A LITTLE BIT THIS!

Just trying to do some catchup after a busy week.

Saturday afternoon we decided as the sun was shining, (not much of that lately),  to head off for a walk and chose to drive up and start looking at places along the Warburton Rail Trail.  It was only a short walk, as Hubby's foot is still very sore.  Along the way we noticed the remains of an old station and a seat under the platform's name sign.

All that is left of the platform.

Strange name for a town?

On our way home we noticed both of these.

An unkempt paddock with two long beds of red hot pokers.  Quite amazing, but no idea why.

A hot air balloon, just between those trees.  We'd stopped along the highway for petrol & I could see this floating away.  Late afternoon is not the time you usually see them & I had trouble trying to keep it in sight.  We've seen them over Melbourne early on summer mornings.

Now for a little bit of craft.
Remember those bits of timber in a pile I showed a couple of posts ago, well, this is what it became. I still have 3 drawers to finish, which are quite fiddly.  It is a lazy-susan craft caddy.  I'll add a bit more bling too.

Hubby has been hard at work too.

A bi-plane he made from some leftover timber bits.  It really is cute and is sitting atop our bookcase in the living room.

I've made a start with the wool DD gave me from the Wool Warehouse for Mother's Day.  I was so excited that I wanted to start it straight away, but resisted till I'd made all the granny squares for another rug I was doing, though it's not sewn together yet.  This one is in such pretty colours, picked by Lucy at Attic 24 and came with the Cupcake Rug pattern for free.

A few rows.

Finally, a few pots.

An old tin bucket I planted with mixed narcissi.  The first to flower is Earlicheer.  Can't wait to see what else I put in.

A large pot we inherited with this house, that had a sad looking box plant.  It went, to make way for a punnet of sweet peas.

My poor neglected cyclamen, which just keeps on coming back.

OK, that's my lot, just to let you know I'm here, busy and plodding along.  I was given another shop quilt today, but have one of my own on the machine, so that will be next week's work.  I may do a quilty post next week, as my olympic one is off, but not bound yet.  Tomorrow is our car club coffee and cake run, so hopefully I'll see and get some more ideas for the Scavenger Photo Hunt.  Seems a little tougher this time, but some have come together already, so only a few to find.

Take care all,
Susan.

SECOND SATURDAY!

What was to be a simple day, turned out somewhat different.
The second Saturday of the month is our car meeting day, but this one was also the AGM.
Off we went, sat down, had the usual meeting, then into the second half and who came out of that as a committee member and the mail person?  Susan did!  I have a hubby who doesn't seem to mind pointing to me when it comes to these matters and I'm silly enough to volunteer when no-one else wants it.  The committee member doesn't entail too much, except to make sure you attend the monthly meeting.  The mail person job is a bit more involved, having to pick up the newsletter from the printer, folding & labeling, taking to the clubrooms on the 1st Saturday and distributing as many as I can, then taking the rest to the Post Office and mailing them, but I don't mind as I enjoy helping where I can.

Later in the afternoon we went for a walk, as the sun had briefly come out, although it's been overcast and miserable all day today.  Some nature laden photos follow, that I snapped on our walk with my small camera.

Nasturtium leaves still wet from last night's rain.

Not too sure what these 2 are, but the three photos above were taken in the Jindivik community garden.

Garrya.

Banksia.

Daffodils.
The last three were taken along our walk.

The next lot aren't necessarily floral, but other bits we saw.

View from the community garden.

Bird bath in above garden made from discarded items.

These mounds of earth with a central hole were along the grass verge and I have no idea what made them.

Toadstools, which are starting to break down.

Gorgeous gate into the Nursery.

Whilst in town last week visiting the library, I noticed this beautiful weeping Prunus, just coming into flower.

Pretty in pink.

Lastly, I picked this from the garden yesterday.  One of my lovely hellebores, which was looking rather rain drenched.  This one flowers first, and the one beside it in the garden is just showing buds at the base.  Another one I planted from a pot I bought a couple of years ago, looks like it will flower too now that I've planted it in the garden.

Just one and a bud.

Yes, it is a bit photo laden, but I just couldn't help myself after so much grey, cold and damp days.
A "little" sunlight certainly perks you up.
Have a good week all and take care.
Huggles Susan.

WACKY WEEK!

I'm not sure where this week has gone.  The weather has been woeful and I thought I'd do a post yesterday, but that day came and went in a whirl, so here I am now with some "awful" photos because of the poor light. 

My purchase of a stand alone bobbin winder back in December was a great idea, until, last week when it decided to stop working, so Wednesday saw us head to where it was bought with no luck and today finding that the company has gone into liquidation.  A hassle ahead to get something sorted.  I also wanted to find some paint I was using with DD last week, which led to us visiting 3 different places to find it.  Finally some luck with the third one and tubes on special at 4 for $10.  YES.
Now for a selection of bits and bobs.

Rhubarb flower I mentioned last post.

I moved the little bookcase with my cookbooks to near the kitchen from the hall.  Much easier now to browse and plan a week's menu.

CRAFTY BITS.

I have been playing with this, but ran out of pearl headed pins.

Opening a jelly roll and finding that a rose fabric I bought recently goes well with it.  I have designed a pattern and will start this very soon, so watch this space.

Bits of timber?  This is why I needed the tube of paint.  DD gave me this  Xmas 2014, so I really must get it done.  All will hopefully be revealed some time this month.


ON THE MACHINE.

Olympic Quilt.

I made this quilt in 2000 when Sydney hosted the Olympic Games.  Hubby was driving buses at them and I was home alone in Cowra where we were living at the time.  I decided to make a star block each time we (Oz) won a gold medal.  I sorted through my stash to use fabrics relating to the uniform colours worn by our team members at the opening ceremony.  I do think it is about time to quilt it, as another games is on the way this year, 16 years later. 

Closeup of one block.  There are 16 stars relating to the 16 gold medals we wond.

The wacky week continues.........
Enough from me for now as these photos keep moving when I put the captions on and it is doing my head in and not quite the post I intended.

Take care all.
Susan.

JUNE SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT.

Linking up with the lovely Hawthorn at  I LIVE, I LOVE, I CRAFT, I AM ME.

1.  STONE.

Stone sculpture.

We holidayed in outback New South Wales in 2008  and visited a Sculpture Trail in Broken Hill. which (if we remember rightly) were commissions from sculptors for the Millennium.

2.  VIEW.

Kata Tjuta, formerly The Olgas near Alice Springs.

This time I've trawled even further back into the archives to feature something different.  In 1996, we travelled to Central Australia with the Morris Minor Touring Club of Australia in our Morris ute.  At this stage we still camped in  a three man tent, and had loads of fun.  I scanned this one from a photo as I didn't have digital camera back then, so hope the quality is OK.

3.  SKY.

Morning sky.

I took this photo the morning before Hawthorn put the June Hunt list up.  Wasn't I lucky with SKY as one of our pics..  It looked as though someone had dragged a huge paintbrush across the horizon.

4.  TREES.

Dead trees in the Hume Reservoir.

Again, one from the archives.  Not sure about that date, but this a large dam near Albury on the Victorian/N.S.W.. border into which the Murray River flows.
I should do a geography lesson on Australia or put on a map at the top of my page if I knew how!!!

5.  WATER.

Powlett River.

I've shown this river before not long ago on a day out, but we have water in the river and waves breaking on the beach behind, from Bass Strait.  You may have to click on this to view larger.

6.  DWELLING.

Old Farmhouse.

I took this last week.  We have been passing by this house since we moved here in 2004,  on trips to the coast and watching it slowly decay.  We often say it needs some TLC, but it would now be very major work.

7.  GARDEN.

Wishful thinking!

Ballarat Botanic Gardens in summer, early 2015.

8.  GATE.

Must be done.

This was taken on the same trip as No. 2, at a camel farm east of Alice Sptings.

9.  LEAF.

Yes, a leaf.

I have a small collection of Carltonware (much reduced these days) and made this my leaf photo, to show I can think outside the box.

10.  MY CHOICE.

Different, but similar, one being an Australian mammal and the other English.

Echidna.

Hedgehog.

The photo (right) is an Echidna photographed on a day out a few years ago near the south coast of Victoria.  I sat quietly for it turn around and then it even came over and sniffed me, before waddling away.  Their long snout finds ants in nests, which they feed on.









This photo(left) was taken whilst walking in woodland at Parceval Hall gardens in Yorkshire.  A little ball rolled down onto the path near my feet and then uncurled itself and lo and behold it was a hedgehog.  Again I stood quietly as hubby took a pic.







OK,  that's my lot.  Hope you enjoy and I'll endeavour to answer any questions you may have.
Have a great weekend all and take care.
Susan.

WACKY WEATHER.

Just a quick post before we set off tomorrow morning to Ballarat, to visit my friend Joy.
It's been very cold, as it is WINTER!   Yesterday we had lots of rain, teeny, weeny hail that we used to call sago snow and................ SNOWFLAKES  too, but not very much.  The backyard looked like this, though not a good photo as it was taken through the window.  It didn't last long, as it doesn't really snow here, but was fun to watch it float on down for a few minutes.

Back steps.

As we had to go and get some milk, we decided to take the long way round to see if the higher hills to the north of us had any, but no, not the ones close by, but we did stop at our favourite cafe in Jindivik and have coffee/tea, then into town to buy said milk.  It was lovely and warm in the caf.

Hubby trying to take a photo on his phone of an advert in a magazine (motorbikes), but look at the lovely log fire.

Lastly, in the morning I did some baking, as I thought it was a warming thing to do on the forecast cold day, which turned out to be right.

An apricot/walnut slice and a lemon drizzle cake.

You've probably noticed the cake is already cut.  We had a slice each this morning before we set off to our Car Club.  It is still chilly today and I've basically stayed inside fiddling around, doing something & nothing, though that's not exactly true.  I cut some pieces for my current patchwork project, and cut four of them back to front and had to recut.  Phew, why don't we sometimes, stop & make sure we take more care.  I cut a huge flower off my poor little rhubarb plant & hope it now starts to grow better.  I did a little paperwork, looked at some patterns for an old quilt that needs quilting and played some records for a change.
OK, enough of my waffling for now. Hope you weekend is shaping up well.
Take care all.
Susan.

A BOOK REVIEW.

Yes, I'm going to write a very quick post about a book I've just read.

This is the book, which is the true story of a young Mum, who had a terrible accident whilst on holiday overseas and her slow progression to where she is a today.  With help from her husband, three sons, numerous other family, friends, professionals and a little bird, she tells the touching tale to us.  I won't  tell anymore, so that if you want to read it, I haven't spoiled it.  Published this year, it is very new to the book scene.

THIS MORNING.

.

A complete rainbow, taken from our front verandah.  I was still in my Pj's so didn't venture any further to get a better photo.  It was quite amazing.

Other half.

Having trouble with captions and photo placement, so that is all for today.

Take care all,  Susan.