Glorious Weekend in old Brisbane.

DH and I had a great weekend. It started with us joining DH's workmates on Friday night to watch the movie 'X-Men - First Class' on the BIG screen at Southbank. The night started with mezza at Ahmets Turkish Restaurant and later coffee and cake at Toscani's. Yum.

Saturday was Open Day at the John Oxley Library, as part of the celebrations for Queensland Day. This part of the State Library deals with everything related to the history and development of Queensland. It has such diverse things as sheet music, maps, advertising posters, family photo albums, tea cups,and paper patterns, as well as books and many other items. We got to see a little of the 'behind the scenes' activity.


Sunday, we ate our way through the artisan cheese stalls at the public day for the Brisbane Cheese Awards at Portside. Again Yum! My diet was on suspension. It was a good day with a large turn out of people. You had to wait in a lot of lines, but they moved quickly and it was fun to talk to the people waiting with you.

There are some truly delicious cheeses being made in Australia. I urge anyone who enjoys their cheese to try them.

This is the first time I can name drop. We got to meet and talk with Will Studd the presenter of 'Cheese Slices'. Ah, the life of middle aged groupies!

Of course, we made purchases. We should be able to string these out just nicely.

Hope everyone had a good one, too.
'Till next time,
Kayly

A Bit D(eep) & M(eaningful)

A little while ago, I had quick tidy up in my sewing area, as you do every so often. I quickly realised I have too much 'stuff', as many of us have. I put myself on the 'wagon' so to speak. No more purchases of fabric or books or patterns! Look, admire but don't buy!
Well I fell off pretty quick.


Anni Downs' new book, 'Some Kind of Wonderful', came out. Everyone was raving about it, and rightly so.
Then Fishpond had a half priced craft book sale. My fingers are itching to get back to crocheting, after doing those scarves for the school's craft stall. The books haven't arrived yet, but the Textile Art Craft Show is on the June long weekend. Some unusual yarn would be nice. ;-)
I'm keeping the economy going and supporting designers and retailers. That's how I justify it.
Now for the D & M bit. I had a bigger clean up and reorganisation this morning. There is not enough time left in my life to do all the things I would like to do. My Mum had a major clean up and out at about the same age. I didn't understand it at the time. I can now. One needs to get rid of all the clutter to see clearly and not just in the physical sense. You have to work out what's important and make life less complicated.

On a much lighter note - my darling hubby makes the best pancakes. He's got that recipe down pat. At last week's Farmers Market, we got some fresh raspberries. This was breakfast. Yummo!


We also bought these heritage tomatoes - green stripy ones and a pink ones. They tastes like real tomatoes!



I can't get over the fact that it is June already. Another year flying by. I really want time to slow down!

'Till next time.
Take care everybody,
Kayly

OPAM - Not This Month

I've been busy working on my projects, but there won't be a finish for OPAM (One Project A Month) this month.I'm slowly getting my Nundle embroidery done.

Also working on the quilting of this single bed quilt for my grandniece Miss A. Only the binding to go now.


I love the frogs. I only just made it with the backing. I thought I had bought enough, but only had just inches to spare. I'm hoping to make pillow cases to go with it. I need to give myself a deadline!
Have a good weekend everyone,
Kayly

In My Garden....

Haven't done one of these for awhile.


I don't usually pick flowers from my garden, but I was glad I took this orchid upstairs. There was a hungry looking insect on it when I cut the flower off. That insect would have made short work of this beautiful flower. Later in the day, very heavy rain fell for some time and that would have ruined it also.
So now I can enjoy it a bit longer.

Take care,
Kayly

Sydney Get Away

Talk about slack - not blogging.

The weekend before last I went down to visit a friend in Sydney. J moved down there 10 years ago and our little group has been visiting once a year for most years.


This year we went to 2 new places - Cronulla for brunch and Newtown.


Cronulla was beautiful. We also went to the nearby Botany Bay National Park. Fabulous view, even if the kookaburras were eyeing us off for something to eat. These three were right above us and at least 4 others were in the next tree.


Newtown was very interesting. The area is going through a revival - a bit bohemian and arty. The main street is lined with buildings mainly from the 1870s to 1890s and then some Art Deco ones.


This garage has been very well maintained.


The only crafty thing I did was go to this Newtown shop - All Buttons Great and Small.
It was fascinating. Check out the door knob. I only wish I had had a project to buy for. If you ever want a button and you are anywhere near Sydney, go there. They also do mail order. Must remember that. Under the glass front counter were beautiful rare 'art' buttons.

This last week I have been working on quilting a single bed quilt for my Miss A - my grandneice. Nearly there, but I don't think I'll have a finish for May for OPAM unless I stop typing and start stitching.
So see you later and take care,
Kayly

Caravans and Pumpkins.

Hubbie's sister and her husband have joined a vintage caravan club. Until recently they went away with the group in their modern van, but they had to park it away from the vintage ones!


They now have their own and it is a beauty! It is a rare 'Kennedy' produced in Victoria in 1969. Okay, so unlike their modern van, it does not have air-conditioning or an ensuite, but it is so roomy. It is in wonderful condition. My SIL has made new curtains and has bought a china electric jug with an orange lid, perfectly matching the interior. My BIL is working on his American pick-up, circa 1956. It's curvy, just like the van. Evidently they have to match.

As it was in its shed, this was the best photo I could get.


My SIL grows pumpkins, They are perfect examples of the butternut variety.


In everything but the size!!!!!!

'Til next time,
Kayly

Gardening and Applique.

We had a great week-end. Hubbie and I were able to tick off several things on our to-do list and have some time to relax doing our own thing.

We have been working on renovating our side garden since before Christmas. After years of drought our weather has turned the other way completely. The ground has been so boggy that we have only recently been able to get back to the work. Boggy surprises me as we live on a sloping block of land. Of course, we lived up to our usual standard - it rained while we worked.This is the nearly finished photo. I have to repot the bromeliads and work out their final placement.

WARNING: People who can really do needle turn applique look away now.



I had my very first go at needle turn applique. It was on the Anni Downs project from my day out in Nundle. I survived and have not thrown it in the bin. I actually liked doing it.

This is me - a picture of concentration!


Two more bits to do, then to finish the embroidery. It will end up being a small wall hanging and I have just the spot for it.

I had fun today at our 'Kitchen Table' craft group. I played with new born twins. One of our group became a grandmother last week and the new babies came for a visit. Beautiful! Not to be outdone another member welcomed her 7th step-grandchild. I'm the only non-grandmother there, but I'm NOT in any rush to join them. LOL.

See you later,
Kayly