Quilt storage

I was lucky enough to be given a great amoire style cupboard yesterday - purchase price a bottle of whisky!!!  I had just the tassel to hang on the door and it looks great with some of my quilts in it.
Andy collected it for me and it is in the study at the moment but maybe it will end up in my bedroom?

For now, I am VERY happy to have it!

long time ago

It's been a long time since I posted - having a hip replaced, falling off a bus and working hard have been the main reasons.

I am now back able to walk but am very unfit so am doing it quietly - using my fitbit to inspire at least 6000 steps a day.

today I walked around the neighbourhood and looked at lots of new building going on.  This one looked quite strange:

just a front verandah left!!!

and then, I was quite interested to see this explanation…..

I'm not sure why they are going to do this but I'm sure it will look very nice - shame it's beside a 1960's cream brick box!!!    I don't think anyone will be restoring that in the future!






Some months ago my daughter and I looked at a quaint cottage in Pring Street.  It was pure 1950s with a breakfast nook and ruffled curtains.  We were looking on the first day it was open for inspection and were surprised when the agent told us it had already been sold.
Within a couple of weeks that house had gone and then the explanation came - it is now being developed into a LARGE house by Mr Veryrichbuilder who did the same thing to a cottage next door to me a couple of years ago!
I wish we could work out how to stop him - his legacy in this suburb will not be remembered kindly.

I did some dying today - fun dying - not the other one.  I love looking at how it turned out once it has been in the bath for a while, had a spin in the washing line and then a bit of sun!

North South and North again

I have just had a lovely trip to Victoria.  Spent a long weekend at Halls Gap in the Grampians - the mountains are spectacular.

 This was the view from the deck at the back of the house we stayed in

and we drove up to the lookout where you could see for miles…….

Unfortunately we had to drive through the fire damage from the fires that swept through the area about a month ago - fortunately the town was saved…..

We spent our weekend at textile workshops - all of us doing different courses…
I did embroidery

and F and V did screen printing

R did jewellery making but I didn't take a photo.

Textiles were for sale - kimonos were purchased

and we loved getting back home to see this little person

I then went on to catch up with some OLD friends

and family

before returning home to this….

springtime gardens and wildlife

I've been spending a bit of time sewing, cooking and gardening - all gentle pursuits which aid recovery.

Here's a 'vintage' quilt I'm making while watching all available episodes of Homeland.....

and here's my chicken with preserved lemons and olives!!!!!

 and what follows is an assortment of things that are going on in my little garden:

These came from Evans Head - apparently will do very well in the heat by the pool and don't like too much water.

 hopefully the baby mandarins will stay on there and grown up!

On a sad note......despite all sorts of things put in place to deter evil possums.......

such as tight wire strung along the top of the pool fence (makes it hard for possums to walk on the glass)

and scary pretend varmits...

there is a lot of possum wee making it's way down the wall into my pool

Has anyone got a fail safe solution??????????

post operative

I am now in week seven of my recovery from a total hip replacement.  I went back to work this week - just to see if there was a real life out there.  I am very tired and it has been a hard week but I am happy to continue with it for a few more months or perhaps a year!!!

I had a lovely stay at the beach

it is very restorative to walk along the beach - such a shame that one walk wore me out for the rest of the day and I didn't dare venture into the surf.

The chair I covered for M looks wonderful in her room and she spends many happy hours there reading and drawing

here's evidence of the drawing........

shows what I was doing!!!!

When we got back we had a nice dinner at the local Thai, catching up with local news.

moving on

We are all moving on for the better...

this little fellow got better in the hospital where we all spent time visiting:

He's at home now and doing all the sorts of things he should be doing!!!!!

So I'm home too - this weekend has been a bit of a catch-up":

I fixed up the study - the tree of life blooms again!!!

and bought some new shoes - if you look upside down you will see they've got a cat's face!!  Probably the best thing to do with a cat!

 and I attended to some gardening maintenance.

I also started making a quilt but more of that later.