HOT, HOT, HOT.......A WEEK OF MUGGINESS.

 Well, I said I'd do a couple of catchups, but with such humid weather, I've felt very lethargic & not coming into the study due to it's lack of cooling vent, but let's see what has been happening on the home front.  I'm still wary about going anywhere much, but we still keep busy & out into local countryside.  The next two pics are for my friend Kate as she planted the idea.

Bulrushes jut below Middle Farm that I talk about.  We regularly walk passed these from home and someone has used the spare bit of ground to plant up some pumpkins, which they then come and collect when fully grown.

My "leftovers" crochet rug, which I'm just finishing some borders on, thrown over a stone gateway wall just out of town.  Made up the rows as I went.

Yesterday as we were driving back from a drive to the coast & a very quick walk along a beach to the south on Bass Strait, we saw this..............

an old bus parked near Loch where there is a lovely lookout with panorama out to Westernport Bay.   Not something we'd seen there before.

BUSY BOY.

DH has been busy making bird breeding boxes for our friend who breeds Budgies, Canaries & Quail.

Hope she is pleased with them.

It's taken me some time to get my sewjo back, but a design of my own that has been on my to-do list for quite some time has come to fruition and now needs the quilter to work some magic, but then that is another story.

Bubs hasn't been behaving of late, so need to get in touch with my technician once he's back from holidays and maybe a service will be needed.

We've also been flat out picking blueberries early before the heat hits.

This mornings haul of 2150 grams.

THE GARDEN.

I've not had much mojo to garden either in this heat/humidity and last year was a bit wayward too, so just a few photos I've snapped this morning.

One pathetic looking raised bed with a couple of zucchini & a few tomato plants, which luckily have produce on them, as seen below.

The netted blueberries before and during the thunderstorm this morning.  We had 10mls in the rain gauge in an hour.  And we now have another storm brewing with the clouds getting heavy & grey and thunder rolling around now.  Wonder how much rain we'll get from this one?

And the experiment that didn't work as we actually went away for a week before Christmas, though a few marigold seedlings have appeared, so as soon as this humid weather wanes, I''ll be back into the garden, as I've missed it.

Best go as it has just started to rain & the lightning and thunder are too close for me to be still attempting to work on the computer in case there is a blackout.

Hope all is well with everyone and I'll be back next one with a few catchups & crafty bits.

Take care all and hugs.  Did you all hear that...................an almighty crack of thunder.😞

Susan.  xxx

HELLO, HELLO......I think I'm back!

 First I'll start by saying sorry to all my good bogpals, that I've been a little wayward of late, but this last lockdown did my head in & I lost all my mojo for anything basically.  I kept busy just pottering about doing all sorts, but nothing worthy of a blog post.

I'll start by ..............."wrapping up 2021 in quilts".  Beware, you've seen some of these before, but it's a bit for me as an online diary of what I achieved this year in my favourite craft.

Hydrangea Galaxy.
 Block patterns by Alyce Blyth and set my own way.
Gifted to our eldest grand daughter for her 25th birthday last year.

Stars Aligned.
A pattern by Sandra Walker of mmm.quilts

Ooh la-la Cats.
One of my own designs to use up some fanciful cat fabric.
Gifted to a little girl whose parents are in our car club.

Paper Chains.
A QAL run in conjunction with friend Joy.
I gifted this one to Windgap Foundation for their Xmas raffle.

Yorvick.
One of my own designs, just because I could.

Catitude.
Another of my own designs using the attic window blocks I've been playing with for years for the highlight border.

Cobbles.
My own design using a variation log cabin block and done in colours that matched
my mood at the time.

Skewiff.
My design and another to use up some stash & just because.
Don't you love DH's little car that matches the centre green.

Which Direction.
This above and the one below were done with Sandra in her annual QAL and I had so much fun,
that I had to make two.

I Did it My Way.

Baby Pluses.
These blocks were started many years ago as part of a QAL that never got very far, due to me miscalculating the fabric I needed, so I finished it as a baby quilt and gifted it to a friend who became a grandma for the first time.

Pinwheel Splash.
Leftover pieces turned into pinwheels and set together my way.
This was gifted to one of the doctors at our clinic for her first baby.

Let's Stay Home.
My friend Joy was running a QAL based on staying home during our extensive lockdowns & as we'd talked about what to do I designed this, but haven't the ability to write a pattern coherently, so made it for myself, along with doing the one she set for us too, which isn't quite finished yet.

Sewcialite Sewalong.
Also made with my friend Joy this year and put together in our own settings.

Flower Power.
Another QAL I joined in with from Jo Avery in Scotland.
Enjoyed doing this using just coloured scraps from my myriad of bits and the backgrounds and sashing from the stash.

Chateau Garden.
Another 2 of my designs made from my stash.
(above & below.)

Rosetta.

Well, that's the wrap up done and now what about the year to come.............................

                                                                            

                                                                             2022  

I've finally chosen my word for this coming year and hope that I can live up to it.

It is COURAGE.................to be myself and make it through the year without stressing too much.

I hope now that I've plucked up the "courage" to do a post, the camera will start being used around the garden, when we walk sometimes and if we get out and about this year.

Happy New Year to all my blog friends and I'll catch up during the month with a few bits'n'bobs that happened last year that I didn't have the heart to post about.

Take care all and giant virtual hugs from down under.

Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - ORNAMENT.

 OK, I'm running very late due to life getting in the way, but here goes.

As we have hot Christmases here in Oz, I don't go to town on decorations, but do have a few favourites that come out each year & I'm still debating as to having a tree up or not.

Atop the wood burner a small tree DH fashioned for me a couple of years ago & I painted.  The little figurine is also timber & I've had it for a long time.  The lovely candle arch was purchased in an arcade in  Skipton, Yorkshire back in 2016 & always has pride of place somewhere prominent.

Many moons ago I purchased the gold filigree sleigh & popped this bundle of goodies into it and it comes out each year to grace the diningroom table and of course on a table mat I made from Christmas fabric.

My lovely Madonna vase that I've probably had since the early 80's and definitely needs a nicer arrangement to brighten her up a little.  If we are able to find somewhere local with bits'n'bobs I'll attempt something prettier.

Nothing wonderful for the front door in the way of fresh greenery as if we have "very" hot days, they completely wither & wilt, so a little something I made to be a bit festive.  A closeup below.

Now Jak prompted me to take a photo of my printers' tray with a lovely handmade Christmas card sitting on top and even though the printers' tray has been on before, I thought it looks good with the 3D card and it's small items.

My lot done hurriedly I'm afraid and hope I can still link this up.  Thanks to Astrid for hosting these and I'm already trying to work on this Fridays.

Take care all and hugs from down under.

Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - Something we see everyday......

 Linking up with Astrid for the hunt this week and although I know what I see most days, was it going to be of any interest to others? So once again I've probably been a bit wayward.  Well, here goes...........

Looking from our side entrance, across the road to the farm that is basically in the middle of suburbia.  I often refer to this as "Middle Farm" and  realise that one day it will be cut up for housing, but at least I can see the cows grazing and a tractor working for now.

SKIES.

Looking at the sky at different times of day can be absolutely fascinating with different cloud formations and colours, so here is a selection from my archives.

The next one was taken last week about mid morning and this has been very much the weather we've had for most of November so far, though not always with the rainbow.  Each of the sky photos has been taken from home.

Must admit to the garden being messy at the moment due to the incessant inclement weather, though the blueberries are netted now.

DAILY WALKING.

Not as much of this has been done lately either, but a few things we see on our close to home walks are of course trees and a couple of quaint boardwalks across marshy areas.

A beautiful white bark gum in someones front yard.  I do have lots more tree photos, so only one more with a bit of a story to go with it.

This is now a vacant block which once had a beautiful 2 story art deco type house on it and I'd always admired it from when we moved to this town in 2004.  We live closer  now and one day as we turned the corner to come home, they were tearing it down and it has been like this for the last 3-4 years with a small sign that claims to a child care centre being built on it.  As the Pandemic hit, all was put on hold, but is now about to go ahead soon.  In the centre of those trees is a beautiful old lamp,  that I'm going to inquire about, as it would make a lovely garden ornament.  

One last photo which some will know as I used to often talk about out resident magpies and they still come and at this time of year with bubs in tow, can make an awful racket hoping I'll put out a few breadcrumbs for them.  They only get a tiny bit as bread isn't good for them, but I can't help spoiling these amusingly friendly birds.  I do love all our birdlife, but these are special.

Taken late last year with my Butcher bird sitting on the fence too.

OK, that's enough for me today and although it's cloudy, we've a few things to attend to this morning and I'll link up now and read all the other hunter posts tonight.

Take care all, have a great weekend and huge hugs from down under.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - APPLE

 First and foremost, I'd like to apologise for being so absent.  Basically I've had troubles with my old laptop, which I use each morning to check my email & catch up on blogs, then to make matters worse, Google updated something or other and more troubles have ensued with all our devices.  What with Covid lockdowns going on for so long, nothing much has been happening here and although we still have some tough restrictions, things have eased for now.  Weather has been horrendous and we have the fire lit today and it's supposed to be nearly summer and everywhere seems waterlogged with so much rain lately.  It's not too windy, though it is predicted over the weekend and the cleanup from the last two big storms is still underway, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that it stays away.  I suppose from all the above, you may realise, that I've been a bit down of late, but I'll try and ease myself back into blogging slowly, catch up on a bit of blog reading, use  my camera more and just generally try and relax a little.  Here we go for this week's word......................

APPLE.

We live in an area with many different farms, including apple orchards and although I had high hopes of getting out this week to take some better photos, this will have to do.  Most of the orchards are covered in hail netting.

Let's see what I had fun finding and photographing today.  It is all plain nonsense really............😊

My favourite Apple & Ginger juice along with 2 lovely timber turned apples that I was gifted with many moons ago.  The fabric shows lovely green cooking apples.

My glass apple bowls which I used on regular basis for stewed apple or apple snow while the kids were growing up at home and the apple sauce dish which still gets used occasionally if we have roast pork or maybe grilled pork chops.  Above them is a page in a cookbook showing some apple recipes on my book stand.

A quilt of my own design using apple fabric.  Taking good photos today has been hard due to the inclement weather.

And lastly, my old business card showing apples beside my business name, when I was quilting for others a few years back.  Of course, most will recognise the name as my blog title too.

I did a little looking back in old photo albums for a couple of photos from years gone by, but alas mustn't have taken as many snaps when our children were small, but from 1980 to 1986 we lived in a small town called Batlow which had a plethora of orchards and a cannery which canned vegetables and fruit and made the best sparkling apple juice.  We also spent many years living in Tasmania, which is known as the Apple Isle, and again as a full time working Mum, time was short for much photography.  Oh well, that will have to be my lot for this week.  I'll look forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with.

I'll link now with Astrid.

Take care all and hugs from down under.

Susan.