ANYTHING & EVERYTHING...........

I just couldn't think of a title, so this is it.
As the last few days have been dry, sunny yesterday though cloudier today,  we've made the most of it with a bit of gardening & two longer walks.  I have days when I'm struggling with all this & have so much I could do, but still faff around too much. 
It must have been Monday, while  I was in the sewing room attaching the binding to the second baby quilt, that I heard the screeching of many corellas & this is what I saw, so grabbed the camera & took these few photos.

 This is the roof of the house behind us & you can see what I mean by "many" & there were way more along the roof and the surrounding trees.

The tree in the corner of our yard had its fair share too.  As you can see by the sky, it wasn't a pleasant day at all & bitingly cold still.
I mentioned I was attaching a binding, so here are another 2 pics of a little of what I've achieved in this miserable weather.

                                                  The first of the baby quilts now finished.

The second one you can see neatly folded on the right side of the lounge as I'm working my way slowly on the binding.  It will be finished soon & that dahlia rug is getting bigger too, sitting on the arm & being worked on each night.  Keeps me quite warm now as well.

                       I did some baking too.  A chocolate brownie slice & an Anzac cake.

I also like making a mess sometimes, by throwing the contents of my tub of shame on the floor & trying to make the decision of what I should put on the machine next.  Still procrastinating on this.

Well as I said above, we'v done a good amount of walking over the last 2 days & yesterday I took the camera, as I knew there was a lot of fungi around at the moment.  Quite a number photos taken.

                                                  What I love calling pixie toadstools.

This lot appear each year on the site of the most beautiful large gum tree that was felled at the corner of a new housing subdivision.  Many people were shocked by it's removal.
We took a slightly different route yesterday & ended up near a new to us playground with this lovely notice board which I thought may be interesting to my overseas blog pals.

You will need to click on these and make them larger to read properly.
Next we walked up a very steep hill along a newish street, then down another walkway back to the park that borders another of our many small creeks, making our way back home.

                                           At the bottom of the walkway into the parkland.

                                              Looking toward the bridge over the creek.

 Looking from the bridge left along the creek.  Our native gums can have a tendency to fall in very windy wet weather.  I expect this will all be cleaned up soon.

Nearing where we leave this track to make our way back along the residential streets towards home.

                                                              Ah, that window again.
                                    Sorry about the reflection, but the sun was shining this way.
OK, I've made the effort to post, even though I'm sure it sounds like a lot of twaddle.  Why is this so hard.  Off to get our tea ready & settle in for the night.  Maybe Friday will see me do another UK trip catch up post.
Please take care all, stay safe & huggles from down under.
Susan.😊💝

QAL WITH MMMQUILTS 1st linkup.

I am following along with Sandra's QAL over at MMMQuilts and have now completed Weeks 1 & 2 and am ready to show my blocks so far and do the linky thing.
I have chosen fabrics from a bundle that I'd already put aside, which I do on a regular basis when I'm playing in my stash.
This is it so far...................

                                                                My colourway for Centred.
Short and sweet blog post, so I can link it.
Take care all, stay safe & hugs from down under.
Susan.

APRIL PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT 2020.

Today we are linking with I live, I love I craft, I am me with our set of words for April  I did find this lot difficult, but here we go.

1.  HAPPINESS IS...

The bird life that visits our garden, especially the magpies who love snacking on breadcrumbs & then carol for me in thanks.  Buddy still comes to visit regularly & puffs herself out & has the loudest song of all.

2.  MAKES ME SMILE.......

Looking back through the photo archives of our trips to England & finding photos like this of the colourful beach huts on Scarborough's North Bay.  During these sombre times & dismal grey days, it makes me remember that summer will come again.

3.  RELAXING WITH....

My one & only coffee at morning tea with hubby & sometimes browsing a magazine or two on our back verandah in the sunshine.  It was definitely inside this morning, as it is still only 8° at 3pm as I do this.

4.  BUSY WITH....

Fondling fabric & coming up with new patterns & ideas for it's use today, but we have been busy in the garden earlier in the week.

5.  POSITIVE ABOUT...

Moving the veg beds to a better spot in the garden after we remove a very large hedge.  This particular spot is in shade now for much of the day & we intend making the beds higher & have four for better rotation.  The higher beds will be much better for my back.  It will be slow progress with winter coming on & not being able to access what we need for the ongoing project due to COV-19.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

Take all the above words and this is an amalgamation of them.  This photo and card sit just beside my computer in the study & mean a lot to me.  The photo is the most special I have.  It is the only one I have of our four children together due to distance.  The card on the left is one I've had for years & reminds me of my Dad who loved his cricket from a very early age.

Well that is my lot and although probably a bit disjointed & with the possibility of not joining in I've sort of done it.  I'm sure I have a lot more to smile & be happy about, busy & relax with & be positive about, but there you have it.

Have the best weekend available to you & thanks if you pop by.  

Take care all, stay safe & huggles.

Susan.

UK TRIP 2019 - THORNTON-LE-DALE

As promised, although a little late, here is a look at the above village through an Aussie's eyes & camera lens.
Carrying on from my last UK trip post, we'd had a lovely lunch & headed toward Thornton-le-dale, to have a look at the Motor Museum, only to find it closed for a week after their auction.  We did see a few cars out the front & through the windows, but couldn't go inside to wander.
Parking the car in the large car park, we headed toward the main street & along the way saw all of these beautiful carvings & other photogenic bits.

An owl & a squirrel.

Some ducklings with Mum.

Ah, real ducks on the water.

Another owl.

Houses along the stream.

A small weir on the other side.

These were all taken between the car park & the main shopping area.  It was all so lovely.
Finally made it to the Museum, where I took my one & only photo of these cars for a friend in our Car Club who own a collection of Austins too.

We kept on exploring and came across another footpath along the stream & madly kept snapping.  You can tell I was quite captivated by this place.

Very artistic/

Tranquility plus.

Back along the road & more stopping to take photos.

The church.

A row of stone terrace houses.

Flowers on the wall.  I looooooooooove these.

Further along back on the bridge over the stream I took this photo, although I took a few of it from the footpath, I kept getting people in it.  This time I caught it people-less (is that a word?).   Most will know this cottage from calendars & possibly even biscuit tins & other memorabilia.  Why?

It is Beck Isle cottage. (I think that is what it is called).

Heading back into the car park & I noticed these.

Bug hotels.

Stunning golden rod.

That was an afternoon spent in a wonderful village, wandering to our heart's content.
About it from me for this post & future posts will have only positives and not how I might be feeling, but what we are doing to pass the time and lots of photos.
Take care all, stay safe and huggles from down under.
Susan.

SEWING ON SUNDAYS 4 & CHAT.

Another Sunday is here and the anxiety levels are high.  I've tried not reveal how I'm feeling, but hearing people talk about this being the new normal for our future is slightly scary.  I can't imagine never venturing further than our own suburb, not being able to talk to or even give someone a hug, let alone shopping by being counted into stores or on-line, only allowed out to get groceries or an important necessity, not having coffee & cake occasionally and maybe never seeing our children & grandchildren.  Maybe one day a type of normal will again come...................

LET'S SEW...... even though I don't only do this on Sundays.  It's just the day I post about it.

Last week we worked on getting the rows sewn together ready for borders.  I forgot to take photos, until I'd added the borders.  That was because I had a problem finding fabric to do 2 borders, so we've ended up with one in fabric that sort of goes, though not what I had in mind.  Photos following are of both the quilts I've done to show how I work with borders.

1. MEASURING.

Now that all the rows are sewn, I measure through the centre of the quilt both ways & each side & hopefully as this quilt is square, they are all the same.  Very close with 35" in length from the 2.5" strips, to be cut for the 4 borders, and we have cornerstones to add on 2 of them. 

2.  PINNING.

I folded both the border piece & quilt in half & placed a pin, then pinned together to each end & sewed to top & bottom.

3.  SEWING.

Then I sewed a cornerstone to each end of the other 2 borders & used the same method to pin and sew those to each side.

                                                                            Ready to go.

4.  DONE.

Here are the two quilts waiting to be quilted.  Notice they have both only one border & that was such a pa-lava finding something that suited as I can't go anywhere to purchase fabric. As they are both for fairly new babies, they don't need to be extra large.  I do suppose I'm lucky to have a "BIG" stash.😉
Sorry if I'm a bit out of whack today & the top photo is not good  with a bright light in the corner when I was trying to take photos yesterday  & didn't realise how bad it was.

OTHER BITS OF SEWING.
Over the last week I've quilted 2 quilts from the tub of shame.  One is bound & the other having it's binding hand stitched now.

Made in 1996 in a workshop at the local quilt shop in Nowra, N.S.W.

And what I used for the back, which is partly a spare block from leftover bits or maybe I'd made it wrong.
The other pieces are  leftover backing & pieces from the stash.

Made in 2001 from a book, but I can't remember which one.

The back, again leftover from other quilt backs.

Today, apart from a bit of housework, filling my slowcooker with tonight's dinner and generally faffing around, I put some time into starting the QAL, I'm participating in with Sandra from MMMquilts.
My first four blocks are shown below.

It's called Centered & I've decided to go a bit wacky with my fabric choice, again raiding the stash.  We get our next instalment on Friday, 1st May.  I'm enjoying & as it's not huge, it will come together quickly.
OK, that's my funny old lot from today & I'll try and get my next UK trip post done either Monday or Tuesday.  No walkies today as the weather has been quite foul, but the next two days look promising before we are hit with a severe cold front that will possibly bring snow to our alpine areas.  BRRR!!
Take care all, stay safe & huggles from Susan.