New beginnings

So time has passed and things have changed.  Since we last spoke (nearly a year!) I thought my broken molar was the cause of my misery..... turns out it wasn't.  In July, and after breaking down in the doctors office, I was sent off to pathology for a full blood workup.  Turns out my thyroid is badly underactive.  My GP was very excited because "this can easily be fixed!", which it has.  Although just as I was getting my spring back into my step and started to get stuck into the garden I got a cold, a very nasty chest cold that lasted for weeks.  Maybe it was whooping cough, maybe it was bronchitis, but as a reluctant doctors patient (plus it's difficult to get early appointments with him) I knew I had to take it slow and look after myself.  When I came good it was nearly Christmas and too hot to work in the garden, and that's what I've been doing this long hot summer - staying cool indoors, keeping my children entertained, knitting, crocheting and sometimes sewing.

So for a while there I didn't see the necessity of maintaining a blog.  It's not like I've got wares to sell, which in a lot of ways I feel blogs are perfect for.  I just kept the old thing open so I could leave comments on my friends blogs, when and where I could.  I'm on Intagram, Pinterest and Facebook (oh and Ravelry too) so really, why did I need a blog?

But then a few days ago I whipped up a quick table runner,

and started a new quilt (see top photo).  I thought this was worth blogging about.  More of that next time...

Although the main reason why I've started again is because we recently bought an old caravan.

Thankfully a lot of it's original features are still intact, but I wanted to document it's restoration before (and after) it goes to Bruny Island as our lodgings at the oyster farm.  It's got a lot of potential and the children love it.

I also bought this book for inspiration.

Here's hoping I can keep this going!

Angus' first trip to Bruny Island

In the ferry queue.

In some ways I'd been dreading this moment, how on earth would I cope?  The main reason for my fears was that there are no enclosed areas so I'd have to watch Tamsyn constantly, which isn't easy when you're changing someone else's nappy etc....

However, apart from the copious amount of luggage (it took 2 hours to pack the car...) it was pretty good, and thankfully both children travel really well.

This was how I spent most of my time.  We have an old hand-me-down stroller which stays at the oyster lease, so with Tamsyn in that and Angus in the Baby Bjorn we went walking.... a lot.  There's some great bush tracks all around this area, and I really really need the exercise.  Mind you, I've been pushing the twin pram around Launceston quite a bit lately too.

There's hope for my figure yet... 

end of an era

We've sold my little house. I was 31 when I bought this house in July 2000. It came to represent a new beginning and hope for the future, it did that and more. It became my friend.

So it has served it's purpose and I'm moving on, so to speak. I moved out of the house nearly 5 years ago and had been renting it to another family member, but I still pruned the roses each year (in the garden that I made) and kept in touch with the place. Now I'm saying goodbye for good.
Our weekends are pretty much taken up with trips to Bruny Island, as this is the peak harvest time. My time there is mostly taken up with looking after Tamsyn, naturally. But it's nice, we go for walks with the old pram with wheels that were never made for dirt tracks but hey, it's good exercise and I still get time to sit and knit.
Which is nice.
The weather is usually a bit cooler in Tasmania leading up to Christmas, so this gave me a chance to try out Tamsyn's jumper. It's a little bit big still, but oh, she does look so sweet in it.

get out of town .....

The oyster farm is calling us, and there's a lot to do leading up to Christmas. We've had our winter break, which also enabled us to focus more on Tamsyn (naturally). So this weekend just gone the wee girl had her second trip to Bruny Island. She did very well except for last night after we returned home, I think it was all a bit much and was rather ratty. But she had a really good sleep (8.30pm till 6.30am) and is back to her usual spirits.

The view from my back door today, so nice to see the sun.

I find that living in Launceston you can easily fall into a rut. I suppose this happens in most towns and cities, and you really have to remind yourself to just go, and go somewhere different. Bruny seems to do the trick.
And to come home with rejuvenated spirits, with a little girl who's trying not to fall over after being placed in a sitting position. Wearing your jammies all day too doesn't seem to hurt either....

Oh and before I forget, Gemma is having a challenge/giveaway type thingie. Come on, it's not too late to join the fun!

Bruny baby

I've been a bit tardy haven't I. It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about, it's more a case of not having time. Last week it was more important to make a new top, as I'm desperate for some post-pregnancy clothes (of which I'll blog about too). So instead of doing one big post I'll try to do a few smaller ones during the week.
Last weekend was Tamsyn's first trip to Bruny and she did really well, despite the weather. There's been record rainfalls down south, some of which we witnessed on Saturday. So while baby was snug (recognise the hat?) her Dad kept working on in the driving rain.
If it wasn't work that absolutely had to be done then we wouldn't even have bothered, but the work was done and Ant is feeling happier for it.
I've also managed to get some bag sewing done. A friend asked for a new backpack to use when they go to Thailand in August, she loves lime green so the Prints Charming fabric was the perfect choice. It was nice to be back on The Thug again too.

another Bruny Easter

We had some beautiful autumn weather, quite warm some days. Here's a view of the oyster lease, there's a permanent mooring on the far side there and we often see a yacht or cruiser moored for the weekend. It does add nicely to the scene.

I love how the water is always changing with each mood the day brings forth. I've enjoyed my break from oyster farming and to slowly take in the sights and sounds around me.

So we're home now and I've finally caught up on 4 days worth of blog reading, wasn't easy!! Especially when the internet is playing up on the home PC, Ant and I have to fight over the laptop - I'm glad I woke up early this morning....

The generosity of people really knows no bounds.

My dear dear friend B mentioned to one of her clients that an old girlfriend was expecting, and before she knew it said client had whipped up a boxful of knitted goods which arrived on my doorstep this morning.

I'm so overwhelmed and very very touched. To receive these items, made with such skill, from a woman I've never met is simply astonishing. I'm extremely thankful. There's boy and girl stuff in there, so we'll have to wait and see which gets used!

doing stuff...

Nappies that is.

I currently have fifteen of the little suckers on the go, assembly line style, and still have about another ten to go. I can't spend too much time on them at once though, all those little loose flannel fibres get up my nose and make me all sinus-y.

It's my sister-in-law's birthday this week and I thought I'd make the Puff purse as part of her present. It's a Nicole Mallalieu pattern that I bought through her on-line shop a few weeks ago. Nicole is a very talented designer and seamstress, and her patterns are very well written. She'll often warn you if a certain part is tricky which makes life a lot easier and not quite as bad as you might fear. The kit comes with interfacing and the purse frame as well, which is nice. You can also order extra notions/supplies through the shop.

The weekend just gone. I used to be part of this picture, and in some ways I do miss it. I like to get stuck in and work hard on some manual labour, but as there's a lot of lifting involved I'm just not capable right now naturally. So I sit by and knit or sew....... or take a photo of the new car -

We needed something more suited to Bruny roads (most of them are dirt), able to tow the boat with ease, back seats for baby and a canopy on the tray for doggy, these sort of vehicles seem to tick all the boxes. So, gone is my little red wagon (*sniff*) and enter the big white beast.

farewell to a faithful friend

The dear old cream Brumby has hauled it's last load of oysters up from the shore.

The photo above was taken about 18 months ago, during it's better days - rust and all. These little utes (pronounced 'yute' - short for utility vehicle, 'pickup truck' to the rest of the world) are so incredibly good for the terrain they have to traverse just to get from the shore to the campsite where we grade our stock and prepare our harvest. Back and forth they trundle, easily slipping into 4WD as required despite growing rust and wear.

However, on Saturday the cream one died. Well, got stuck in second gear, has supports in the rear axle rusted through as well along the exhaust so it sounded like an eighteen wheeler truck. Unfortunately the white one, seen in the background of the top photo, is not too good either. It doesn't have as much rust (yet) but has lost it's front wheel drive. Therefore it has to be driven in four wheel drive which really only means rear wheel drive, make sense? Thought so....
Now these cars are known as Brats to the rest of the world. They're called Brumbies here after the wild mountain horses found in the Victorian and New South Wales highlands, I've found a bit of a history lesson here for those wanting to know more. I love the fact that Subaru gave it a name that appealed to a sense of Australianism.

So you may be thinking "why be so sentimental about a crappy old ute?". My answer is that you won't know until you've used one. Ant's had them on and off since he was about 22 (I think), as each one becomes un-roadworthy they are 'retired' to the oyster lease, and for our method of farming you couldn't ask for a better vehicle.

We still have the red Brumby, hopefully it will be a long time before it becomes a 'lease vehicle'.

more adventures

The Bruny Island Boat Club, of which we are members, booked 2 of the Bruny Island Charters boats for the day last Saturday. So Ant and I took some time off from oyster farming and climbed on board. The weather was perfect despite the forecast and the atmosphere on board was very jovial to say the least. The picture below is going past Fluted Cape -

And this one is of The Finger, which we had just sped through. So cool.

I've even uploaded some video footage I took of Breathing Rock onto Youtube, another of the sights to see. Oh and that's not me talking in the background! edit - finally worked out how to post the video here, not as hard as I thought! -



So, after all this frivolity it's time to get back to the sewing room.

Before I forget, whatever became of skirt #7? Have a look over here.

she's a good doggy

Like most dogs she loves to ride in the car. When we're packing for Bruny she won't let us out of our sight, and we nearly trip over her while carrying our bags etc. to the car. This is her usual position whilst we're waiting in the ferry queue.

She had a treat this weekend though. Friends of Debbie's were visiting from Queensland and had their boxer Lara with them. She's still a pup but this didn't stop our 8 year old from playing. Their chains went in opposite directions so they never got tangled once, a fun time as had by all.

We had an early tide to take advantage of on Saturday and Sunday morning, this is what greeted us on Saturday. I'm so glad I had my camera with me.

About 2 hours later the wind picked up and the entire scene changed. The tide came rushing in and covered the racks too early and the water was all choppy. Such is the life of an inter-tidal oyster farmer!

it was seafood heaven

Unfortunately I never managed to take a photo during the entire weekend so I've had to rely on an old one showing Ant bringing in the fishing net. What I'm trying to show in this photo is the expanse of Great Bay right on our doorstep, which is where we went a-fishin'.

We took the boat out, oh yeah, the boat -
Our new pride and joy (Lucy likes the smell of it, that's about it for her!). We've been wanting a boat for a while and this little trouper is just perfect for the two of us to dive and fish from - AND - I don't get sea sick in it. (Oh and Shannon, there's the photo of the container in the back yard I told you about!)

Anyways, we took the boat out on Saturday and Sunday. Diving for scallops first and fishing for flathead second. We love this fish, cook it in so many ways it still tastes wonderful and there's an abundance of good size fish to be had. I think the boat has paid for itself already!!

A lot of the scallops were undersize but we still managed to bag ourselves a good catch. In Tasmania the scallop rules are 50 per bag per day and 100 in your posession - we fell a fair bit short of this but that doesn't matter. If you're caught flouting the law then the authorities will take your away fishing licence, your boat, your car and whatever else they deem appropriate. So with this in mind most people are pretty good.

And of course we had fresh scallops and flathead for dinner Saturday night, cooked over the camp fire - perfect!

and about those oysters....

News just in - the barge is found! (so no need to keep looking Alice!) Ant had a phone call from another grower near by, apparently it's washed up in the northern part of Great Bay - so it never even made it into the channel. *Phew*

So the above photo is of Ant and Debbie (the other partner in the lease) using the new barge, works a treat. We just have to get hold of a suitable/adaptable trailer for it as this one is for a boat and doesn't quite fit the bill.

For the first time I took the camera out onto the water with me, securing it around my neck with some string and stuffing it down the front of my waders. I enjoyed getting some close up shots.

There's a lot to see at low tide, and nothing to be seen at high tide - except for maybe the top of a tall post and the boundary markers.

At home again and I've finished the roman blind for the dining room. I've posted the photo on Flickr so go have a look-see. Only one more to go, yay!

freaky february

This is just too weird, we're used to seeing this sight from about May to October as Mt Wellington always puts on a good display (this photo taken from North Hobart). February here usually drags along with continuous long warm dry days where I'm just itching for Autumn to kick in and a nice little chill in the air, Autumn is so beautiful in Tasmania (thanks to senrab4 for the photos).

We went to Bruny to work, and got a bit done on Saturday before the weather set in - howling gales and diagonal rain being literally thrown out of the heavens. There's only so much a person can endure so we snuggled up in the shack and left the island earlier on Sunday, in good time to see the snow display. When we got back to Launceston we were greeted by sunshine and a light breeze, typical....

Cup frock update: I've finished mine and have cut out Ant's waistcoat and started sewing. I still have to decorate my hat but that won't take very long, and I love doing this too. I wish millinery was still a common occupation, I'm sure I'd never tire of it!

what I did on the weekend

Here we were back on Bruny Island trying to get more work done.

The tide went out and stayed out for most of the day due to a high pressure system, which makes the pulling of a wooden barge impossible.

As you can see we normally have two barges at our disposal.

One has gone AWOL....

The big one.

Apparently the bay experienced some nasty sou'easterlies last week which was enough to pull it from its mooring. Fortunately the small one wasn't attached to it like it was in this older photo so we still have something.

Ford bay, where our lease is, is at the bottom part of Great Bay and Adam's Bay is at the top. So we went for a drive around to there and ask if anyone had seen it. There are 4 leases crowded into Adam's Bay, with lots of signs of activity but not a soul in sight. We had a look around but couldn't see our little barge, amongst all the grand aluminium motorised barges and other flash oyster farming gizmos.

So now we have to make a new barge amongst the growing list of other to do's on the farm. But really, that's pretty much what farming is all about - think I'm used to it by now!

sandra's bag and lucy is recovering well

Here's a look at Sandra's bag before I post it to Canada. Very pleased with the flap - The Thug done good, however I came a bit unstuck when attaching the lining to the outer at the sides where the strap also attaches. It was a spot that was too, what would you say, fragile(?) detailed(?) for The Thug so I had to try it on the Bernina which was just too much for it (kept chewing the thread) - poor thing. So after a few unpickings I got there in the end, but had to resort to hand stitching as well.

Yes the divider was a challenge but I don't begrudge it at all (and I don't blame Sandra for wanting it either!), it was something I needed to tackle and I've learnt a lot - I think.

And yes Lucy is recovering after surgery yesterday to remove a grass seed from her bottom. Poor doggy. I noticed it on Monday and took her straight around to the vet, he tried to squeeze it out but to no avail so booked her in for surgery on Wednesday. The seed was a lot deeper than they thought and even kept it to show me (yay). Poor girlie was a bit groggy and spent the rest of the day inside sleeping or licking the wound. She was right for her walk this morning but still a bit slow/sore and doesn't like the fact that I have to give her a pill twice a day, I don't like it either but she's a very good patient.

Quite a 'before' shot isn't it? These lovelies used to reside at the shack (Alonnah), actually they came with the shack when Ant bought it. I'm going to take the seat and back off entirely and reshape the wood to a more pleasing shape, put a better quality foam on (don't know where I'll get that from!!) and of course reupholster in some yummy fabric - yet to be decided.

bags I said, oh and merry christmas!

I'm not really repeating myself with these bags, honest. It's just that when I filled them all yesterday with their goodies they looked so cute all lined up on the ironing board, especially with their groovy gift tags. I printed these off on standard A4 paper and then found some really cool patterned card stock at Spotlight (sometimes that place amazes me!) to glue them to, I showed these tags to Tara the other day and we both cracked up laughing.

I don't know if I'll get any more posts in before Christmas as we're back off to Bruny on Saturday. We have to handle the seed (little baby oysters), bring in a BIG harvest on Sunday and deliver them to the processor on Monday morning - where apparently they will be shipped straight away to Sydney. Nice......

So here's my big fat Christmas greeting to you all. Enjoy you day, enjoy the food, enjoy the plonk, laughter, family, sunshine, snow, bulging waistlines, headache the next day - you know, all that good stuff. "I'm going off now to stuff loads and loads of paper down the toilet", thanks Vivian.

grubby times were had

Did you know that if you hold an oyster up to your ear you can hear Vivaldi's Symphony for horns? Don't believe everything Tara tells you, I'm sure she made that up.
We had 4 willing helpers last weekend and a very good job they did too, made things a lot easier for us regulars. Tara, Rainier, Damien and Allison were up before the crack of dawn (hi Dawn!) on Saturday and managed to drive from Mole Creek/Wensleydale in time for the 9.30am ferry, quite a good feat that!

Ant the Grading Machine Man was in action too. Since we inherited this grader it's made our job a lot easier. It's powered by a washing machine motor hooked up to a car battery, this drives the belt that rotates the barrels. Easy peasy. Edit, it's actually a windscreen wiper motor - apparently oyster farmers would know, and be suitably upset if they knew I said it was a washing machine motor.
Our guests didn't leave empty handed either. Naturally they received oysters and on Sunday Debbie took them out to collect mussels also. Had some on Monday night for Mum's birthday tea, along with a salmon (previously caught at the lease) and scallops - yum-o-licious brought to you by Bruny Island, how good is that?!

Back home and the sewing is in full swing for Christmas. Things like finishing off the dining room and working in the back yard are on hold till after when I'm on my 2 week break from work. I also whipped up a bag for Shannon's present (instead of wrapping paper) and will post it today, unfortunately it most likely won't be there in time for Christmas - sorry Shan.

new week, jobs to start & finish

It was a rough weekend on Bruny Island. As anticipated we had tea at the smokehouse (forgot to take photo) after getting off the 7.30pm ferry and the Duck Pond pizza was sublime - smoked duck with sweet potato, cheese and herbs (I'm still drooling). So glad we spoiled ourselves as Saturday and Sunday were not easy. North west winds are the only ones that create havoc at Great Bay and pulling a barge between the rails was hard work, my legs are still aching.This photo is from a north-westerly last summer so you can get the general idea. Quite often on Sunday arvo's when we're on our way home we'll stop in on friends and family to catch up, but not yesterday. Any energy left was spent getting home safely, so an early night was had by all.

Melbourne/Geelong this weekend and F Mum's 70th. I've been making a wall hanging, or table runner (still deciding) as a present in between other sewing jobs and this morning I started machine quilting it, I should be able to take it to the stitching group tomorrow night to hand stitch the binding. The job to start next the skirt #5, another wrap around so I'm looking forward to that one.

Unrelated. Came across this on the Selvedge site the other day (thanks to Tara for another good link!) -
For the love of linen I want to make this! It's an apron that I'd wear all day, and those big baggy linen pants as well ....... sigh. Linen seems to be the recurring theme for this spring/summer. Pity it's not cheap, I am keeping an eye on Ebay too but there's not much there. I need to see what's available on the on-line shops in America seeings how the exchange rate is so good at the moment. Here's to good sewing times ahead.