JUNE PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT.

Time again to link with Kate over at I live, I love, I craft, I am me, for the photo hunt.
Our words were a good mix & I found it hard to stick to one, so have doubled up on a few.

1.  NOTICE.

I took this photo many years ago at a Museum in Broken Hill, thinking how my Dad was a proficient morse code operator in his youth.  He started work at 14 as a telegram boy, then was promoted to learn the above.  As time went on he saw much technology come & go.

Now this sign (taken last year in Queensland), tickled my sense of humour.  Again I thought of Dad in his latter years with dementia & wondered how many of us can relate to these circumstances with family or friends as we age.
2.  SPOTTED.

Last Thursday, DH & I had a lovely small walk & spotted a lady out with her young pups in the park.
They are Pointer pups & have ....SPOTS......  There were 3 in this group & another 6 curled up together too.  Now that makes 9...whew, a lot of puppies, but the Mum actually had 12 & three had already gone to their long term homes.  I'd not had my spotted photo, so as well as being able to cuddle one of the pups, having my camera with me meant I had my last photo too.

3.  STARTS WITH A K.....

This photo & the one below were taken many years ago at No.4, our previous home in this suburb.
                      The kookaburra shown in our Maple, visited regularly for a number of years.

4.  COBWEB.

                                          Cobwebs on a misty morn on our small Magnolia.

5.  STEP.
Another 2 for 1 moment.

Stone steps jutting from a beautiful stone wall, to make climbing over easier.  I remember this was in a village called Sawley, Lancashire, where we had a wander through such pretty scenery.

Not being able to make up my mind, I had to show this old trolley bus at the Ballarat Tram Museum, which we visited earlier this year.  The steps on the outside to the open top are interesting.  I remember trolley buses in Sydney when I was a child & always found them fascinating.  There were very few places where they ran in the 50's, but we were lucky to be able to catch one to a great aunt's place.  Not quite the same as this one.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.
Sunday & Monday mornings this week just gone.

Around 10am on Sunday, after eating a crumbly biscuit, I went outside to shake off the crumbs, heard a most unusual sound & looked up to the sky.  What did I see, but this hot air balloon drifting right above my head.  It was amazing & I've never seen one here before.  They fly over Melbourne & the Yarra Valley, but not this far east.  I ran inside, got my camera & took a few photos & this was my favourite with the moon.  It was even in our local free paper on Friday, so must have been a real "one off."

4 good frosts in a row, have made for very cold mornings with our pond freezing over, as in the photo above.   Brrrr!!!!!
Well, I know I'm running a bit late, but do hope you enjoy.
I'm off to link up & hopefully see what the other hunter's have come up with.
Take care all, huggles Susan.

QUILTY CATCHUP

Ah............finally catching up on some quilt related bits.  Taking photos has been really hard outdoors, due to the weather.  I've taken a few with me each time we've hopped in the car for any reason, but gloom, precipitation & wind has been against me.  A few of these have been taken around the house or yard & a few on an unexpected fine day.
We'll start with 3 quilts that have left home.  I donated these to the hostel of our local retirement village.  They like to give new residents a gift with quilts & rugs being accepted as good candidates.

The one on the left was a mystery quilt from a magazine, the middle one from a book by Judy Martin & Marsha McCloskey & the one on the right from a magazine.  All these were made many, many years ago & have lived in my linen closet & never used, except for a brief spell after finished on one of the spare beds to admire, till I made something else.
Next we have 2 quilts made from one of my own designs in different fabrics & placement of the colouring.  One I made a few years ago & the other very recently.

The design I called Country Casual & I do have another I may do in a very bright colourway.

Some time ago I showed a jelly roll bundle I was going to work with to do three different quilts.  One is finished, one ready to be quilted & the last awaiting to be started.  I quilted No. 1 using a spotty wideback fabric, which accommodated 1 more wall size quilt & a very old table runner.  Here they are below.

                                   Table runner made from a book to test out border type fabric.

The people who follow my blog will know I had a quilt pattern published in an on-line magazine. They send a copy of the instructions etc. to you of how it will look & to make sure the it's all OK.
I decided to make one of my blocks again to test it & then made 3 more to end up with the above.
I am quite pleased with it & except for one tiny error (my mistake) which they fixed before it was published, all was right.

Next up is the one I hope to have a published in an upcoming issue, if I can find the time to write up the pattern.  This is my downfall, in that I tend to fly by the seat of my pants, when designing & constructing.  I've called the quilt above Jelly Jumble.  The other two made with these fabrics will be Jelly Jive & Jelly Jazz.  Me being Jelly silly.😊

And this is how I work.  I first designed the one on the left on the flight home from UK in 2016 on a scrap of paper.  I do quite a bit of scribbling whilst travelling.  The one on the right is pieced & awaiting quilting.

                                A closeup of the quilting.  The pattern is Jacks by Dawna Sanders.

 The old flower fairy panels I showed a while back, finished & quilted with a pattern called Angel Wings from Willow Leaf Studios.

Crystal Geese

This again is one of my own designs from my Quilt Wizard program awaiting to be quilted.  I will be donating this as a Christmas Raffle prize to the organisation who helps with my younger brother. 

A day out in May saw  me take a few quilts with us to hopefully get some lovely outdoor shots.  The weather behaved & here we have 2 that have been quilted this year.  Both are my own designs, one from Quilt Wizard & the other planned on graph paper.

Dripsicle.

I think I posted about the making of the one above, but never took photos once finished.

Swishy Stars.

I may have shown this earlier in the year on my design wall & now it is completed I really like it.  It was designed many years ago on graph paper.  The pansy fabric is of an age too.

I'm sure you are all "quilted" out by now, so next time I pop up here it will be possibly be Friday for the Scavenger Photo Hunt. 
I just want to thank all my blogpals for giving me these chances to show one of my passions.
Take care & huggles from Susan.

LONG OVERDUE...this 'n' that!

I won't beat about the bush, but I'm not very motivated with anything at the moment.  Cold gloomy weather & hitting a big 0 birthday this year is leaving me a little perplexed..............
Anyhow, photos have been happening, so let's have a little catchup.

Hubby has been busy in his 'shed'.  The above are the animals he has cut for a pull-along child's toy.
I'll pop on another photos once finished along with a lovely train he's making too.  These along with some of his pens are to be sold at a small local craft shop.

Above are a container made from a Banksia, which could store pens or paintbrushes & a leaf bookmark fashioned from very fine timber.  I'm keeping the bookmark!!

A day out saw us watching boats on Port Phillip Bay at Williamstown on our way to DD's as a surprise, though the surprise was on us, as they weren't home.  Did what we did, & had a spur of the moment day out.😞

 A large ship,  making it's way out of the bay, along with some very friendly seagulls.

A walk along the foreshore had us crunching over all these shells.  My goodness, it is amazing where they must all come from.

In the garden.............

 Making an appearance in my pot, are these little bulbs, which I call tiny pink bluebells.  I'm surprised they are still there as the birds dug quite a few up during summer.

One of my hellebores with lots of buds.  This is usually the first one to flower.

A few jonquil bulbs I popped in the corner of a bed have also made an appearance again & have buds.
I wasn't sure how the garden would survive last summer's heat & drought conditions, but looks like we made it through.
Still in the garden, we've been having some different visitors. 

Although I've seen him before, this year he has come more often & is now bringing a friend.  Hard to capture a good photo, but this is a grey butcher bird, (Cracticus torquatus) & reminds us of a small kookaburra in shape.  Hope we see a few more of our native birds over time.

One Monday morning I did some baking................

                                              A ginger loaf & chocolate peppermint slice. 
Whilst making these I put on some LP records & bopped away in the kitchen along with cooking.

Taking a walk one afternoon, we discovered this fungi. It is autumn, so we see plenty at the moment, but not many this HUGE.

                                                                         The big one.

                                                                       A cluster coming up.
There was once a gigantic gum tree on this spot at the corner of two streets & the council cut it down.
So many people were devastated, as it was like a landmark & I wish I'd taken a photo of it at some time.
And last...............

Last week I had this cut off to shoulder length.  I was having trouble reaching the bottom of it.
Much tidier, but still keeps my ears & head warm in the cold weather.  😉

OK, enough from me.  Hope to be back later in the week with a "quilty" catchup post.
Off to put the heater on, ring little brother & try to do some hand sewing after tea with my poor hands full of chillblains.
Have a great week all, take care & huggles.
Susan.

MAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT.

Linking once again with Kate to find photos for a set of words.

1.  SEAT.

I've shown these seats before, but with DH sitting on the other.  Definitely not a good snap of me, but he grabbed the camera after I'd been taking a few photos of what we were watching from the seats.

2.  VIEW FROM SEAT.

This is Paynesville on the east coast, where a small ferry runs over to Raymond Island, which takes all of about 10 minutes, but is very worthwhile for the wild life which calls the island home.  It is where I've taken photos of the koalas lounging in the trees.(here)

3.  LUNCH.

A butterfly's lunch table.  Taken at the Melboune zoo a few years ago.

4.  STARTS WITH A P........

I was a PROOF machine operator for close to 12 years in a bank before being made redundant due to country branches no longer using them, through larger centres in capital cities taking it on.  This was the beast (I had 2 in my office) and it was a job I loved, having my own office & basically no-one to bother me too much.  The second was used during abnormally busy times, if there was someone on hand that knew how to operate it.  I taught young trainees , before they became tellers (CSO's these days).    Those days are of course long gone.

5.  TRANSPORT.

On our way out along a back road one day we spotted this.  Now this mode of transport isn't seen very often these days.  I snapped it through the windscreen, so not the best quality.

6.  OWN CHOICE.

Sign spotting, something I love doing.  A few weeks ago when the weather was passable (freezing & wet now, but then it is winter today....ha ha), we'd noticed a sign on  a side road to an Historic Walk, so decided to explore.  We ate our picnic lunch, whilst looking at clouds gathering in the sky, so quickly went on part of the walk.  We'll do the rest to the old cemetery another day.  In the small parking bay, there was this sign, which I loved, especially with the handwritten "please & thank you".  It seems this particular track is loved by horse riders.

OK, that is my lot for this hunt.  Sorry I've been a bit AWOL, but we've had ongoing i'net issues due to this stupid NBN maintenance and my back has been sore again, which then makes me feel a tad down.   I wasn't going to participate this time, but really need my blog friends.  Thanks if you decide to have a read.
Have a great weekend all, take care & huggles.
Susan,.