JUNE PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT.

Linking up with Kate for June's photo hunt.

1.   The setting sun.

Driving near home one evening and knowing the sun was setting behind us in the west, but to the east was this coloured blob amongst the clouds.  Evidently the sun was being reflected this way across the new estate.  Lucky I took this photo!

2.   Your local wild place.

Could you call this messy  corner of our backyard wild.  Maybe....... as the pile of wee logs & spare roof tiles could be a hiding place for lots of insects etc.

3.   Mug of favourite drink in the garden.

Being very literal with this one.  My mug of weak coffee at 10am this morning, sitting in the violets, whose leaves have a coating of frost.  Yes, it was -1°c this morning.   Brrrrrrrr!

4.   My kind of beautiful.

The River Ribble (I think) at Sawley in Lancashire which for me is a beautiful bucolic view.  Ahhhh!

5.   Look to the skies.

Taken one morning earlier this year at home, as I was fascinated by the cloud formation.  Lucky for me that I noticed it.  Isn't it amazing what we can find in our archives.

6.   Mini beasts.

Another one from the archives.  Taken by chance one day, as we don't get as many skinks here as we did over the other side of town.

7.   Rain.

Snapped last year in The Yorkshire Dales on the road from Otley to Blubberhouses.  Rain in the distance & a lovely rainbow.

8.   Something summery.

This was so HARD Kate!!!!!  As it is the middle of winter here & I've not really taken anything much I class as summery, I searched & searched.............  OK, this has to be it.  A very hot summer day with heat haze & kite surfers having some fun on the water at Inverloch.

9.   Urban wilderness.

This part of my old garden invariably looked like a wilderness, with a 6 foot high Alstroemaria in front of a Pelargonium which climbed the fence.  On the left is a grevillia which the New Holland Honeyeaters loved.  They are nectar seeking native birds.  I do miss that garden.

10.  My choice.

Staying with the wild theme, but indoors instead.  These beautiful floral drawings are on the wall behind the altar at the church attached to the ruins of Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, somewhere I often turn to when posting on my blog.  We always have a few outings to wander around the ruins, woods, riverside and have a cuppa at one of the lovely cafes dotted about the area.

Well, that's my lot this time and so sorry I'm late, but we've had a few hectic weeks in June.
Hopefully next week, I can do a catch up post on our trip to Sydney, though a lot of my photos didn't either happen or turn out well.  Don't try & take them through the windscreen when travelling, as more are yukky than you think.
Have a good weekend all and take care.

A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER.

Yes, I've been away too long, but I do have an excuse.  We went to Bordertown to my friend Judy's for a Mystery Case Quilt Retreat Weekend. We took the caravan & hubby pottered about doing a few things & I went to sew, sew, sew.
I met up with my friend Joy & there were 8 other ladies, a few whom I've met before & some newbies to me too.
We arrived Friday afternoon at Judy's house & had some nibbles, then played Bingo to start choosing a card from 25 laid out on the table.  These were upside down, so we didn't know what we had.  Once everyone had chosen, we turned them over to see what we were going to sew for the weekend.  There were lots of oohs & aahs, then off to find our case.

This is what I got.

The pretty little case full of paper bags labelled 1 to 9 and full of pieces for me to sew, with pages of instructions and a picture.  Wow, lots of pieces, 33 in the chain block and 24 in the star.
Too much talking by me, unpicking and being slow, saw me actually end up with one block done by the time others had made many.

Pieced squares from Joy laid on the floor for photographing.

Chain sewing by Alison.

My lonely star block.

By Sunday afternoon, before I left for my own tea back at the caravan, this is what had been made by some of the others.

Alison's quilt done.

Val's quilt nearly finished.

One of Jean's blocks underway with the applique flower in place.

Alison also made another one of her own, since she finished so quickly.
This is for her grandson.

Cheryl's nearly finished.

Raelene's blocks laid out before the sashing went on.

Joy's done.

Whilst I haven't got photos of everyone's, due to my lack remembering to use my camera, you can  see what else was done by using the link I gave at the top of this post to Judy or Joy's blogs.

I did actually get this done for our final photo.

This is 2 of my five rows, the three borders are to be added.  

It will be finished by Spring!!  (I hope).

GROUP PHOTO.
Hubby took this photo of us on Monday morning before we left to wend our way back home.

On our way home, we took a slight detour to see these.

The silos at Brim.

Another photo with our car & van so you can see just how big they are.

These are at Sheep Hills.

And these ones at Rapunyup.

OK,  that's my lot for tonight, as I've now lost a few photos.

After we got home, it's been the usual chasing one's tail, washing & more washing, cleaning the van, grocery shopping, catching up on housework, a car club coffee & cake run, and then thinking about our upcoming trip to Sydney for my brother.

I'm definitely in high stress mode, but hope all is well out there in blogland for others.
Take care & huggles from Susan.

QUILTY STUFF.

Not feeling 100% today, so sitting here doing an overdue post I'd partly prepared after speaking with two of my quilting friends.

1.  This was a conversation about the colour "orange", which I'd said I don't use as I'm not  a big fan.  Looking at my poor cupboard full of quilts, I noticed something, ooh, was that apricot or orange?  Then I remembered another one, so here are two quilts which pertain to that colour.  They were both made many years ago, probably late 90's to early 2000.

 This one is just a sampler made of blocks I was trying out.  I'd bought the border fabric for DD, who said she rather fancied apricot/blue decor, but was shocked by my choice.  There it sat till I decided to just play with bits from my stash.

Now this one was made from an American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine, August 1998 & called Mississippi Flyaway.
Not sure how orange they look is these photos.

2.  Onto another friend who was talking about the Square in a Square ruler & saying she must use it.
I have used it to make both these quilts below.

 DD, having decided she wanted a mainly blue quilt done in the Storm at Sea pattern as their wedding quilt, I made a start with a small test pattern with said ruler from the book I bought when I purchased it.  What happens when you don't read the instructions properly?  You end up with a miniature, then have to figure out the sizes for something that will fit a double bed.  I did think that I would have to make an awful lot of these wee little blocks, then read the size of the pattern.

After numerous mathematical calculations, sewing & laying it on the floor, I thought, it looks flat.
Next came the Mariner's Compass to go in the cenrtre, then I was happy.  It has resided on the wall in DD's entry now for many a year.

Same No. 2 person was also talking about the 'stack'n'wack' method of working & I said I'd show her one I did back in 2005, but as we live a long way apart, here it is on my blog instead.

Done in a workshop one day at a quilt group I once belonged to.  I'd chosen fabric, went off with all my supplies & went to cut the fabric & it wasn't going to work, so flew home, grabbed another lot & this is what I ended up with.  The fabric actually had lots of shells & some of my sashing used the background fabric, which made mine slightly different to most of the others.

Bubble & Squeak.

I showed the making of this a while back, and now it is finished & ready to be handed over to a charity.

                                                                 Remember these?

Well, this is what is happening on the design wall, although it is a bit further along now.  A photo will come on a better day, as it is cold, windy & wet, so not conducive for photo taking.

GARDEN.........
Last week I noticed these two.

 One of my hellebores is showing buds & a walk around yesterday, tells me there a couple more coming along too.

Not sure how the hydrangea looks today after the heavy rain, but it was still hanging in there last week.

Not really much to report today, but I must schedule a post about the National Trust "Portable Iron Houses" in Melbourne which we visited a few weekends ago.  Just need to sort the photos.
We've a lot coming up for June with my brother's interview for NDIS,  being scheduled for later that month, and it will take a chunk of our time.  We need to be there, which means a trip to Sydney.
OK, have a good week all & take care.

MAY SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT.

Linking up once again with the lovely Kate to search for suitable photos to go with a list of words she has chosen.  This month I procrastinated somewhat, as although we are to post only TEN, the list consisted of 23 words.  Hmmm!!!!  Which to choose?  Well, here goes.......

GLASS.

The glasshouse at RHS Rosemoor in Devon, which we saw whilst visiting UK in 2014.

PIANO.

This is my cottage piano, which I saved for & bought whilst we were living in Tasmania (1987-94).  It hasn't had much use of late 😢  My hands are woeful, already this year, with very painful chillblains.  But, it will always be there for me to tinkle on when I can.

VALLEY.

This is the Buchan valley in Eastern Victoria, which we pass through on our way to Canberra quite often.  It has some lovely viewing points & a wonderful network of limestone caves worth a visit. They are open to the public with guided tours.

VAST.

The huge shearing shed in Mungo National Park, in outback New South Wales, south of Broken Hill.
It is lovely inside too, with exposed frame & many shearing stations.

WAVE.

Just a quick video clip I found in my archives, that I took last year on Phillip Island, which I do believe I've blogged about many times in the past.
OK, video clip didn't work, so here is a photo taken instead.  Same location & day.  Sorry all.

BUSH.

This is what we Australians refer to as "BUSH".  We go for bushwalks, "go bush", when we are getting away for the weekend and generally refer to our native vegetation as "bush".  These are gums & gymea lillies & photo was taken in The Royal National Park, south of Sydney.  I also lived in a suburb of Sydney as a child for  a while, called Gymea. (useless bit of information😃).

DEEP.

A very large deep mine in Cobar, NSW (again).  I can't for the life of me remember what they are actually mining here, That was a loooooooong way down.

BARK.

These are the "scribbles" on one of our native gum trees, which we refer to as a Scribbly Gum. (duh).
This particular photo was taken in Canberra a few years back.  I didn't realise how many photos I take of bark, till I was looking through my archives.


STITCH.

Something I cross-stitched many years ago, which is still waiting to be framed.  I'd thought about this when looking for some embroidery thread & thought, oooh, that would fit for '"stitch" on my word list, so out came the camera.

SHARP.

Now this is sharp, though I've only nicked myself personally, but have heard of some quite fearful injuries relating to "ROTARY CUTTERS".  I took the photo this morning to show that although I've been quiet on the blog front, I am still doing things, along with all the mundane stuff, car club bits, days out & today once I finish this, I'll make a cake and slice & also try and get quilt on the machine finished.  I'm a bit slow with everything of late due to such sore hands(I mentioned above).

I've at least 2 posts, I must get done before the end of the month, due to being busy in June with a couple of things on the agenda.

Hopefully, I've fulfilled the brief & anybody who cares to visit will find it interesting.
Thanks again Kate and look forward to what you have in store for us in June.
Huggles all and take care.

SATURDAY SNIPPETS.

Once again I'm posting way after I'd been going to, so this is some of what has happened since my last post.

Last Sunday, we headed out to find a circuitous route to take to a coffee shop for the Coffee & Cake Run with our car club.  Hmm!  Not a success, but we did see this.......

Two wedge tailed eagles in a paddock.  Not the best photo, but we have one in the foreground and another on a fence post in the distance.  Anyone who knows me, realises I have a fascination with birds of prey.

ON THE WALL.

The wall hanging in the hall has changed for this month.  Made a long time ago from a Quiltmaker magazine & called Square Dance.  It's nice & bright for drearier days of Autumn.

OFF THE BED.

ON THE BED.

We've changed the quilt on the bed from the dahlia to some brown stars.  I'm trying to ring the changes every few months, so that I actually use the ones I still have (many) & enjoy them.

I quite often talk about quilts I've designed using my Quilt Wizard program, which is software I've loaded onto my laptop many years ago.  Below is the packet it came in with CD enclosed.  Just a tit-bit for those wondering what I talk about sometimes.

ON THE MACHINE.

Another one of my UFO's that has been waiting for years to be quilted.  It is made up of a feature fabric purchased by both my late mother & myself, because of the bookshelves.  To make it stand out, I designed this as a sampler of 8" blocks from a Marsha McClosky book.  Part of the quilting I showed last post on the Photo Scavenger Hunt.  DD thinks I should call it 'Bibliophiles Anonymous'.
Does that sound OK?

OFF THE NEEDLES.

A scarf I have just finished for myself, which will look good with my rain jacket.  This wool & pattern were bought in UK last year.

ON THE NEEDLES.

Aaaah!  Does anyone know what I am attempting here?  So far so good.  The book in the background is new to me and I'm finding it very interesting, though now I want a wood burner.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST.

I showed some wee flowers in a previous post called Arisaemas & told how I was allowed to dig up a little bulblet.  I planted it in a pot with just the one leaf.  Look what happened during this week....

A flower has appeared.   How wonderful is that!!!!!  I just hope more little bulblets are forming below.


OK, enough babble from me.
Have a good weekend all and take care.
Susan.