FEBRUARY SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT. (2018)

Joining in with the lovely Kate from "I live, I love, I craft, I am me", with a set of words & accompanying photos.

1.  WHITE.

The white kangaroos in the reserve at Bordertown.  I know I've shown them before, but couldn't resist for the colour white.

2.  METAL/METALLIC.

Metal relics at the freeway services in Gundagai (NSW), where you can stop for a cuppa to break a long journey.  This was taken in January on our way to Canberra.  Here you can also see the famous "Dog on a Tuckerbox".

3.  CAMOUFLAGE.

I struggled with this one.  Hope I'm not showing too many that have been on my blog before.  These silos are in the Western Districts of Victoria, where there are quite a few painted silos.  I am very much in awe of these, as the mind boggles as to how they are so accurate at such a huge size.  Not sure I've made sense with that.  This photo taken on our way home from Bordertown last July.

4.  BEGINS WITH A...............J

JALOPY.

The dictionary describes 'jalopy' as a dilapidated old vehicle & I think it suits this well.  Taken again on the above trip, but on hubby's phone when he spent a day at the Warracknabeal Agricultural Museum, doing his thing, whilst I was sewing with friends.

5.  BUD.

I love this photo of the magnolia buds, taken just as darkness was falling in late Autumn, many years ago at No. 4.  We'd had the magnolia for about 5 years & it had not flowered, but suddenly, at the wrong time of year, it was in full bud & flowered again that Spring.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

CONTORTIONIST????

I took this photo last Friday, whilst we were away in Geelong for a tiny break.  We spent a lovely day in our beloved Ballarat at the Botanic Gardens (& may I say a good half hour at Eureka Patchwork),
and wandered to our hearts content through the gardens, glass house and around the lake.  I captured this swan scratching away, with no regard to how it got it's head to where it wanted it to be.  A hoot to watch.

Well, that's my lot for this hunt & I've been a bit naughty with hunting through the archives.
I did manage to take some photos whilst away, but they will be for another post, along with some crafty finishes for another catch-up post.
Take care all & happy hunting to the other scavengers.
Huggles, Susan.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

A huge thanks to all those who took the time to comment on my Photo Scavenger Hunt post.  As we were away in Canberra, I just didn't get around to replying, although I took some time out to look at the other Hunter's blogs.  Thanks to Kate and all those who joined in with the fun.

CATCHING UP.
Last Saturday morning (early), we started out for Canberra & as we travelled through the Yarra Valley, amongst the vines and mist, these were coming down.

Balloon rides are quite popular over the valley & Melbourne too.

After a spot of grandchild minding, which I think was mostly just chilling out for us all, (way hot again), we left Wednesday morning to make our way home.  We came over the mountains, down toward the coast & the photos below, have been on my "must take" list for some time.

Bumbalong Road.

Mail box collection.

This is somewhere between Canberra & Cooma, on  the Monaro Highway & one of the largest number of boxes I think we've seen on our travels.

GARDEN BITS.
Whilst away, we did have a little rain, though it is still very warm & mostly dry, but the garden is sort of hanging in there.  Just a few pics I took over the last couple of days.

My tiger lily has finally flowered, though only two.

The white agapanthus, which seems to have been in bud since November, is now fully open.
I didn't get any flowers last year.

Umh!  Yes our magnolia has quite a few buds & within 3 weeks it will be autumn.
I know it does happen, but seems quite crazy.  This particular variety is called Susan.

The arbour Hubby is erecting for our wisteria is coming along slowly.  Been to hot to plant out much anyway.

I often wonder how old this olive tree is beside the fence.
Most of the olive groves we see, & some have been around for years, don't seem to have any of this size, that are multi-branched.
We've been here for only 2 1/2 years.

YESTERDAY  -  FRIDAY.
We took a little trip down the freeway, to see this........................

An almighty large, heavy load, comprising four prime movers, two on the front pulling and two on the back pushing along with police escort & accompanying sundry vehicles.  They were moving a  generator from one of the LaTrobe Valley power stations, to be shipped to Germany for maintenance.  It was laid up on a long wide section of road, ready to go later that night, when they close the road.  I think they said it would be 3 nights of travelling before it reached the port.  It was worth seeing, and so many people must have thought the same as the traffic was banked back both ways for quite a distance as people slowed to gawk at it.  Not something you see everyday.

ONE LAST PHOTO.
Shown on a post in early January, was some crochet I've been working on.
Well, this is the next part, something I've never done before and it is taking me a while.  Not to mention all the ends I need to sew in, ready to attach to the first two pieces.  BTW is is the border for top and bottom of said rug.

Can't wait to see if it all fits or I've made a huge "stuff up".  I am enjoying.
I've also been hand sewing binding to one of the quilts I showed & the other is ready too.

OK, about all I've to tell from recently & I'm sure that is enough.  We've another busy month ahead, but I'll be here on the odd occasion, I'm sure.
Hope you are all having a lovely weekend and take care.
Susan.

JANUARY SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT (2018)

And so begins the first of our Photo Hunts for 2018 & linking with Kate & friends once again.
Just a quick note to say thank you to all my last post's comments, but have not had much energy of late due to this persistent heat & humidity, which is very sapping.  If I don't leave replies from this post, it's because we have the last of grandie minding for a few days. Maybe I'll be able to pop by & have a quick catchup, as Little E enjoys seeing what I pick for this hunt.

1.   YELLOW.

I couldn't help myself with this one.  It is the back of our friends Morris Minor Panel Van and it was taken back in November 2017 after a decision, that we'd like to go along to the Morris Minor Nationals, which were being held here in Melbourne.  When we belonged to MM clubs, we nearly always attended, but as we belong to a mixed type car club, locally these days, we don't tend to see what is going on with the Moggies.  We were able to enter ours int the Commercial class & pulled in alongside this.  We knew exactly who it belonged to, as they are very old friends from the time we first joined an MM club back in Hobart, Tasmania in 1987.  An enjoyable event & good to catch up with old friends.

2.   STARTS WITH AN O.

Here we have a beautiful small organ in centre back of photo.  This is a very naughty photo.  Taken at Temple Newsam in Leeds, where it transpired, I wasn't supposed to be taking photos.  There were no notices anyway & we'd payed at the entrance, where I had my large camera hanging from my neck, so it was in full view.  I didn't have to delete any, but was asked not to take anymore.

3.   LIGHT.

Sunlight glinting on the water at Wagonga Inlet in Narooma, which is on the south coast of N.S.W.  This was taken whilst eating lunch on our way home from the trip to Sydney last year.  I wanted to be different, I hope.

4.   FOUND.

Our Morris Minor when pulled from a farmer's blackberry patch.  Maybe it could have looked like the one above, but alas, once moved to bring home, the van part actually fell off from all the rust.  Most people who follow my blog will know what she looks like now and if not, I'll remedy that on my next post.  Whoops, just realised this hunt is a bit MMish!!!


5.   COLOURFUL.

Although I've shown the begonias in the glasshouses at Ballarat Botanic Gardens before, I felt they deserved a place here, in this category, as they do have such a broad colour range.

6.   MY OWN CHOICE.

I've debated much over this, as I've so many I could use.  With the suffocating heat at the moment, I keep thinking about being cooler & remembering lovely days out touring & walking through the northern English country side.  This  particular photo was taken at the Cow & Calf on Ilkley Moor.
The colours seem cool & relaxing for me today & bring back some wonderful memories of  lying in the heather gazing up at the sky & watching some intrepid climbers braving the cliff face.

OK, that's my lot for today, but I am leaving you with one last photo.

Not called for, but it is AUSTRALIA DAY in Oz and this is the photo I used back in 2013 to celebrate it on my..............wait for it.........................fifth ever post.  That makes it five years now that I've actually been blogging.  Well I never thought I'd get to that and meet & make so many friends along the way.   Thanks to all who follow & make my life better.
Take care & huggles, Susan.

HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

Wow, it was definitely a scorcher today & our weather station topped 42.7° and is hovering around 38° now, at nearly 8pm.  A cool change has moved through Melbourne which is much closer to the coast than we are, so hopefully it will soon be upon us.  We do have a cooling system, so inside we could keep it down around 24-27, which is just bearable for me.  I took the photo below at about
4.30pm to show what a poor wilted garden we have.  It will pick up over night.

I plodded through some essential housekeeping this morning,  as well as  watering the veg beds & cleaning en-suite, before starting up the quilt machine to finish the second quilt on the yellow backing.  Off the machine and ready to find the bindings.

 The one above is one of my own designs, that I have made for the book (ha-ha), I'd like to do one day.

 The pattern I chose is Restless by Apricot Moon.

 The one I showed on the machine last post, which is from a very old magazine and made in January 2000.

The pattern I chose for this one is Simple Daisy & I've forgotten the designer at the moment.

Now for some silly useless information about the above, but it did make me laugh.
The top quilt is one I named Whoopsa Daisy, (no idea why) and the one below is Pinwheel Daisy, as I mentioned before.  Notice the name of the pattern I used for that one and I actually used a Signature thread in colourway Daisy.  Daisies all round & the garden photo had my Shasta Daisy looking all forlorn.  None of this was intended, but realised after I started loading the photos.

On the little table next to my armchair, I have an assortment of "bits", which I use on a regular basis, but it has now been joined by this little box Hubby made me.

And what is in the box.................................

How about 14 flower centres for my Sunshine and Showers rug.  I've never attempted crochet flowers and these are quite fiddly and definitely a steep learning curve.  I need to do 14 more of each of 2 other shades of green, before I start the petals.  Wish me luck.

Just thought I'd do a quick post after such a hot day and am now off to crochet, whilst watching the rest of the cricket, so good night all.
Take care Susan. 
Better not huggle tonight as still too warm 😊

DEFLATED!!!

Yes I've been a bit absent of late...............
The lead up to the silly season was quite hectic, but in amongst car club events, some child minding, carpet laying & then our visitors, we didn't get to see any of our children or grandchildren over the Christmas period.  I think this makes me feel somewhat flat, but distance is our biggest problem & DD spent it in Sydney with in-laws.  Luckily our visitors took our minds off it till they went home.😞
Now I need to get some motivation back & find my mojo.  Hot weather & sore back & ribs (once again), don't help, but I'm telling myself, "just get on with it".
A blog post might help!!!!!          Where to start..............

THE GARDEN.

More blueberries.  This morning the I tallied up my amounts, which I've been writing down and it comes to........ (drum roll please), 14.5 kgs.  WOW.

The photo on the right, was hubby a couple of hours ago, starting to erect an arbour at the top of the steps to support a wisteria we purchased, just before the hot weather set in.  Has been a little cooler for the last few days.










The two raised veg beds we built & I showed a while back are now quite full and we've tomatoes, that aren't doing well, although they look quite lush.  My fruit seems to have lots of blossom end rot.  I've picked a few feeds of beans, zucchini (courgettes), and silver beet (chard).  That rather wayward pumpkin is sporting a few small fruits for now.  The rhubarb also needs harvesting again.

Still with the garden, some months back, we were told about some timber & fittings being given away by the owner of some shops.  An Indian Restaurant had closed it's doors & was to be leased out once more as shop space, so as long as one was willing to do the work of dismantling things, the timber was ours.  We came home with some of these (not in our plan), but we've put them to good use.

The panels, which reeked of curry.😄

Now some of them are hiding the water tanks behind the shed.  We've planted a banksia rose to clamber over them, which will form the first part of a small garden in front of them.  We'll plant it up once the weather is more favourable.

CRAFTING.
I'd really not done any sewing for some time, either on my Bernina or the Gammill, which had not had a quilt on it since August (naughty girl).  Earlier in the week, decided I had to get some things done or else.  I had started a quilt that I designed myself to use up some of my rather embarrassing stash.  The main piece is now done and just needs borders.

Has not been named yet.

Next on the list was to oil Bubs (Gammill) & starting her up.  Yellow backing pinned on and two quilts ready and waiting, so a small one (made in 2000 from a magazine), was put on late yesterday afternoon, and low & behold, it is done as I write this.

And as I worked, I was watching the One Day Cricket between England & Australia.

Not so much watching, but listening, as I can't really see the small TV in the corner of the familyroom.

This isn't so much crafting, but something I fiddled about with.  I picked up the eagle feather a long time ago and behind that is a galah feather.  The pretty pink seed heads were found on a day out in early December, lying on the ground.  I think it looks cute for now.

Sunshine & Showers CAL by Janie Crow.
During the evenings, I've been doing some crochet.  Mid last year I ordered some wool from The Wool Warehouse in UK for myself & DD and made the rash decision to tackle a CAL from an old magazine that I thought looked interesting.  Luck was on my side as each part of the pattern was also available on the designers website for 95p each.  I bought the first 3 and made a start.  This is where I'm at now and need to purchase the next 3 to keep going.  It's been quite challenging, but  I am pleased with it so far. 


OUT AND ABOUT.

We needed to pick our visitors up from their friend's house one evening after dinner, so had a day out for ourselves too.  A quick trip to Torquay was decided upon so I could check out Amitie Textiles, where I am booked in to do a quilt class with Angie Wilson, a young Australian quilt designer, that I'm really looking forward to in February.  The above photo is looking toward the water at Torquay from a walking track

.

A mosaic sundial, again at Torquay, where you stand beside the month and you can tell the time of day from your shadow.  It is both beautiful and interesting.

On through Geelong on our way home & I quickly snapped these painted bollard figures that adorn the bay.

Another day out in early December, saw us have a quick picnic lunch in Braeside Park, where these wonderful carved tree stumps are.  This is a suburb of greater Melbourne.

 

 A quick round up of just a few things that have happened in December and January, that I've not blogged about.  I'm just about done for this post, as my photos seem to have a mind of their own and keep jumping about.

ONE LAST THING.

Jewel Parti.
This is the quilt I made at a Mystery Case Quilt Retreat in Bordertown, back in June 2017.
As soon as I saw the one I picked I knew who would receive it.
It now resides with my friend Kate in the UK.

OK, I'VE HAD ENOUGH.

Silly Blogger!!!!

Take care all and huggles from Susan.