LONG OVERDUE CATCH UPS.

 GADDING ABOUT.

Way back at the beginning of the year we had some days out.  What follows is a couple of these days and the photos I took.

Heading off to Korumburra, then Leongatha and then up into the ranges having afternoon tea at the Strzelecki Bakery.

The old railway line still has some bits'n'bobs along it and DH had a little bit of fun trying to move this,
but no luck.

The old station is being renovated into a community hub as far as I know.

One of our signs for the Car Club challenge.

Next, we headed down the highway towards Leongatha and had a wander around to look at some lovely murals.

DH placing his arms to act as an L to represent the town name,
though our town signs need the name in them too.
We've another one for L, so that will be shown later in another post.

A mural of a Banksia in a muted palette.  I remember the seedheads from the May Gibbs book of Cuddlepot and Cuddlepie as "big bad banksia men".  

One of our bakery signs for the challenge.

Same bakery with mural on side and DH posing.

STILL AROUND...............CATCHING UP A LITTLE.

 OK, this post will just be a quick summary of a few things.  We've been busy in a weird way, with weather interfering for the plans we'd made for June.  So much for organising our life to get different things done in the garden, a little work on the caravan & getting out in nature for our rail trail walks. 

We'll start with some quilting, then a day out.

My Village quilt which I've been doing as a QAL with Sandra at mmmquilts and isn't going to be quilted before the deadline of 30th June.  It is ready to go, but I just can't get the mojo going.

Two squirrels happened this month, so may link this with Sandra's DrEaMi post.

Let Your Star Shine.
This is a pattern by Sandra, that I've had for a while and thought I could do it with fabric from my stash for a raffle quilt.  It will go to Windgap Foundation who are carers for my young brother.

Square Up.
Just a piece of nonsense to use stash fabric from the baskets of bundles I've put together.
One of my own designs.

The photos aren't the best due to our dreary weather and having to have the lights on all the time.  Natural light is so much better.

A DAY OUT.

We took ourselves out one morning to take some photos of a few quilts in the open air, as the weather was fine & reasonable sunny.  But not long into the journey, clouds came in, then wind and then......rain!  No quilt photos, but I did snap these two things.

We'd gone to Fish Creek, where there is a beautiful art deco hotel, to take photos of my Deco Delight quilt now that it is finished, but that didn't happen.

Whilst there we noticed a new to us mural (above) & snapped it through my open window.

On our way home we noticed this road sign.  Notice anything odd?  I'll see if anyone can guess.

This was taken through a very wet windscreen.

What else has been happening?  Well not a lot except the usual housework, cutting firewood to keep warm & dry the washing and keeping up with mundane bits of life.  I did make a bit of time to gather some thoughts on using up my stash and scraps to start a few charity quilts and try and start writing some patterns.  Will the pattern writing happen?.................maybe.

A few of my own designs laid out and one actually done.
Below are the containers filled with fabric bundles that may become quilts one day.
Excuse the messiness of my sewing room, which has actually gone through a change to accommodate a new set up with my machine table.

Lastly, 2 new books have come my way.  I may even think about going in a BlogHop with the Charm Pack book, although I've never participated in one before.  Should I or shouldn't I?  That is the dilemma.

Well, that has been a strange post for me, but until I get myself together properly, it will have to do.

Just a thought..................I was talking to a few friends at our Car Club the other weekend and some of us have to come to the conclusion, that we are suffering from "Pandemic Hangover" as the world has changed so much.  With most of us being on the older side, it's been hard to deal with so much change.

OK, enough babble from me.  If you take the time to read this, Thank You.

Take care all and hugs from another dreary wet morning here down under.

Susan.

WACKY AND BITS.

 I'm still here, though finding it hard to write a decent post as I've been feeling rather discombobulated of late.  Not sure whether that is because of the Pandemic, worldwide havoc, strange weather or even maybe 4th Covid jab and the flu vaccination, but here I am with a few bits of what we've been up to this month.

I'm joining my friend Sandra in Canada (mmm.quilts) to link with her "Drop everything and make it" post.  

Wacky One, a design of my own using only scraps and fabric from my stash.

And.... the backing fabric.

This was made at the beginning of the year, but quilting took quite some time due to my stupidity and now needs binding.  Alas there is a hole....................and no sewing machine.  Betsy is being serviced and won't be back till probably next week.  

Apart from the sewing problems, all is sort of OK.

We've had a couple of outings, which I've not been sure about posting due to them being a little more DH oriented, but I'd like to share just a little here.

A couple of weekends ago we spent a few days away in the van at the Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally.

I was lucky to capture this photo as we'd stopped to take a photo of the advertisement for the Rally and the Morris convertible was just passing.

A few photos follow of some things that I captured with my camera.

A collection of sewing machines.  There were more and older ones too.

This one is for my friend Kate.

One of the quirky on-site vans.  Very rustic.

The tinier versions of steam traction engines.

On the way home we stopped off in Beaufort at a vintage shop and purchased an old sewing machine for $10 & then later found a treadle base with no machine in it.  We discovered the old machine will fit in this base, so another project hubby will tackle over winter.

The cabinet which definitely needs some attention.

DH working hard cleaning up the machine.

Just one more photo taken on a local walk last week.

Look at the size of the toadstool............that is my foot beside it.

OK, all from me for now, but I will be back next month with....hopefully...... a finish for the QAL Sandra has been running.  I may even post about another rally we went to with vintage machinery, which was an interesting  day out too, if anyone wouldn't mind seeing photos of vehicles.  Not much doing in the garden and now that the weather has turned bitterly cold, that maybe on hold for a bit.

Take care all and lots of hugs from down under.

A LINKY THING AND A QUICK UPDATE.

Oh dear, I have been wayward of late, but what with public holidays and just plain feeling a bit "blah", I've not had the inclination to blog or do too much else.  Hopefully things are starting to settle on our patch a little and I'm trying to catch up with blog reading and putting some photos and words into place.

We'll start with this...

Linking with Sandra at mmm.quilts for her current QAL, which I am participating in.                                   Fabrics chosen and I'm hoping to do 2, one for moi and another for a baby due in July.

Two colourways chosen and I don't think I need explain which one is which.

I'm busily sewing the floral one first and have a few bits done.

We have flying geese units.

Also, the half square tringles.

A day out yesterday with DD, S-I-L & our 2 grandchildren was great, although we didn't do what they were doing at The Enchanted Garden which is on The Mornington Peninsular.  It has a few mazes, some wonderful sculptures, a tube slide and many walking tracks, but it's main attraction is "Tree Surfing", more for younger people than us oldies.  I'll pop on  a few photos below of some of the features.

Looks scary, but most were having a good time with helmets and harnesses to make it safe.

There was also a tube slide which brought many shrieks & much laughter from those that went on it.

A few more snaps of what could be seen when walking about.

The beautifully carved relief on the hedge.

Elegant statue at the end of a path.

These reminded e of the Terracotta Army figures in China.

Can you see the laser cut rusty iron native animals?

                                                    Two of my favourites below.

Curly snails

Carved timber kangaroo.

Ok, I've waffled on enough so I'll finish up here and hope that everyone had a good Easter break and for those in Oz, this, another long weekend, it being Anzac Day today was both relaxing and thoughtful, especially with all that is happening at the moment.

Take care all and big hugs from the land down under.

Oh, and one last photo of the small lake with fountain.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - STARTS WITH "S"

Linking with Astrid for this Fridays word photo hunt.

 I am a bit early, but on Friday I have to attend a hospital appointment for a minor procedure, so thought I'd do this on Thursday afternoon.  It is a little photo heavy, because I kept thinking of all sorts.

The letter "S" stands out for me, as all of my names begin with this letter, so I am "SSS".................

SILO.

One of the many painted silos here in Victoria and  now other states in Oz too.

SOLAR PANELS.

The solar panels on the roof of our home helping us be a little green.

SEASIDE

I could have used many photos, but chose this looking out to sea over the beach huts at Mornington.

SWANS

A paddock full of black swans on the east coast of Victoria.

SHEEP

Sheep & some beautiful lambs, taken not long ago when we had a rare break from being in lockdown.

SPIDER

A huntsman spider on the wall of the Superintendent's Home at the Quarantine Station on the Mornington Peninsular which was another rare day out in January when we actually got to see DD and family.  We had a lovely day and another would be rather nice.  

SHELLS

A few shells I've collected over many years.  Taking a photo this afternoon was difficult once again with very cloudy skies, with little light coming into our house.

SEWING & SKATES.

Sewing, particularly my quilting is keeping me sane and the little quilt above was started many years ago as a mystery QAL, but running out of 2 of the fabrics at the beginning meant I put the few blocks I'd made aside.  Early this year I did some sorting & weeded out a few old projects & put them together as small quilts which I'm giving away as baby gifts.  My old skates which I've had since my teenage years haven't been used for a long time as my feet have changed shape & they don't fit anymore.  I was last on the ice in 2018 with my granddaughter & had to use hire skates.  It was great to be on the ice again.

STUDIO.

Something I miss is my old studio, which I'm showing below in its very messy state, as I've no other photos.

Most of these photos are from my archives and I'm sure I could have found many more, but as I'm a little on the STRESSED SIDE (um...a couple more S's) I have hopefully fulfilled this word hunt.

OK, that is my lot for today and if someone can tell me how I can get these 2 photos to go side by side, I'd love to hear from them as I've spent at least 15 minutes trying.

Thanks for reading if you get to the end.

Take care all, stay safe and hugs from down under.

Susan.