Peachester Quilt Show

On Saturday my Mum, sister Sandra and myself went up to the nearby town of Peachester for their annual Quilt show.

It's the first time I've ever been and I was so impressed with the beauty and quality of the quilts made by the local ladies.

We were greeted with this pretty amazing car cover as you arrive at the old Peachester hall.

Inside there were so many amazing quilts.  Many picture quilts (click on them to make them larger if you like).

This beachy theme was really cute.

I just loved all the images of children playing at the beach.

This was one of my favourites and had a Dutch theme.  The maker of the quilt wanted to make one celebrating her heritage and it was so amazingly well made.

It really was just beautiful.

There was a Christmas section and I loved the following quilt that reminded me of Whoville from The Grinch.

There were so many beautiful, bright quilts including the following butterfly quilt.

This really effective rainbow diamond shape quilt.

Lots of happy flowers.

...and this absolutely HUGE brightly coloured one that my sister described as looking as if a rainbow vomitted on it.  That's in no way a bad comment because she loves colour (you only have to see her house), and this was her favourite quilt.

I also loved the next quilt which was HUGE.  The work that went in to it was amazing.

The detail was extraordinary and and it had embroidery, sequins and other extra bits embellishing it.  Not enough to overpower it, just enough to add to the final effect. 

 

If you love the good old fashioned hexagon, then this quilt was for you.

The centre of each hexagon had a different picture.

I really loved the idea of the next quilt.  It was for a lady's 50th birthday and her friends and family had all written a message on a calico heart.

These were then incorporated into a very special birthday quilt.

Then there was the artwork by some truly talented people.  The following picture of the Glasshouse Mountains was just beautiful.

I also loved the seahorse.

But the following portrait really blew me away.

After looking at all these amazing quilts, it was definately time for a cup of tea.

That's another reason I love country shows like this.  No takeaway cups or teabags here.  It's a huge teapot and proper tea cups when you need a pick me up.

...and of course something a little homemade to go with it too.

I know it's a long post with lots of pictures but I really wanted to share some of these wonderful quilts with you all.

xx Susan

On my hook

No, it's not a fish. Hubby is hopefully catching some of them as I type.

I've had a couple of weeks where it's been difficult to get some really good crochet time in.  Sometimes I've only been able to snatch a few minutes here and there, but I have been making a bit of progress.

I've started on a shell beanie which I saw a picture for.  I don't have a pattern so decided to use just one colour and make it up myself.  Once I get the pattern to how I like it then I'll make it in a nice soft wool, and probably change colours a few times too.  For now I'll just keep tweaking it when I get the chance. 

Hopefully I'll have it right before the end of winter so it won't have to sit in the cupboard for a year until it gets cool enough to wear it again.

Little Miss R has expressed a desire for a pair of fingerless gloves.  While we were in St Lawrence I started on the above pair with the only pattern I had.  I really don't like the pattern so I think I'll be trawling Ravelry and other blogs to see if I can find a good, easy pattern to follow.

The other project I've started recently is a baby wrap.  It's so soft and lovely and I've really enjoying going round and round making this lovely pattern.  I'm about halfway there and will have to decide soon what kind of border I'd like to put around it.

Then I suppose I'll have to find someone who's having a baby so I can give it to them!

I am of course still working on my bedspread project.  I seem to get one hexagon done at a time and then don't get the chance to work on it for a few more days (or weeks).  I'm getting there slowly and am really enjoying the whole process of making these flowery hexagons.

Hope you're all having a great week.

xx Susan

It would seem I'm now 38

On Sunday 20th May, I turned 38.   I'm not feeling older or upset that I'm 38 or anything, in fact it was a bit of an odd day.

Odd in the fact that I ended up having most of the day to myself at home.  That is the rarest of rare things and something I'm always wishing for and when I finally had the chance to enjoy it, I was very lost indeed.

My morning began VERY early.  4.45am to be exact because the UEFA Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich was on. 

I know that I'm doing lots of crafty things these days but that still hasn't dulled my love for sport and the fact that I'll get up at ridiculous times during the night to watch it.

Once the kidlettes were up though it's all about presents and who cares what sport is on.  I got croissants and a cup of tea in bed for breakfast and I also got some fantastic presents.  The books in the above photo is what the kidlettes gave me and I have to admit they chose pretty well didn't they?

Luckily they have a mother that buys her own presents, wraps them up, presents them to her husband and says "this is from the kids."  I don't think I'd get anything otherwise but I'm sure many of you have had the same experience.

My sister gave me some fabulous material and pattens as well as some facial products which I'm loving so much.  How good is a present of fabric really!  I nearly need to buy and wear Poise it's so exciting.

I've also got some other lovely pattern making books as well as some more cotton to finish making my bedspread.  These were Mother's Day presents and not birthday presents though.  One thing I've realised since having children is that Mother's Day here in Australia is usually about a week before my birthday so I get two extra special days within a short amount of time.  It's quite satisfactory I can tell you. :)

When it comes to surprise presents that I don't have to buy and wrap myself, you really can't beat my girl.  She had $5 to spend and went off to the shops with her Nana to buy something special for Mummy. 

In the last couple of years she's bought something herself and she really has delivered.

This year she bought a vanilla candle.  I love candles although I don't use them often in this old house these days.  Vanilla is my favourite scent though so she really chose well on that one.  I did get an empty jar but my girl told me this was to hold bright coloured buttons in. (My buttons are all in old jam or pasta sauce jars).

She also bought some pins for me because I'm doing so much sewing lately.  How sweet and thoughtful is this little girl! (Just for the record..Master M wanted to buy me $5 worth of chocolate.)

Back to my birthday though.  Not long after breaky, hubby announced that he was taking the kidlettes and himself off to my brother's place so they could all go fishing.  They were gone for most of the day which left me with a whole day to myself.

What an absolute joy and how precious is having time like this to myself?  So amazing.

I realise that I am a planner though and I wandered around for a few hours, not being able to settle because I couldn't work out what I wanted to do.  (If he'd given me a day's notice I probably would've had a fantastic day with NO INDECISION at all.)

I was nearly despairing of completely wasting a day, and not just any day but my BIRTHDAY until my sister arrived and gave me the following.....

The Hunger Games book which she had told me about after she saw the movie.  I had never heard of it because I don't watch tv (unless it's sport) and sometimes feel completely disconnected from what's going on in the world. 

It's been YEARS since I went to watch a movie at a cinema and I have no idea what's even on but when Sandy told me about this, I was immediately intrigued by the possibilities of such a situation.

In the end I sat and read it for hours and was a bit peeved when the family came home because it interrupted my reading time.

(It wasn't because they were all covered in mud so needed clothes soaked, they were cold and yelling for a bath, or that they were hungry....as daddy forgot to feed them..... so they were in desperate need of food)  I'd certainly not be peeved about my quiet time being interrupted by that!

Anyway.  The kidlettes are fed and clean, the washing's all done, hubby's home for this week so I get a bit of extra help and I also get a bit more of a chance to crochet a few more rounds and read some more of my book. 

Silver linings indeed.

38 really is starting out pretty good.

xx Susan

P.S. Thanks for the birthday wishes Kylie.  Next time we head that way we'll seriously consider calling into say hello rather than sit in roadworks for that long!  Bloody ridiculous!  Miss you. xxx

St Lawrence

We have just spent the last few days away in the coastal town of St Lawrence.

The kidlettes, my Mum and I left at about 1.30am and arrived about 11.30am, stopping in Rockhampton along the way to drop my Mum at her friend's place for a few days visit.

Once the kidlettes and I had breaky we headed off for the last couple of hours of the drive until we finally arrived to find Lovely Hubby waiting for us.

St Lawrence is a tiny coastal town which sort of defies logic.  In the post war years it was one of the most important towns in the whole of Queensland but now it's mainly known for it's fishing. 

 

There's really not a lot there except a pub (of course), an ancient general store, a post office and the regions council depot.

We really liked it though and got the chance to do quite a bit of exploring around the town and the area.  We stayed with Rob, a friend of Hubby's from work and would really have loved to have gone out in his boat.

There was a bit of a problem with it I think so we'll just have to wait until next time to go out and get a bit of really good fishing in.

 

When the tide's out in some of the local creeks, it really goes out.  You can see from the below picture just how far down the water is.  At high tide it's nearly up to the top of the bank that you can see opposite and the jetty then becomes level because of the blue floats underneath.

 

The kidlettes loved walking through the mangroves on the walkways exploring and just having fun being out and about.

 

Later that afternoon we headed back to the main river as the tide was starting to come in.  It's quite amazing to see it come in as it rushes so quickly and the sand banks are covered in what seems only minutes.  When the tide goes out it's described as someone pulling a plug out of a bath and the water goes down so quickly. 

Rob and Hubby did some fishing near the bridge, the kidlettes were on the lookout for crocodiles and I sat in my chair doing some crochet, watching the kidlettes have fun exploring and just enjoying the beautiful afternoon and sunset.

 

We also did some exploring further up the coast and went into some of the towns I knew about but had never been into.  In the 30 years or so we've been heading to North Queensland for family holidays, we've only ever driven straight past these towns on our way to our destination.

One place we did love was Carmilla Beach.  There's quite a sandy track before you get to the beach so we ended up putting the ute into 4WD as we didn't want to get bogged.

There's quite a few areas along the edge of the beach where you can camp for free for up to 3 nights and lots of people with caravans and camper trailers take advantage of this.

We drove right to the end of the track where no-one was camping as they probably didn't want to drive caravans that far in the sand.  I'm so glad we did continue to explore because we found the perfect spot for camping and all of us want to go back to there.

It's right on the beach so you can fish when the tides in and do plenty of exploring when it's out.  There's also a fantastic creek which would be perfect for putting the crab pots in and all you would have to do is walk down from your camp.  It was awesome!

 

We did some more exploring around the area checking out not only the coast but some of the inland places as well.

It was a really lovely few days and I really wish we had stayed for a bit longer.  We had to pick Mum up from her friend's in Rockhampton though, then we called into see my father-in-law who's living in Mt Larcom at the moment.  The kidlettes hadn't seen Grandad in a couple of months and they were so excited to see him.

With the couple of stops and the ridiculous amount of roadworks along the way (nearly 100km with no break), it ended up being a really long drive home.

If anyone's driving to Rockhampton during the day, add on an extra one and a half to two hours onto your trip because of the roadworks.  As I left early in the morning on the way up we weren't stopped every few kilometres as no one was working at 3-5am but coming home we really should have gone inland through Biloela.  It would've been such a better trip.

Enough of that though, it was a great couple of days and we would love to be heading up that was again soon. 

xx Susan

We're home

We've spent a great deal of time driving in the car but have had a few lovely days away.

I'll tell you more when I'm not so exhausted and I get some photos organised.

xx Susan

We're off....

....for a few days.

We're so looking forward to getting away, doing some fishing, and hopefully getting a chance to relax.

We're NOT taking the camper trailer this time so the weather should be gorgeous.

xx Susan



This week's grocery update..among other things

I knew that I'd be pushing my $80 benchmarch this week as I had a few bulk things to buy but I did come in under budget.....just.

I spent $79.29 all up so fell 71 cents short of my budget so that's really managing it well.

Next week will probably go close to the $80 as well because we're going away for a few days later in the week and will be taking plenty of food with us.

Hubby's not coming home to us but we're going up closer to him for the weekend and staying with friends of his from work who live in a tiny coastal town in the middle of nowhere.  It's near the ocean and the mouth of a river and is known not only for it's fishing but for a place where you can get plenty of mud crabs so we're looking forward to going.

I've been baking and getting things organised for going but I know I'll have to replenish the stocks before we go.  The tangy lemon slice (pictured below) will definately have to be made again. 

It's the first time I've tried it and Little Miss R and I absolutely LOVE it.  It has no chocolate in it so Master M won't go near it of course.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day for us here in Australia so it's family day for us even though Lovely Hubby's not home.  We're having a barbeque breakfast at the bike park which we love going to and it's a double celebration because it's also my Uncle's birthday so we're all looking forward to spending some lovely time together.

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

xx Susan



The joy of a late appointment

Every few weeks Little Miss R has a late afternoon appointment sometime during the week.

If the traffic's good and we're a little early then we head up to Point Cartwright to check out the ocean views.

It's such a gorgeous part of the world and I normally wouldn't see it at this time of day otherwise as we're usually at home.

Last week Lovely Hubby was home on appointment day which meant he could stay with Little Miss R while I took Master M for a short walk to the Mooloolah River.

It was so lovley at this time of day.

The sun was just about set, the lights from the boats and riverside houses were on and it was pleasant to be out in t-shirt and shorts even though winter officially starts in a few weeks.

Moments like this remind me just how lucky we are and what a beautiful place we live in.

xx Susan