Favourite Things Friday

Woo hoo it's Favourite Things Friday again, wow this week has flown. The wonderful Shay over at         Quilting In My Pyjamas is hosting FTF so pop on over to have a look at all the favourites linked for this week.

This week my favourite is a flower, Frangipani. I'm lucky enough that in my little part of the world Frangipanis flower throughout the summer, well normally they do but as this summer has been very very very wet, my frangipanis have not been so happy and haven't flowered as profusely.
I absolutely adore the scent of frangipanis, so I have planted lots around my garden. Some have a stronger scent than others, the white and yellow ones seem to have the best perfume. They also remind me of holidays (vacations) to SE Asia and Fiji, so now I have my little bit of tropical paradise in my own garden.

The photos were all taken last year, as I don't have any of this type of frangipani, Plumeria rubra, flowering now.  I have some beautiful dark red frangipanis too, but they haven't flowered for the last two summers.

I also have a few of these, Evergreen Frangipani, Plumeria obtusa, they have started flowering in the last couple of weeks but not as prolific as usual.

Tuesday tidbits (and tails)

Quite a few photos of what's happening around Chez Sunshine.

I found these in my craft magazines/books stash when I was looking for something else. Wow I had forgotten about these, they are old, really old, take a look at that woman's outfit, it looks like something from Picnic at Hanging Rock. I think I might find some inspiration in these for a future quilt. That's to add to 3482 that are already on my list.

I also found this, I hadn't forgotten about it, but.......

I had started this as a BOM about 8 or 9 yrs ago, and although the blocks are very pretty I lost interest and didn't feel like finishing it.  I am still playing with some ideas of what to do with the blocks I have finished. (9 years of thinking about it, what is the chance of it actually happening)

They need a good press. I think I've finished 11 of the blocks, and I have all the fabric to finish it, I just don't want to!!!!

Some photos from today, not very nice weather but still warm and humid. That is a huge pile of mulch. The people across the road were having trees cut down and the guys that were cutting and mulching came over and asked me if I would like it, woo hoo, would I ever, yay. Now I just have to use the wheelbarrow to move 7 squillion cubic metres of it (at least it is all down hill).

Some tropical pinkness in the garden. Medenilla, bromeliad and pink frangipani.

 Coast Banksia develops from this

to this.

I've been quilting away today at the wonky owls quilt. Slow going but nearly there.

Last but not least.

Nice haircut!

Tuesday tidbits (and tails)

Now that I have paid the huge fee, I am going to make the most of it and post squillions of photos, te he he.

I stalked followed this lady around the airport last week trying to take a photo of her lovely top. I should have just asked her if I could take a photo, it would have been easier, and I wouldn't have looked quite so suspicious. Lucky nobody noticed and I wasn't dragged away by security.

Spring and warmer temperatures means frangipani in the garden, heaven!

The opposite of heaven, this is what my verandah looks like right now, that's a 6 metre (20 feet) drop down there. I can't wait 'til they finish. It's going to look great but I didn't realise how much I would miss it whilst it is being renovated.

 This is a daily problem. Trying to type is not easy.

The first time I have ever seen them sleep this close together. They usually fight if they are this close.

Bailey, what more can I say! He stayed in that purple plastic bin all afternoon.

 Another great place for sleeping, a nice comfortable bowl with a piece of wood in it.

Lulu looks like a bat with her paws out to the side, this is how she sleeps most of the time, weird, seriously weird.

Last but not least, ta dah,

PS. If you don't hear from me in a few days I will more than likely be found suffering the consequences of posting this photo.

Tuesday tidbits (and tails)

I'm still having a few issues with my sewing machine, it doesn't like sewing HST's (half square triangles) and is putting up a fight,  and eating my fabric, grrrrr which means the seams are not staying where they were pinned. Going slow on this quilt top.

I've compiled a short long list of names for my Pfaff
Fanny
Felicity
Faith
Farrah
Fillida suggested by Mrs P
Frieda, also suggested by P, thank you P
Francesca
Philomena
Cynthia also suggested Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde, I like that, the machine is a bit shizophrenic at the moment, but then if it lives up to it's name it might not be a good outcome for me.

Now that it's spring the eucalyptus is shedding it's bark - messy. 

Hibiscus flowers from the garden yesterday.

When I've spat the dummy with sewing I've been crocheting and trying out the african flower pattern.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I love the colours. It was a coincidence that they match the hibiscus. Don't they look pretty.

Last but not least, Lulu.

Fabric trimmings + black cat = a very bad case of dandruff

Tuesday tidbits (and tails)

Here's the noisy guy from last week,  he is not quite so shy now, although his girlfriend is definitely very shy. It has been impossible to get a photo of her.

He likes the berries of the palm tree so this has become his favourite perch.

Spring is well and truly here and all the flowers are beginning to bloom.

A Cassia at the bottom of the driveway

Lots of scented plants in my garden.

Jasmine

Frangipani, just starting to flower on the higher branches

Gardenias

Unfortunately it rained after the Gardenias had opened so quite a few of them have discoloured. The scent from them is amazing at the moment. See  the black on the walkway, that is one of the trials of living in paradise, it is because of the high humidity here. I clean it every 6 months but it always comes back.

I don't remember buying this at Ikea.

Today I have been basting the wonky owl quilt and then started quilting it. I have decided I detest the quilting part of quilting, especially when it's on a larger quilt. My basting is perfect, I spent ages doing it and am really happy with it. I don't like man handling the quilt on the machine, I just get really annoyed, especially as I am outlining each "square" so there is lots of turning involved.  I think it would be easier if I was just doing straight line quilting or stippling, but I don't think either of those are going to look any good on this quilt. I will soldier on but I won't be finishing it in a hurry and I won't be making anything bigger than a lap quilt from now on if I am going to quilt it.

Now for something else with a tail,

avert your eyes now if you are not too keen on reptiles. A visitor to our garden on the weekend. 

A python, so it's not venomous, I'm just not quite sure where it is right now, so the fur babies are not going outside, (they don't anyway), but I'm making extra sure they don't get out.

Favourite Things Friday

Flowers are one of my favourite things. I love to have at least one bunch or pot of flowers in the house. Nothing fancy, just a simple bunch of flowers, like gerberas, lilies, freesias or roses, or a potted orchid.
If I had to choose a favourite flower it would be orchids, which is lucky as in this part of the world we have access to orchids most of the year, and they last really well inside too.

Here are a few photos of flowers I have had in the house this year.

Singapore Orchid

Kalanchoes