broderie

watching and waiting

as we all know there has been alot of watching and waiting happening on the east coast of australia in the past two weeks! our hearts and emotions have been heavy with the news of the terrible floods that have occured in queensland, also in new south wales and now in my home state of victoria, in some of the most picturesque of our country towns, and also in tasmania. the human spirit has been tested, reaction from the australian community has been very heartening, thousands of people ready to help one another. there is a very small minority of people who take advantage of these devasting times in this great country, such a pity we have some with such a mean spirit.

locally, just in my street, i am so fortunate to have some very good people who certainly have great spirit and are very kind to me, 'my bin friends'!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is bin night tonight and i was also reminded that i had not done a post since 7/1/11, so for you 'bin friends', at least i know that i have two readers!

this is where i have been and some of what i've been doing while i was away and since i've been home!

 
big twin boys and puppy love waiting for santa on chistmas eve

 
after christmas we headed to orford on the east coast of tasmania for a few days

 
an uncle of mine spent many a 'happy hour' or two or three at this old inn

 

 

 
 
great beach and river views

 
then a day trip to oatlands, this is the old flour mill that has been brought back to working order, the only problem, so many people around and you couldn't buy a loaf of the famous sourdough bread. the bakery was closed for renovations!!!

 

 
inside the old stable where the draught horses were rested, now it is all operated by electric power

 

 
a partierre garden

 
lots of dry stone walls, and then onto ross

 
on the main street lots of pretty buildings

 
this little cottage was for sale

 
this vintage car driver stopped for a photo while we had stopped for a coffee !

 

and talking of vintage! i was presented with this old door stop by a friend to do something with! it belongs to a 90 year old whose daughter said 'get rid of this mum' ! i agree to get rid of it off the floor, however i could not bring myself to change it at all, it was filled with sand and a heavy two hands full to hold, but so tactile and just gorgeous !

 
i decided it was 'time' for it to be left as it was, original !

 
and after handpiecing this quilt of just large squares from  pieces of fabric that i loved and collected some time ago, with so much other piecing and quilting waiting to be done i had it machine quilted just at the end of 2010 and have put the binding on to complete it

 

 

so waiting and watching ! i am off to watch the end of the tennis match and you must wait for the next post and hello to my 'bin friends' !

playing with new things

since christmas day many hours have been spent playing with new things received, i am doing this post on my new little notebook computer, great for travelling, a lot lighter than my laptop!

there are new books, new dvd's, new patterns, new stitching and more mundane things like a steam mop that paula is testing! no photos of it, but much easier than the conventional way.

 
if life is just a bowl of cherries, as they say, then life should be very good! we have been eating delicious cherries and youngberries and raspberries from my cousins garden, they are oh so sweet and the flavour compared to the shop ones, there is no comparison.

 
we went and spent a few days down at the 'shack' at orford on the east coast of tasmania. the term 'shack' is the tasmanian way of saying holiday house, it is most comfortable and very peaceful usually, however the new next door neighbour was laying floor boards and even the dog, lucy, was not liking it much!

 

 
decorated with a seaside theme, there is lots of good spaces for inside and outside stitching, hmmmmm a good spot for a sewing weekend or week?????!!!!! there is even a picture of some old bathing beauties!

 
i did say there was a seaside theme!

 
and there was a lot of stitching done, now i am warning you ............ look away if you don't want to see, but lucy decided she wanted to learn a bit of patchwork!!!

 
i did warn you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

then we have celebrated a birthday, deb made a beautiful sponge with fresh raspberries and cream for paula! it is home and on a lettuce diet for me!

 
and now to some of the stitching i have been doing down here in hobart in the last three weeks, apart from the christmas, new year and birthday celebrations and all the eating that has been done.

 
more pineapples and putting them together

 
and a start on another project for the year, spools in blue and white, they are 5 1/2 inch finished blocks and i was doing them all in square and half square triangles, but have now cut a template for the sides and tops to make it quicker!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i will be back, going home tomorrow to my place, always happy to be there, but sad too because am leaving you all down here in hobart town!

the 1st day of a new year

though it is coming to a close, the first day of the new year has been very lazy for me! a lovely calm day, blue skies and sunshine, cups of tea, chatting with family and the callers who came our way!

 
zac and prissy called in for afternoon tea, they spent most of the day eating all the new dandelion flowers that had popped up during the week on the back lawn!

the new chook house in the background has some new inhabitants, but so far they don't know what an egg looks like! thank goodness for the supermarket!

we have been away to the east coast for a few days and this beautiful beach was basically deserted, oh how i wish my legs would carry me on a long walk along the shoreline!

 

and this crazy man also called today, where is he from? what language does he speak? he wore the ear muffs to soften our chatter! but he can't help himself, he still has to make a comment and we all have to listen!

 
someone has to love him and we all do, but he is testing at times, there is two of his species and three of us, and they love to bait us! we are all going for a day trip tomorrow!

i have been doing some stitching and have the lamp set up beside my bed and am off now to do some, the rest of the household have gone to bed, but to early fo me to call it a day.

hopefully this new year will be kind to us all in many ways, but physical and emotional health are the best thing for us all, happy 2011 to you all of you who come my way!

'isn't it enough,

to have sat in the sun,

to have lived,

to have loved,

to have done.'

i will be back soon to show you more of where i am and what i've been doing!