FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT. - DELICIOUS.

 

Ah!  Friday again & time for our photo hunt with I live, I love, I craft I am me.  What could I put for delicious as I'm not a particularly good cook, so I really needed to think outside the box.                            Wednesday evening just as I was closing the curtains I noticed something, camera grabbed & I had my photo for today.

Berries, tomatoes and squash which I'm sure you'll agree most of us relish.

BUT..........

                                                                 So do these!

Can you spy the visitor to my veg bed?  Yes a King Parrot feasting on my little yellow plum tomatoes.

The photo is not the best as I was trying not to disturb him so I could get the photo, but as I tried to get a better one, he flew off.  It is a male as they have the red head & the females still have the very red breast, but are much greener on top.  I still want them to come to my garden, but just not eating the veg, which I hadn't realised they liked.  They like the seed in bird feeders too.

Below you can see he had quite a meal from the empty top truss.

Not much from me today, but with thanks to Kate for these word hunts, it keeps me motivated with photography & watching out for what is all around us to be grateful for.  I'll link up later and see what the others have come up with too.

Take care all, stay safe & huggles from Susan.

LET'S STAY HOME - QAL.

 This will be a very quick post to announce that starting next Monday, 1st March, I am hosting my first QAL & my friend Joy from Days filled with Joy is helping me, while hosting her own BOM also called Let's Stay Home.  Joy's quilt will be stitcheries & piecing and mine is just piecing alone.  As this is all new to me, I am in full strength stress mode & am dithering completely.  Hopefully I don't get laughed at or ridiculed too much & someone may like to join in.

I am going to give you fabric requirements today plus a look at a what it  will be.  I have made mine from both scraps and  my stash, so bear with me on the long list of  "bits".

Blue for borders &  flying geese blocks -  1+1/8yds.

4 blues for corner blocks can be cut from 4 different fat quarters or 1/8yd.

Darker blues for inner & outer border corner stones can also be fat quarters.

White for the inner border, corner blocks & flying geese need 1+1/2yds.

White/pink spot for corner blocks  -  fat quarter or 1/8yd.

Light multi floral for corner blocks - fat quarter or 1/8yd.

4 assorted pink for flying geese blocks - fat quarters or 1/8yd.

Medium pink for corner blocks & flying geese - 3/4yd.

The centre house block could be all from fat quarters or similar size scraps.

We'll touch on binding, backing & batting later.  These I often refer to as the last 3 B's.

The overall size is 44.5 inches before finishing. 

I'm hoping this is enough to get you started and would love to see if anyone goes ahead with this, especially in your own style and colours.

My thinking when designing this was during strict lock-downs, we couldn't get out to buy any fabric, so making this scrappy was the way to go & keep me busy.  The central block of course is our home & the circling geese going round and round our house, was my way of realising that we are going nowhere.  Not being able to travel into Melbourne or interstate to see our children & grandchildren has been hard & knowing no overseas travel is on the horizon also means we won't see DH's extended family in the UK in the near future.  The corner blocks were placed to tie it all together.  I designed this on my old Quilt Wizard program.

OK, I'll leave it there for now and will be back on Monday with the instructions for the corner blocks.

In the meantime I'll possibly do other posts & my Friday photo hunt.

Till then, take care all, stay safe & hugs.  

Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - UNEXPECTED.

 Linking up with Kate today for our weekly photo hunt & mine may be just a little boring.  I really struggled with this as life seems so mundane at the moment.

I accepted a challenge from my friend Joy of Days Filled with Joy, to co-host a Quiltalong with one of my own designs & she will be doing one of hers, so I've been muddling along trying to figure out yardages, cutting instructions & beginning to piece the first block.  BUT.............alas this decided to give up the ghost.

Whilst busy with pressing & cutting pieces,  watching & listening to the lovely music that accompanies a DVD, I watch a lot on my small TV, suddenly all went off & quiet.  My iron had spat water everywhere and tripped the power board they were plugged into & that was it.  Oh dear, I rang Joy, told her the bad news & couldn't go to replace it until we were out of lockdown.  The only shops open were grocery stores & supermarket.

This was part of what I'd been working on. 

An unexpected delay, but great news on Thursday & restrictions had been eased a little and retail shops were once again opening, so a quick trip to our local Harvey Norman & I came away with this.

Not the same as what I had, but they are waiting on a shipment of Tefal irons & had no idea when it would arrive, so I opted for this.  Many, many moons ago I worked for Sunbeam Corporation in Sydney as an Accounting Machine Operator.  I wonder how many even know what they are these days.

Another little "unexpected" bonus was that my other iron was still under warranty & as this one wasn't as expensive I got some money back.  Something I definitely wasn't expecting. 😊

A silly little snippet from me and I may or may not do a post over the weekend, but will be back on Monday for the start of the QAL with Joy.

Take care all and stay safe.  I'm off to link this up & will see what the others have come up.

Hugs, Susan.

CRAFTY CATCH UP.

 Many thanks to blogging friends who are helping me keep this little archive of happenings going.  I nearly had a meltdown over this past weekend & chucked it in, but a phone call from Joy made me take stock & we will get through this hard time at some point.  Hopefully sooner than later.  Not being able to go ANYWHERE, other than to pick up groceries (1 person per household only) or for medical reasons within 5kms is hard & 1 hour of exercise outside our home within our local area is all we are allowed till restrictions are lifted.  I have been "doing", but slowly & procrastinating over everything I do and wonder whether it is all worthwhile.  DH has been pottering too.  Some photos follow of a few bits and pieces we've been up to.

A sign for his shed has appeared & really looks good.  He has been busy this past week redesigning his saw bench.

A very little bit of produce from the garden. 3 different varieties of tomatoes that are finally ripening, 2 more strawberries & there was a patty pan squash, but I must have removed it for some reason.  Most things are taking their time to ripen due to all the cloudy & wet weather we've experienced lately.  This coming week is supposed to be all sunshine & in the low to mid 30s, so a lot more should ripen.

The corner of the verandah with my potty pursuits, looking quite good at the moment.

Actually quite pink and these two, a dianthus & geranium are nearly the same colour.

This was quilted and bound last week.  A top that has been sitting in the tub of shame for a couple of years & will be given to friends in our car club, whose little two year old is so cute.  She has had a very small baby quilt I'd finished a few years back, but needs something a little bigger now to take to grandma's house when she is being baby-sat.

I was working on this over the weekend, a project in colours that felt right for the mood I was in.  I designed an oblong log cabin some years back & put some black/grey fabrics aside for it and as I was tidying after purchasing a new cube shelf, which I'd actually put together myself with a little help from DH for the screws at the end.  All sorts came to light from the old tubs and the new system is getting me started on a few finishes hopefully & some bits to the Op Shop.

Time to put it aside and work on a QAL with my friend Joy who has been talking me into doing this for some time now.  Watch this space..............AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH   I'm being brave.

The new shelves & the basket sets I've purchased to put the UFO's in.  I went to get 2 more a couple of weeks ago & there weren't any left, but a new shipment should be in soon.  Makes it much easier to just pick out a basket & get a few finishes under my belt.  I even know why one was put away as the instructions are rubbish with a few errors for cutting measurements.  I will try and resurrect the little quilt so I can gift it to someone.

A little crochet is happening too with wool leftover from the rugs I've done over the last few years.  Hopefully this will go as planned.  It is a Mile-a-Minute Crohetalong & another thing my friend Joy is co-hosting, which you can read about here.

OK, enough from this old lady & I will keep blogging as it helpful for me in knowing what I've been up to over the years and for the wonderful friends I've made who keep me sane as much as our crafts, garden & home.  I know I'm not alone in this crisis we are experiencing, even though I do feel lonely at times and we will see the it through.

Take care all, stay safe & warm.

Hugs from Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - STARTS WITH "W"

Linking with Kate once again for our hunt.  I'm so sorry that I've gone a little overboard this week & kept thinking of another "W" thing.  Tough week with talk of maybe another lockdown here in Victoria & once again on border restrictions & I know I'm finding it harder than ever now, but thanks to blogging, I'm keeping my head above water & plodding along.

Here goes with a silly collection of photos from both my archive, recently & this morning.

This morning I snapped this (in the rain) to show the WAYWARD WONGA vine & WISTERIA on the pergola.

          WATER lilies flowering on our small pond, taken yesterday afternoon in the sunshine.

WASHER & WRINGER probably circa 1950s as this is so similar to my Mum's first ever washing machine.  This photo taken in January this year on a rare outing to a favourite antiquey/bric-a-brac place which I still haven't blogged about.

Now for a selection taken from browsing my archives.

A WITCH.  Taken on an afternoon drive in 2018 and we did discover this was part of The Great Southern Witch Hunt. We did find a few more, but my camera died on that particular day with a flat battery.  

WINDSWEPT ladies sitting  in the dicky seat of an old Model A Ford & laughing our heads off.  I think this was in February 2017 as part of the local Ficifolia Festival.  Not sure it is going ahead this year as we normally see it.

And just one last photo because I couldn't help myself.

This WICKER WORM photographed at Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire was so cute.  Taken on my birthday in 2019 on our visit to UK & "hopefully" not our last.

Enough from me "W"altzing down memory lane and thinking of those care free days of old.

Have a wonderful weekend all, take care, stay safe & huggles.  A big thanks to Kate especially.

Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - LOVELY MEMORY.

 

   Linking with Kate at I live, I love, I craft, I am me, although I'm running late again for our Friday word/photo.  My thoughts for this were very mixed & I got myself into quite a state, but opted for something simple among the many memories that came to mind.  I also needed a few decent photos and I don't know whether we'll ever travel again & see family or friends & hoping to meet a few new ones, so a few favourites from to see list, that I was able to tick off in 2019.

DAVID AUSTEN ROSE GARDEN.

I loved the whole garden & the staff were lovely in the tea rooms & I came away with the most wonderful Rose catalogue which was free.  I'd dearly love to visit again.

GREAT DIXTER.

The house above which is something you'd never see here in Oz, is so beautiful.

Below was a pretty potted corner, which I've sort of been trying to emulate on the corner of our verandah in a somewhat modified version.

OK, this is my small lot for this week as I've really struggled keeping it together & being neat & short.

Take care all, stay safe & huggles from down under.

Susan.

TWO LINKUPS IN ONE.

 

Today I will link with 2 lovely bloggers who do these on a once a month basis, both at the end of each month.

First up is Sandra from mmmquilts who does the Drop everything and make it post linkup.  Last month I had one  of those moments too and started and actually finished a small quilt.  Even went on the big machine once I had that other one off & had the small one quilted & bound in 2 days with the handfinishing done over a couple of nights in front of mindless TV.  Actually we've been watching the Big Bash cricket.  

Stars Aligned.

This is a pattern by Sandra that she had in a digital magazine,  Modern by the Yard.  Small was something I needed to keep me motivated & it is quite subtle in colouring & not one of my brighter ones. Not the best photo, as I was running very late taking photos and the bright sun was too much, after it had been cloudy all morning. I took this on some church steps while out for a small drive yesterday afternoon.  I will try and get a few better ones during this month.

Second is Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs with the Favourite Finish of the month.  I've actually finished this............

Hydrangea Galaxy.

I posted about this one here.  Binding on & both of these quilts & now need labels.  The one above is definitely a favourite finish, being pieced so long ago, sitting on the big machine for nearly 2 months, but finally done.  I do hope we can soon go away to see our boys, grandchildren and take this with me to give to Miss A our first born grandchild, now 24.

I've just realised that both photos have been taken on steps.  The one above on our steps from the verandah to the top part of our garden.

Talking about doing things.........This morning I baked and thought to take a photo as well.  Here is what I made to get us through the next 10 to 14 days probably.  We do indulge at morning & afternoon teatime with a biscuit or piece of cake or slice.  Not into store bought very often, though we don't mind having afternoon tea out occasionally.

Some Peanut Butter Crinkles, Chocolate Caramel Slice & Blueberry Muffins.  Need to keep using those blueberries & the caramel slice is K's favourite, so he deserves it from to time.

OK, that is enough for today and I'll possibly post during the week & of course our photo hunt on Friday.

Take care all stay safe and hugs from down under.

Susan.