work as a filing clerk, typist, accounting machine operator, in a canning factory and finally as a proof machinist  and teller in a bank.
           
As life progressed, my hands,
             held my hubbie's hand.
             tended my children daily as they grew.
             learnt to make meals and bake.
             to do all the daily household chores.

As I matured, my hobbies needed these hands for,
            patchwork and quilting,
            gardening and flower arranging.

Then, I started to "blog", still needing these hand to make friends all around the world.
 There are probably many things I've forgotten that our hands do, but I'm still sure these are my most important and favourite tools.

What do you think?

That's all folks.  Just a little thoughtful post.  Take care.
Susan.

ISN'T SHE BEAUTIFUL!

SHE,  being this lovely camellia, I planted only about 6 weeks ago.  It is only a small as yet, but has this flower and another four buds.  I've wanted to buy the camellia, VOLUNTEER since seeing it planted and flowering at Vision in Warragul a few years ago.

I was going to do some gardening today and plant these, but with light misty rain on and off all day, I decided maybe tomorrow if it's finer.

Instead I did this.

 Loaded onto the machine mid-week.

 Quilted today.

The back showing the pattern called Luscious Leaves by Hermione Agee.

Just a quick post, as I'm still having hand issues with my chillblains, which are very swollen and now starting to split.  This is more of a nuisance than anything.  I also have a lot of sewing to do, but can't tell what it is yet.  Hmm!  That will leave you all wondering.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend and take care.
Susan.

CHILLY START!!!!!!

Just a quick post to show how cold it was this morning, though the day became sunny, but still quite cool.

Around 8am

Closeup of frost.

Then the fog rolled in around 9am and it was still -2deg at 9.30am

Ice on our water feature in the courtyard around lunch time.

Trying to take a photo of an ice shard.

Well it is now close to 5pm and our house is cosy and warm, as the heater has been more or less finished and is working.

I'm going to work on hubby's ripple tonight in the hope it is long enough so I can start/finish a few other things.  Tomorrow I hope to be able to get to Bunnings (hardware store) to find something for a larger design wall and we also have our gym assessments, so hopefully we should soon be fighting fit.(lol).  Hope you all have a lovely Tuesday and until next time, take care.
Susan.

CAT FLAPS, BREAD AND SOUP!!!!!

OK, intrigued?

As most of my followers know, I've been testing patterns for Sue over at Quilt Times.  This time instead of her giving me the pattern for TUBIX, I worked it out, resized it and made this.........

Cat Flaps.  Click to enlarge and see the cute cats.

The bread was a mix, I made in my breadmaker, which I haven't used for ages and the soup in my new soupmaker.  DD and I bought one each a couple of months ago and as she'd used hers and I hadn't, thought perhaps I'd better work it out.  My friend Joy had given me some veg from a farming friend and I googled Broccoli and Zucchini Soup and then made it.  Not quite as thick as I wanted, but I'll keep experimenting.

Sourdough rye bread and Broccoli and Zucchini Soup.

Saturday afternoon, we went for a walk along the Lake as the weather wasn't wet, although overcast with a very nippy wind blowing.  Below are some photos.

Boatsheds along the shoreline.

This black swan came right up  and checked out my camrea.  Cheeky!!

The tourist tram that runs beside the lake.

Very different styles of house opposite the Lake.  One ultra modern and the other a Californian bungalow style.
These would be worth a "very" lot of money.

Looking across the Lake to Mount Buninyong.

This is my lot for a short post and hopefully everyone can wish that we don't have rain on Tuesday, so the heating can be finished.  I can't believe they started it two weeks ago and it is still non-operational.  As we went to Warragul last Thursday and it was extremely cold, it was probably good to not be here.  On the way home it actually snowed just outside Ballan.  Of course it didn't lay on the ground, but it was snow!

Must go now and have my tea and hope you all have a good week.

Take care.

Susan.

STILL FREEZING

Yes, we are still very cold indeed.  It is 3pm and only 6 deg and the ducted heating is still not done. Hubby says his tablet says it only feels like 1 deg though.  It's been too wet to open up the roof to put the main  part of the system in.  We do have a gas log fire in the family area, but the rest of the house is  "oooh" so cold.  I have the worst chillblains in years and think it is because this house is so cold.

BABYSITTING

After our busy previous two weeks, we babysat our grandchildren in Melbourne on Monday.  DD had to go into school for the start of the new term and their Dad also had to work.  We set off on Sunday and travelled down via Geelong.  On the way we saw these.

The entrance to the Happy Hen Egg Farm.

Whilst in Geelong we grabbed some hot chips and made chip butties and then went for a walk.  Our feet and the camera finally got a workout as it was reasonably fine.  There are many painted bollards around the shoreline.  Here are some photos of them and a few other things.  Geelong sits on the south western side of Port Phillip Bay. It has a working port and attracts a lot of tourism also. Most people pass through on their way to The Great Ocean Road, a very famous picturesque drive.  Melbourne is at the very northern edge of this bay.

Hubby with some lovely bathing beauties.

A sea of masts in the marina and the tourist helicopter coming in.  It has floats instead of skids so it can land on the water if needed.

Looking across the industrial area to the You Yangs, a small range of hills to the north.

The refurbished carousel.

The organ being restored.

Buoys on the shoreline.

More bollards.

After a lovely relaxing time we headed for DD's and had a "sleep over", as the grandkids call it, and babysat them the next morning. I was quite shattered by the time we were heading for home, as I also fitted in a little weeding whilst they played outside.  After lunch DD and I pruned some very wayward roses and I picked a small bunch of these to bring home, as my garden is completely flowerless at the moment.

Jonquils and fluffy grass sitting on my kitchen bench.

One last photo, of a "beautiful" rug DD has been working on for some time now.  She is just finishing of the edges and it will be done.

DD's rug.

Another busy week is coming up and it's already Tuesday.  Tomorrow I must make time to go to the Library, and have 2 X-rays (back and teeth, strange combination).  Thursday we are heading to my beloved Warragul to do our Tax Return, then hopefully we'll start to slow down a bit (lol).  I do hope they don't want to finish the heating on Thursday, but according to the weather forecast, it is supposed to be wet for at least another week, with most days only reaching about 8 deg.
Later in the week I may get time to do some more sewing and I'll hopefully take a photo of what I've been up to on the quilting front.  I've only managed to put in an hour here and there, but really want to post about my project.  I've so many things I need to do over the next month or so and am getting behind with blogposts.  Thanks to all my blogpals and your comments as you've helped me in a stressful period of time.
Have a good week and take care all.
Susan.

MANIC MONDAY, NO, MANIC WEEK.

I thought about calling this "the week that wasn't".  Thanks for all my lovely comments and sorry I've not answered them this week.

Wow, it's been so hectic.  We are trying to sort out some better heating for this house, so three quotes and not much else so far and it has been perishing for the last 2 weeks.  The coldest weather in nearly 30 years here in the south.  I've had pathology, we are trying to organise a holiday for later in the year, a day out to Bendigo with DD and family followed on Thursday, more about heating on Friday, grocery shopping, phone calls from solicitors and cemetry and to top it all off, one of those "stupid" government incentive programmes which end up being a sales campaign.  Last night, we sat up late and watched what we could of the Tour de France starting from Leeds.  I made it to 12.15am and hubby a wee bit later.  It was lovly seeing all the familiar countryside, so will try and watch a bit more tonight.

QUILTING

First  a photo of a flimsy.

Pa's Garden.

This is another test pattern for my friend Sue over at Quilt Times.  It is really supposed to be Colour Boxes, but I've chosen lots of pansy frabrics, changed the border a little and christened it Pa's Garden in memory of my grandfather, who had a very small garden when I was growing up and loved to plant annuals amongst his few roses.  I got to help if we were there.

These few photos are of my actual finishes for the first six months of this year.  I know you have seen them before, but now all are quilted and bound.  They still need labels.  I'd love to put them in a photo collage, but not sure if it will work.

Autumn on Wimbledon Common

Dream Garden

Freya's Bears

Macy's Quilt

Wombling On.

This is a quick post due to lack of time this week.
Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and I'll try and pop on another post during the week with some photos from our weekend in Canberra and maybe the garden if it ever becomes "sunny".
Take care All.
Susan.