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.

WEEKEND POST NO. 2

It's still cold and wet, so got a little more sewing done today.  More of that later.

SYDNEY

Whilst in Sydney, we had to pick our daughter up from the airport, as she flew up from Melbourne on the Friday.  We'd already booked out of the motel and decided to have a walk along the foreshore of Botany Bay.  This is where Captain Cook landed in 1770.  Below are some photos.

Part of Botany Bay looking through the heads.

Planes coming into land at Sydney Airport.

Cockatoos feeding in nearby parkland.

Another plane with the port of Botany in the distance.

The skyline of Sydney with Sydney tower just peeping over some of the buildings.

It's been a busy week since we arrived home, with lots of washing, a day into Melbourne to pick up oil for Bubs, as they won't put it in the post, then on Friday DD and I went to the Melbourne Quilt Show for our girlie day out.  Now it's Sunday and I'm tuckered out.  Next week will be just about as busy with a Doctor and Dentist appointment, plus possibly a day to Bendigo to pick up a window for the Morris and meet DD and her family as it is school holidays over here and they plan to spend a few days up there.  It's seems there is always so much to do and so little time.

Now for a little bit of quilting.  Along with testing another pattern for Sue over  Quilt Times  (I'll be able to show that at a later date), I've been busy trying to do some patterns along the lines of using traditional blocks in different colour ways, using them either straight or on point.

Buckeye Beauty in my own setting and colours.

These two lots of fabric are next on the list of things to make, but I'll leave you guessing as to what.  Just realised that the colours are quite similar.


All for now and hope you are all enjoying your weekend and will hopefully post again later next week.
Take care.
Susan.

WEEKEND POST NO. 1

AN ICY BLAST.

Wow, the weather over the last week has been decidedly wintry with the wind blowing from the Antarctic and quite a bit of rain.  We had been experiencing a mild start to winter.  There has even been snow and blizzards in the Alpine regions of Victoria.  Today, here in Ballarat the temperature was supposed to reach 8deg.  I've hardly stepped outside and the wind has even brought down some trees on the reserve over the road.

Black wattle with broken branches.

I want to thank everyone for comments on my last post and sorry I didn't reply to them.  This post has been very hard to think about and write, but we've been to Sydney for a week as my dear elderly father passed away on 16th June.  He had advanced dementia and was very frail, and I'm the one who had to make all the arrangements as my only sibling, my younger brother who is intellectually disabled is unable to do these things.  I will leave it at that.

TAKING TIME OUT

We had one day spare whilst away and decided to visit my cousin in Wollongong, which is a large coastal city, just south of Sydney.  We'd not seen each other for several years.  The scenic route along the coast was the one we chose.  Heading south we travelled through The Royal National Park (Australia's first National park) and then down via the Sea Bridge, which is part of the new road  that follows the coast after many landslips in years gone by.  I grew up knowing these areas very well and enjoyed the day as we'd not been down for a long time.  Some photos follow.

These are what we call Gymea lilies.  I do not know their botanical name I'm afraid.

Closeup of flower.

The Sea Bridge from the lookout at Stanwell Tops where we ate our lunch.  This is the spot where hang gliders take off.  Scary!

Looking down onto Stanwell Park beach.

These Rosellas, which didn't seem to be either the Crimson or Eastern variety were quite tame.  I called them the Mottley Bunch.

Looking back to the bridge from another viewing point.

Now this looks like a photo of the sea!!!!  Well, about mid picture on the right is a whale, but it went under just as I took the photo.  There were three and they even spouted water whilst we were watching.  They are on their annual migration to warmer waters during our winter before returning to Antarctic waters for summer.

One more photo for a few of my blogpals who have pet dogs.  This one belongs to my cousin and she is adorable.  Her name is Ellie and she is still a pup.

I am tired tonight, so will leave it at that and post about our weekend on the way home in Canberra with our youngest son and his family and what I've been up to with my quilting tomorrow, hence the name of this post.
Lots to tell, and am now off to try and finish handsewing the binding on Macy's quilt.
Have a lovely weekend all and take care.
Susan.

LOCAL QUILT SHOW

Saturday saw us set out for Daylesford to see the Spa Quilter's show.  It was only small and held at the local primary school.  As you can tell from the name of the group, it was a "Spa" town, with mineral springs.  I posted about going there once for the Sunday markets.  It was a great little show with some lovely ladies who gave me a flyer and said if I was interested to come and visit one Thursday.  As it is some way from here and I'm still not driving far, they suggested hubby could go to the Mens' Shed which also meets on a Thursday.  He has thought about looking into these before, so in the near future we may see what happens.

This little quilt was called Cuppapillar and I thought so cute.  I could take photos for my own personal use, so please respect, but I just had to show.

There was a display of old machines,  and this hand held machine which was fascinating.  We were given a demonstration.

A display cabinet of toy machines.   Sorry about the light bouncing off the glass.

We had our homemade lunch, then wandered up and down the main street.  Must go on a weekday, as it was very busy and also a long weekend here in Oz, so tomorrow is another day off for most people.

A funny little story for you.  My GD Little E rang during the week and Pop answered the phone, spoke to her, then DS J, then she asked to speak to me.  Asked if we were coming to see them this weekend, but as they live in Canberra, 8-10 hours away, I said no, we were coming in a few weeks. (don't travel over holiday weekends if we can help it).  She then asked what I was doing on the weekend and I replied that we were going to a quilt show.  Asked what is a quilt show, so explained as best as I could.  She then replied, that maybe I could learn to make one and show her.  I did grin from ear to ear and told her that I could already do that and I would bring one to show her.  Little does she know that she and her brother are getting one each.  I can tell you, that she has sat on a stool watching the big machine working, but that was last year and I suppose a five year old doesn't always remember these things.  Little ones, hey!

Saw this box in an antique shop and  would you believe, I had one of these as a child.  I think they came full of chocolates, but not sure where I got mine from.

The little town of Myrniong with it's imposing sign.

These three Eastern Rosellas were nibbling on seed this morning in my standard silver birch.  You can see the bottom one with the seed in his claw.  I took the photo through the window, otherwise they would have flown away.

Aha, I have been quilting this today.  I will show a better photo once off the machine, but it was made around 1995/6, so will tell the story about it later.

My hanging pot flowering again, although it is winter.

And last, what am I going to do with this fabric?  You will have to wait and see.  I also have fabric put aside to do another test pattern for Sue, so will be busy over the next week or so.

Will post this now and hope everyone out there in Blogland are having a great weekend.
Take care all.
Susan.