FEBRUARY ALREADY...............TIME IS FLYING.

 OK, I've so much catching up to do, but we'll start with what Hubby & I saw whilst away doing more signing of documents for little brother with the bonus of seeing DD & family in their new home in Sydney.  My little brother turned 70 on Feb. 1st & we had a nice luncheon at the Life after Work premises, cooked by the staff & a few of the participants who are intellectually disabled & this is where they come after finishing their working life in a Sheltered Workshop.

The adventure started with our usual drive with caravan up the Prince's Highway along the east coast of Victoria and New South Wales.  Along the way we see lots, but due to having the caravan in tow, we can't always stop or travel down little dirt tracks.

We stop at Orbost fur lunch usually on banks of the Snowy River & this time we saw this little fellow.

A water dragon.............you may have to right click to enlarge.

As we travel near Cobargo, we see the ruins of an old house through the trees, which is down one of the said side dirt tracks.  This time as we neared it, there were roadworks in progress where we had to stop for about 5-10 minutes and a few trees had been removed on the verge, so out came the camera & I captured a few photos, although not the best, so a couple are below.

I cropped this so you can see more of it.

As we usually view it through the trees.

The surrounding countryside of so much of our trip along the highway.

We finally reached our destination of Shoalhaven Heads where we stay for the main part of our trips up north. and what did we have for company for our stay..............more water dragons.😉

Not the best photo as I couldn't get too near as they run off before I capture them.

We also had a free day so took advantage of  it having a drive on the Nerriga road south west of Nowra.

It proved very interesting, although I have been on it before, but not for many years.

First stop was down a dirt track to a spectacular lookout.

The views were great, although there was a very misty haze across the ranges.

Down between the rocks that the lookout is set on, there was an old rusty car body.
Such a strange place to see something like this.

The rocky plateau the lookout is set on.

Further along the road another lookout, this time with a beautiful waterfall and a far reaching valley.

The waterfall

The valley with so many trees.  It is all very breathtaking around this area.

Next stop was Nerriga where there is a small township and a lovely old pub.

The town name sign across from the pub.

Said Pub.

K having a rest on a rustic bench...........beer kegs topped by scaffold boards.

The plasma-cut commemoration silhouette beside the pub for the 2019/20 bushfires which ravaged the area.

The signage which is hard to read as the sun was shining on it.

We had a lovely cup of tea inside the Pub, then started our journey back to Nowra & along the way I'd spotted more ruins.  Not sure whether they were due to these particular fires or just age that had got to them.

The amazing rock formations on the ascent from the Endrick River.

A lone chimney sitting in a paddock with any ruins.

Further along a beautiful tree with another chimney peeking out from behind.

This is another view with more of the paddock & ruins.

Next day was the start of our trip home and I knew there were more photos to happen if I could remember exactly where we needed to stop as the caravan was with us again.  Again they are ruins with 4 chimneys.

4 lonely chimneys amongst the ruins which we can't see in this photo.

There are also some very pretty trees in flower on the property, but I wan't close enough to make out what they were.

Finally we arrived home on the Sunday, travelling in 38°C heat, which is close to what is today again.

Too hot.

I'm trying to catch up with some gardening & sewing after our mammoth washing marathon the first few days after we get back.

A sneak peek at what I'm trying to do.

First................I shared a layer cake pack with friend Janice (Janimary blog) to do our 2 Charm Pack challenge quilts.

Mine so far.........................

I'm being wayward again.  Watch this space.
This something I'm doing from Meadow Mist blog.

I'm also trying (the operative word) to join in with the Chookshed Challenge.

And of course I missed the first one which was No. 6, but will try and do No. 2 which is for February.

Best go and post this as it is nearly teatime here in Oz (6pm) and I am so HOT.

Take care all & hugs from Susan.

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.