Our Time in Townsville ...

This is a post I started in February ... and ... here it is June ... this is one of the drafts I had sitting to be finished .. so I will do just that .. I have not actually posted too many entries at all this year ... which is really not very good at all ... and some of this is really old news ... but must have seemed important at the time .. so I will post it now and get it out of the drafts ... there are a few more in there too waiting to be finished ...

Anyway ....  I will post this as I wrote it back then ... 

What glorious weather we have been having here ... no 'big wet' this year ... woohoo .... not sure if the farmers will agree with me or not .. but I am happy enough the way things are at the moment ..

I have been doing some sewing and I have been having a wonderful time staying with my son and his family ... 

We are just south of Townsville at a little place called
Alligator Creek .. 

our bus parked in the front yard

and we are having a fantastic time ... just sitting around ..... swimming in the pool with the granddaughters ...
and generally doing a lot of very little ...

our BB

 and Shyanne

and let's not forget Poppy along with Bingo & Missy .. 

both dogs wishing they were allowed in the pool 

... can you see Poppy in the corner of the pool ??? ...

he is only just visible .. maybe he is camera shy .. haha

life really does not get too much better than this ...

I did sign up for a couple of mug rug swaps

I did one for a new year swap .. basically the theme was ... My New Year .. and as we were going to be travelling this year I came up with this idea ...

I also did this one .. and in case you are not sure .. it was for St Patrick's day ..

I had to upgrade my camera as well .. my old one was giving me very poor picture quality .. I will miss its simplicity though as the new one is a digital SLR and quite a different camera to use ... mind you if I set it to auto it is sooooooooooo much easier to use ... haha ... one day I will get used to it ...

I am no photographer .. never really aspired to be one either ... my daughter, my niece and my sister are all very good photographers .. but me ... no so ... but as I was wondering around my sons property .. playing with my new toy taking photos of different flowers and plants .. more for focus practice than anything else ... I got this shot ... and didn't even realise it until I was sorting through them on my computer ..

. this rather large bumble bee must have popped in and out of that flower while I was trying to work out which buttons to push ... because I honestly didn't see it in the flower ...

that was some of the time we spent there ...

and to finish off this post .... my precious grand daughters .. 

 Nanni misses you so much it hurts ...

Last Friday night ...

Last Friday night I had a long night cutting and sewing and ironing ... it was a great night .. I would have posted all this sooner but I have had Internet connection issues .. One day the teleco's may give the country folk what the city folk have .. but that is not going to happen soon .. so we just grin and bear it ... 

 I am still having a few hic-cups with it today and hopefully I will get this entry done and posted before it becomes 'old news'

I actually wrote this yesterday, Saturday ... 

Anyhow as many of you know there is a website that does a FNSI (Friday Night Sew-In) where you go in and sign up to play ... and then you do a blog post about your nights stitching and link to her site ... but the only problem I have with it is ... it is the 3rd Friday of the month and I don't always remember it .... So I want to try to make every Friday night a sew-in night at my place that way I may remember to join in the fun on Heidi's site as well ..

Living here in the bus at the kids place certainly does have its advantages ... I don't have to cook for us ... therefore .... I don't waste precious time feeding hubby when I want to sew ... at dinner time I just go over to the house ... strap on the feed bag ... and when done .. leave .. oh .. I do help load the dishwasher if I can get into the kitchen .... Most days I shower early in the afternoon .. about 3:30 when Katie is off picking up the boys from school ... so on the nights I want to sew I shower then I go over to the bus and set up for the night ... all my tubs of fabric are currently on the veranda of the house .. so I have to go digging for what I need for the night in the afternoon .. or I end up .. like I did last Friday night at 11 o'clock creeping around in the dark with a torch finding my applique interfacing .. haha ..

I made a couple of mug rugs .. from a swap that I didn't get into .. the theme was ... when I was young ... I had bought some Dick and Dora fabric off eBay but it did not arrive in time for the swap ... and I sooo wanted to make these ... cos I just loved those readers when I was in my early years of school ... now the kids would laugh at them ... too corny for them .. haha ..

Anyway ... I got 2 finished and one almost done ...

I was having a problem finding the 'right' fabric for the binding .... but located some this afternoon .. so the last one should be finished off soon .. and then these will go into the little box I have .. for giving away later ...

I also finished off a pot mit ... and have another one that just needs the binding put on

oh ... and I have another 4 waiting to be quilted .. they are sandwiched but waiting .. I like this one ... will be very handy in the kitchen me thinks ... 

I have a baby quilt I started a while back .. I did a bit of blanket stitching around the applique parts .. well I tried to .. not sure if it was the fabric or the machine but it would not play nice at all .. so I got the interfacing and spent a heap of time cutting and iron that on to the back of the top ... hopefully that will help and I can get this little cutie finished off ... I have no one to give it to as it is pink ... but I am sure someone someday will have a pink baby that I can pass it along to .. hopefully it won't be a great grand baby just yet ....

I think that is all that I have been playing with ... I am pleased with what I have done so far ...

Let’s see what this coming month will produce .... Hopefully more blog posts than last month ... haha ..

And my little Bingo seems to rather enjoy this bus life too ... she is making the most of being allowed inside thru the day ... cos it is raining today ...

Did I mention how much I love my DIL for looking after us so well ... 

both her and my boy are very special to me ...

Livin' in a bus .. ain't that bad ...

I am quite loving it really ... sure it has its ups and downs .. but on the whole ... it is really wonderful .. 

Currently we are visiting with our son and his wife and children ... all four gorgeous boys ... the 3 younger ones love nothing more than to spend their weekend on my bed playing 'playstation' with Poppy ... 

Lookout ... Chance seems to be beating Poppy ... 

 and the young fella does looked real pleased with himself ...
Cameron and Barak are sitting waiting for the inevitable ...

And it just happened ... 

 Watch Out Chance ...   Poppy don't play fair ... He don't care that you are only 4 ... 

He WILL kill you so that he can win ... He has no conscience ... 

Yes Chance .... Poppy is a really mean old man ... 

and he will not apologise .. even if you cry ... and thinks nothing of arguing with a 4 year old either ... 

mean old Poppy ... 

and now there is a winner the older boys seem to have totally lost interest in the whole game ... 

 and underneath all those bodies is my bed ... 

I may be able to fix it later when I need to go to bed ... maybe ....

And while the boys and the mean old man are in the bedroom ... killing my bed .... I am at the other end of the bus ... sewing ... I have my 'sewing room' set up ... everything has its place .. and I love it ... 

The ironing and pressing of blocks gets done here ... 

on my sewing board .. over the sink ... 

what do you think of that ... great hey?? ... 

 The cutting board lives here ... with my sweet Kevin over seeing things ... and if you look to the left of him you will see my little friend 'Chookie' ... the sweet Fiona made her for me when we left Toowoomba ... she keeps Kev company and makes sure he does not wander off too far ... 

The cutting board had to have a few minor tweaks to get it to fit on the countertop ... points cut off the corners and just a wee little notch in the centre so that it would fit around the wall paneling .. 

 and the beautiful machine ... well she lives here ... on my foldaway table ... this is the heart and soul of the sewing room ... 

and hanging just above it is my humming bird ... a very lovely gift from the very lovely Maddy .. 

Behind me on the other counter top is all the fabric and bits and bobs that get used ... 

And it is when it looks like this .. I really want to sew but I just stop and look at it for a while ... have a cuppa and take in the beauty of it all ... cos I know as soon as I pull out the fabric ... it won't look like this for very long ... it will look like all your rooms do .... a glorious mess ..... with good things happening ... 

I made this last week .. for my DIL's sister ... her baby is due in about 6 weeks ... she is having a little boy ... it was not a full size cot quilt as she really wanted something for a basket .. it measured 30 x 34 inches ... and the machine embroidery blocks were a gift from a friend who owns this site ... http://www.nanasweightedblankets.com.au/ 

Actually this looks a little purplish in this shot .. but it is a real royal blue ... 

And this was a prize that I won doing a Mystery Quilt from Here!!

I guessed the name of the block and had my quilt finished before anyone else ... woohoo .... 

I am guessing the little dragonfly was just a little extra something for Me !!! ...

a close up of the little dragonfly ...

Too cute ..

This is the Mystery Quilt ... 

As today is a Monday ... the big boys are all at school .. 

so this is what my bedroom generally looks like ... this is an old photo .. would take another one right now of the same scene .. but my battery is flat ... but they are in there again ... saving the world from the bad guys ... oh ... and arguing like a couple of school kids ... 

love my family ... love my life ... 

on the road again ...

Yes I know ... it has been months .... but in my defence I have been busy ... and I have started a couple of blog posts but never got them finished ... 

I have been doing a bit of sewing and promise to show you some photos soon ... but for now ... 

We are on the move again ... we left Townsville yesterday and are currently heading south ... we have stopped for a couple of nights at a lovely little caravan park just north of Mackay .... in the north of Queensland ... the park is called The Jollymont ... sounds great doesn't it ... we are just relaxing and having a nice time ... 

There are sugar cane fields all around us here ... 

we stayed here on our way north and the sugar cane was so short back then .... 

Today it is much taller and the trees have leaves and there is also lovely soft green grass underfoot ... 

oh yes ... and we also have neighbours tonight too ... 

This afternoon ... we had lunch and then had a lay down and watched a movie ... nice and relaxing ... but when i got up i saw that the bus door was open .. only about 6 inches mind you ... but enough for something or someone to escape .... 

My little gnome ... Kevin had gotten out of the bus and had run off .... now this is so out of character for him ... he usually just loves to sit on the countertop and watch me sew ...

I had no idea why he would run away from home ... 

Marcos said he had a pretty good idea where he might be ... so we went off in search of our escapee ... 

And Kevin was right where Marcos thought he would be .... 

check it out .... her name is Kevina ... 

she has gnome-morals ... 

well maybe a few ... 

but they are a bit on the loose side ... if you know what I mean ...

Now just as Marcos was about to pick him up and bring him home .. Kevin took off running ... down the garden path .... he was like a gnome possessed .. 

We followed him down that horrid little path ... and we got such a terrible shock ... all these little guys in this next photo ... had also be lured into the garden by this Jezabel of a gnomette ... but unlike our little Kevin their people did not know where to look for them ... so now all these little guys are just stuck here ... up the garden path ... 

hoping that one day ... their people will come back .. and rescue them ...

This little fellow ... who was also called Kevin had been there so long his lovely colours had started to fade and he was so unhappy all the colour had left his cute little face too .... 

most upsetting I can tell you ... 

Marcos gave our Kevin a very harsh talking to .. 

and our little fellow promised never to be lured away again ... 

even if she did have her very own swimming pool ..... 

and was very pretty .... 

and did not need to wear a bra ... 

because her boobs were very very perky .... 

KEVIN !!!!!!!!!! ... 

go to your room .... !!!!!!!!!!!

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 ....

\

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 ... 

So going to make this ......

it is not quilt related ... but gee it sounds like it could be a lot of fun....


from a friend.. 


CHRISTMAS CAKE RECIPE..

Once again this year, I've had requests for my Vodka Christmas Cake recipe so here goes. 

Please keep in your files as I am beginning to get tired of typing this up every year!

(Made mine this morning!!!!) 

1 cup sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 cup water, 1 tsp. salt , 1 cup brown sugar, Lemon juice, 4 large eggs, Nuts, 1......bottle Vodka, 2 cups dried fruit.

Sample a cup of Vodka to check quality. 

Take a large bowl, check the Vodka again to be sure it is of the highest quality then Repeat. 

Turn on the electric mixer. 

Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. 

Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Beat again. 
At this point, it is best to make sure the Vodka is still OK. Try another cup just in case. 

Turn off the mixerer thingy. 

Break 2 eegs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Pick the fruit up off the floor, wash it and put it in the bowl a piece at a time trying to count it.

Mix on the turner. If the fried druit getas stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a drewscriver 

Sample the Vodka to test for tonsisticity. 

Next, sift 2 cups of salt, or something. 

Check the Vodka.

Now shit shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. 

Add one table. 

Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find. 

Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. 

Don't forget to beat off the turner. 

Finally, throw the bowl through the window. Finish the Vodka and wipe the counter with the cat.



now doesn't this sound like it could be a blast to make .... LoL