Looooong overdue post.

Still not feeling much like posting or even being myself, but we have kept sort of busy, with mainly bits/n/bobs of all sorts.  I'll break back in slowly and hopefully get September sorted over the rest of the month.  Here goes................

A DAY OUT & A BIT OF CRAFT.

This particular day saw me take a few quilts, camera, our picnic lunch & lots of enthusiasm for a day of sunshine after so much dreariness, which is now back with us I'm afraid.  

LANCY LOOKOUT.

I've shown Lancy lookout before as I do enjoy taking quilt photos there, then we had a meander through the hills & on down to Leongatha. 

Some interesting clouds in this photo.

A huge gum tree, some of which is breaking away slowly.  They are notorious for dropping limbs when they feel like it.

Next we took some quilt snaps whilst there and at the next unnamed lookout where we ate our lunch.

These are three old pieced tops from my tub of shame that I made from magazines or books way back in the very late 90s and early 2000s.  I finally quilted & bound them this winter & will possibly donate or sell, as my poor cupboard is getting very full.  I'd also taken a few snaps inside too, so will put them below.                                                                                                              

                                                                                           

And a close up of the quirky quilting on the purple one.

A SURPRISE 

One morning early this month we heard a steam train whistle & wondered what on earth that was all about, rang a friend & found out they were running a steam service between a couple of stations on our line & people could pay to have a ride.  Lots of children these days aren't familiar with these big beasts.  We opted to get to one of the crossings and take some photos.  As there is quite a steep part of the line, it was both a steam engine on the front and an old diesel at the back, so they could do a push/pull as there is no turning around point on the Gippsland line near here.

The steam is seen in the distance between the trees.

Nearing the crossing with a puff of black smoke.

The diesel bringing up the rear and lots of onlookers.

 This brought back so many memories of  my childhood, as steam trains still ran outside of big cities when I was growing up.

FROM THE GARDEN.

Although the garden is looking partially reasonable, it has been such a long, hard winter and I've done very little outside, but the bulbs have come out beautifully and other things have flowered fleetingly, before being battered by wind and rain.

The poor Magnolia is hanging in there.... just.  Notice the 2 white flowers on the left at the top.
What is that all about?

The little round garden out the front is full of Earlicheer daffs, friesias, a few crocus and muscari.

I also picked a few bits'n'bobs to put inside.

Excuse my messy side table.  I do use the coaster for my mug and there is always sewing paraphernalia lurking near my chair for working on things after tea.

☔☔RAIN..................and more rain!!!!!!☔

We've had more than our share this winter and there is so much laying in places we've never seen it in before.

We took an afternoon drive last Monday and went up to Blue Rock Dam to see the water flowing down the spillway and to our surprise, just before we headed for the dam wall, we spied these kangaroos in a paddock.  Once we stopped they decided to bounce away.

Can you spot all five.  At this point they were watching us and I snapped this one from the car window.

But, then they thought better of us staying there and hopped away.  That one you can see above had just jumped over those fences in the background.  

The road over the dam wall and spillway.

Just loved the patterns the flowing water made.

OK, I'll leave it at that for today, as we did have another couple of odd outings if it was fine, into the countryside.                                                                                                                                                    Have a great week all, take care and hugs from Susan.

A DAY OF MANY THINGS.

 1.   Happy Yorkshire Day.

A very old applique that is still awaiting placement somewhere.

This is a greeting to all my family and friends who reside there.

2.  Horse's Birthday.

OK, they are 2 ponies & I took these photos on Saturday where we spent a lovely afternoon with a friend and her foster grandchildren.  More later in the post.

3.  Wattle or Arbour Day, depending on where you are.

Wattle in bloom.

4.  A 50th birthday greeting for my cousin's daughter, who was the first great grandchild of my maternal grandfather, then along came my daughter to make 2 for him in the one year.

Now for some quirky bits'n'pieces from the end of July.

Two photos I snapped while we were cutting firewood at our friend's farm.

A conical sort of toadstool.

A wee frog, some of which end up coming home with us in the wood.  I rescue them and put them in the garden near our pond.

A few from our garden.

My Garrya which is looking gorgeous with its catkins.

It has been cool, but this is the first ice we've had on the pond on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon saw us call at a friend's place and as I mentioned above her 2 grandies were there, so as it was one of our first sunny days in a while, we took the ponies from their paddock, gave them a brush, then out came the cart and she took each of them for a ride up and down the lane they live on.  I'm being very good and will just show my friend making sure everything was right.

J, pony and trap.

And I was being hassled by my favourite little girl.  I've known her since she was a pup & I think I showed the 2 little dog coats I knitted a while ago and she was one of the recipients.

Gum blossom in J's garden, just coming into flower.

Now for a little jaunt we took yesterday for some much promised photos of the daffodil fields that are just south of town.  Each year the leased paddocks seem to change & it ends up a game of trying to spot where they are.

Looking toward the hills.

You can see cattle being fed out on the hill in the distance and the odd white jonquil in among the yellow.

Looking another way and you can see more up and ready to open.

On the other side of the road and going up a hill with a couple of rows of white ones.

I love seeing all these coming into bloom from mid July and expect the markets in Melbourne are now well stocked.

Further on we decided to do a round trip and a few photos follow of a view and the steepness of the countryside once in South Gippsland.  There is a "very" bad photo to end this lot today and I'll explain in the caption.

Can you see just how steep this hill is in the foreground and there is a tractor to the left in the far background.

Now for an explanation. 
Here we have a wombat nibbling on grass, but I was standing on a very precarious piece of ground, it was windy and I was cold and shivering by this time and just didn't manage to get a worthwhile photo, but here it is anyway.  They are just so cute and I do love our native wildlife.

OK, enough of my twaddle today and I had intentions of posting some quilt and crafty photos, but although I could share something, with having 2 partial days out and being somewhat cloudy today, I've not fancied trying to take the photos of 2 flimsies, so later this week, we'll do an update.

Have a great week all, take care and huggles from down under.

Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - BERRY

 A few hiccups over the last few days, but here we are linking with Astrid for the Scavenger Hunt.

Today's word is BERRY & although I'd thought about getting out to take a few photos, the weather has not played ball at all.  Thank heavens for our archives, so here we go & I know my loyal followers will know me well enough to that they'll see the inevitable from our garden.

Our blueberry bushes with new berries before they ripen.

My trug with ripe berries.  Last seasons haul was around 30kgs overall.

And what do they become at times?  Why, blueberry muffins among other things.

Pyracantha berries (I think) that grow in a small reserve near our local railway crossing.

And lastly, an arrangement I made whilst living in Ballarat from both my garden & some foraged roadside bits.

Not even going to try and identify these, though we do have inky black berries in there.

OK, quick and easy for me today after forgetting all about it.  We've had computer  problems, along with so much storm damage here in south eastern Australia.  There are so many trees down in Gippsland and floods in some areas with more rain forecast over coming days.  As we still can't have visitors to our house or go visiting, it is a matter of staying at home & keeping busy, warm & dry and trying not to stress or worry.  I've been appliqueing flowers on my next row of the Bedding Plants QAL, which is quite time consuming as I've not done any raw edge applique for a while.  I'll do a show & tell later next week.

Take care all, stay safe & huggles from a very soggy down under.

Susan.

FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - APRIL - PURPLE.

First off, a big THANK YOU to all the comments on my last post.  Life has been a little hectic of late, family visitors and a friend who has just undergone major surgery.

Joining in the photo hunt and linking with Astrid.

PURPLE.

First up, a plethora of purple flowers.

Taken at Harlow Carr on our trip in 2011.

These next three were taken on our trip in 2014.

Crocus I think (or maybe colchicum) at Sissinghurst Castle.

The Stray in Harrogate.

Yorkshire countryside.

The last photo was from a day out following the route of the cyclists on the Yorkshire leg of the Tour de France.

Clematis on a wall at York Gate garden in 2016.

We visited Crich Tram museum in 2014 & I remembered this tram on display.  Temple Newsam is somewhere that is quite memorable for both Keith and I.  For me it is where I first met my blog pal Jo, from Through the Keyhole & hubby has a family story about the house, which is either myth or true, but a good yarn anyway.

Way back in 2011 whilst in UK, we attended my niece's wedding and took a quilt with me for their present & she had requested some purple to be included as it is her favourite colour.

The only photo I have of it.
Designed on my trusty Quilt Wizard and I called it Chelsfield Star.

Our place names on the table at the wedding reception.

One last photo which you may have seen recently, but just had to include it for this colour., as it is craft by both of us.

The quilt I made for our eldest granddaughter which I want to deliver in person, so hopefully sometime this year and the lovely "purple" window frame by hubby which is now on the brick wall on the verandah.

OK..............my lot done and dusted for this week and hope you enjoy.  We've done purple before and I think I've shown different from last time.  Hopefully.!!

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

Susan.😊