Oh my ... Where so I start ...

We left Toowoomba one week later than we originally planned too, as our bus was going to take a wee bit longer than the mechanic thought ... so on the 12th October when we finally handed in our house keys to the real estate to climb into our bus and head off into our first sunset .... our bus was still nowhere to be seen ... still in the repair shop .... and us with a heap of stuff to go into a bus .. and nowhere to live ... oh my .... 55 years old and homeless .... well not entirely ... we had the choice of being homeless or moving in with our kids .... Thank God my son loves his mum and dad .... he arrived at our Toowoomba house early in the morning with their 2nd eldest boy and his ute and trailer ... and between them they loaded all my worldly possessions into their vehicle .. tied it down and hugged me and set off for the 4 hour drive to their place ... we didn't get there until close on 9pm .. and his wife had a meal sitting there waiting for us ... how blessed am I ...

bit of a role reversal really .... the kids are usually the ones to return home .... haha ...

now to try to condense this a little ... the bus we own is old .. very old ... but we both fell in love with it when we saw it ..... but being old .. parts are not so easily found ... and the chap who was fixing her found heaps wrong with her .. cos she is rather old .. and possibly not been as loved as much as we love her ... and so the last people who owned her didn't really fix her or even tell us that she was in need of so much TLC ... and so many $$$$$ .... haha

so far she has had major overhaul of her brakes .. which is good cos we do need them to work for obvious reasons ... and the springs that work as suspension needed to be pulled off and replaced ... or repaired ... and that took ages to do cos they ended up getting repaired ... big job and there is only one place in Queensland actually doing the work these days ... just about everything but the motor and gearbox has been pulled out and has either been replaced or repaired ..... oh my aching pocket .... lol

the gas tank needed changing .. big story there .. and way too convoluted to try to put into words so let's just say that was done and took around 5 weeks to find a gas tank for her .. and the last thing that is stopping her from coming home is her wheel bearings ... they needed to replace 6 of them ... and could only find 5 here in Australia ... the number 6 one is coming from the UK ... it was supposed to be here monday 2 weeks ago .. but somehow has not arrived yet ... maybe it is on a slow boat ... having a wonderful time sitting by a swimming pool sipping on iced tea and getting a tan ... who knows ... the chap fixing the old girl has no idea ... and nor do we ... but once it arrives it will take them half a day to put her all back together and tidy up a couple of bits and we can go get her ...  pack all our stuff on board and get on down the road  ...

we have been here at my sons place for 7+ weeks now ... and i love my son and his wife and their children ... but i also love my life and want it back ...

i have been able to do a little sewing over the past couple of weeks but it is not my home so i don't want to make things too difficult for the DIL as she has her life and her way of doing things which sort of differ from mine in some ways ... and i would like to continue to be on friendly terms with her in the future .... which means i really need to get my home here ... and here fast ....

Photos of what i have been doing ....

a table topper and 2 placemats for the bus ... 

4 Christmas Coasters that i am sending to a friend

a Christmas potmit for a friend

another Christmas Mug Rug for a Swap .. 

 A 'silhoutte' themed MugRug for a swap ... 

these are MugRugs I received in the above swaps ... 

this one from Karen .... who lives in Boronia Heights here in Qland 

and this is my Silhoutte one from Jen in Pennsylvania ... can you spot the love in this one .. 

 This is the Owl Quilt Maddy and I made ages ago at her house when we had a playdate and i had a sleepover ... it was such a fun weekend ... would love to do it again .... i am not sure if i have already posted these pics or not ... sorry for the repeat if I have ... 

and also photos of the cushion I received from the QBSA cushion swap ... 

and with everything that has been going on i was unable to complete my part of this cushion swap ... but darling Sue B said she would do it for me ... so i sent off the fabric i had for Pat's cushion and Sue made the cushion cover and sent it off to the US ...

and Sue had also made me a cushion like the one she made for my partner ... apparently I sent enough fabric for 2 .... and this is what Sue made for us ... Isn't she a sweet and generous lady ... what a great friend i have ... mine is just a bit different to Pat's .... mainly just the outside border .... I do love this cushion ... 

Couple of late blocks arriving from Margaret T who lives in Denham Springs in the States .. 

thank you Margaret .. they are perfect .. 

and ... a block each from 2 angels ... I am blessed ....

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i really have to start posting more often ... haha ... this is such a enormous post .. sorry about that ... but i hope you enjoyed the read .... maybe i should have started out with .... grab a cuppa cos you are going to be here awhile ... ..... 

thanks for popping in ...