back home again

g'day
came home late last night, my eldest & hubby are here to spend the weekend too. 
we had a wonderful christmas with all my children together again, (sorry forgot to take photos!) everyone contributed to food, middle daughters hubby even made delicious fruit mince pies! the day was enjoyed by all.

we're in for a scorcher this weekend, though there looks to be storms on the horizons, some good drenching rain just might cool things off here. i don't have air conditioning here so the eldest & hubby are literally dying in the heat, (SiL has gone to lay down in the car so he can have air con)

anyway, here's hoping you all have a safe & happy new year 




thanx for visiting 

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

am off to spend christmas with my eldest again this year, she is having it at her place with all the family pitching in, will be down there for a week, coming back just after new year. 

hope all my bloggers have a wonderful safe christmas & a happy new year, look forward to reading you all again in 2017

i will leave you with some xmas cheer

thanx for visiting

't'is the silly season yet again ...

well it's that time of year again when the people go mad vying for parking spots at the shopping centres & running around grabbing last minute presents. total mayhem. 

this year my children are doing secret santa to a list of choices which is a sensible idea if there must be presents, i prefer hand made if possible or just a lovely get together with family. 

i have been been making some small items for family, friends & neighbours in the way of dish cloths, everyone is getting a Bavarian dish cloth, simple & usable. i tend to make things all year to give away it's just how i do things.

anyway here's a stack of cloths i managed to finish & am now starting some black & coloured ones for the men to which will be added some lovely shaving soap from Eight Acres 


                                          

these are so easy & quick to whip up that i'll do a few more after xmas for our market stall when it starts up again in the new year.

hope everyone is keeping cool here in Australia as we struggle through these heatwaves, hope all my American readers are staying warm & cozy as the snow starts to fall

thanx for visiting

shivering after the heat

i call this a Flame Flower, no idea it's proper name, it's the 1st time it's flowered since i bought it home from the shop over 10 yrs ago

have you ever seen a flower on a Dumb Cane? i never have

it's actually darker than this, nice rustic maroon Day Lily

Caper Butterflies were everywhere last week, quite a few hundred

it got quite hot here last week, up in the low 40s, 39.7'c in my kitchen was the hottest day, the others were 37'c 38 & 39. barely a storm or shower

today & yesterday we are nearly freezing, overnight it was 14'c & a cool 23'c during the day, been getting around in my woollies again! crazy weather!

are the seasons as strange in your area too? 

keep warm or stay cool in your neck of the woods

thanx for visiting

help with gifts

reading Jenny's blog i came across another one she has linked to, there are some wonderful ideas there 

Designs By Fee  this page is no longer available

she has lots of free tutorials past & for the future 

grab a cuppa & have a browse 


thanx for visiting 

potterings in my day ...

have been doing some knitting, teapot cosies mostly, also a little crochet & a spot of sewing. 
gardening too ... inbetween





 a cosy for me & one for a friend

Bavarian dish cloths

getting a start on my sons jumper, knitting it on circulars & doing both back & front at same time

& finally finished that bath mat i started way back when ... 

well hope everyone is having a good week & are able to potter around too

thanx for visiting

flowering beauty

g'day 

here's the much anticipated buds in bloom ...

though my camera doesn't do it justice & they are actually a lovely red not orange

thanx for visiting

around my garden ...

the last 2-3 days the weather has been cool here, lots of rain which is unusual, before the cool, we had warm humid days, it has set nature off a little & the rest of us is just a tad confused?

gardens seem to be always a w.i.p. no matter what the season

thought i'd share a few photos, these are taken with my phone camera

Pink Pelargonium

Shasta Daisy

Lavender

Violas

Red Hippeastrum soon to flower

Beautiful Freesias

pink geranium with coriander & feverfew

late flowering Clivia

bird bath in amongst the flowers

Dianthus enjoying lettuce company

African Daisy sheltering the Herb Robert

not a lot going on out the front but hoping to improve it with more flowers in near future. 

hope everyone is having a good week

thanx for visiting

Getting new Sparks firing in the Brain ... Learning Something New

g'day folks

Monday just gone i went to our local craft group here, haven't been in many years, went when i first moved here. not as many people as i remember being in the group but very pleasant company.
i took along my little bits of crochet, making granny squares out of left over balls of yarn, got a few of those done but was really hoping that my neighbour was there who told me about the group & that she was teaching crochet to a few of the ladies, well, i've seen some of her crochet items & they are breathtaking to say the least, gorgeous cabled blankets, geometric throws, flowers of every type throw, she is a very advanced crocheter. she had a dentist appointment Monday, mmm, felt a little disappointed as i really wanted to learn something new in crochet, don't get me wrong, i love the humble granny & you can do a lot with it. 
anyway about half the morning had disappeared, so i asked one of the other ladies there who was making an afghan of unusual design, would she show me how to do that stitch she was making, i was in luck, she did... 

& i learned to do 

Bavarian Crochet   

this was my 2nd attempt after i came home, my 1st attempt was okay but i missed the bit where i had to put the 'fan' into the tiny hole at the top of the 'clusters',  have been enjoying doing a few rows every morning. 
with learning this stitch my head hurt terribly but not in the usual headache style way, i was learning several techniques that i had never heard of before, clusters, fans & post stitch, now, most of you experienced crocheters probably know the stitches by different names, that's okay, i call them as i see them plus that's what my teacher was referring to them as.
when i came home i took a break for a few hours to let my mind process the lesson, then i started again, my mind was a lot more relaxed. 
it was probably those neurons i hear so much about, the ones that need new things to learn to fire up & make new ones? or something similar, who knows but learning something new is extremely satisfying! 

so, i sat with my tea & crocheted some more today 

don't often bring out the delicate cups & saucers ...


have you challenged yourself lately? learned a new skill or something new in your preferred skill? it can be very exciting! give it a go & see where it leads you. 
i might try to learn something new in crochet once a month to start with ... 

thanx for visiting 

Tassie in a Flash

it's been awhile since i've been here

been to tassie & back (in February). a week just isn't long enough, even though i was happy to be home again. there was so much to see & do down in tas, my sister had put so many venues in, that some are just a blur ...
botanical gardens, Unzoo, Port Arthur & ghost tour, this was done over 2 days,  Female Factory, brewery, Tahune AirWalk, just to name a few, think we had 2 or 3 places in a day?

the weather stayed perfect the whole time we were down there, rained on the sunday before we came home.
we ate apples off trees on the side of the road, the flavour was insane! her backyard had ripe nectarines & yellow sweet plums to pick & eat & no fear of fruit fly! wish i could grow stone fruits. 
am still waiting on photos from my eldest but do have a few i can share in the meantime. my phone camera was very temperamental & a lot of photos i took were just a black screen. 

enjoying lavender icecream

behind bars

made it to the top of the Shot Tower

Mount Wellington

Bishops cottage & then later the post office 

the cathedral Port Arthur

Trentham Cottage

                                                                           

this is all that i'll put here for the moment, we had a wonderful time in Tassie & will have to do it again.

hope everyone is safe & well

thanx for visiting

an amazing view

g'day
am totally slack with my blog of late but found this link on another blog & thought it well worth the post, we live on an amazing planet & these are seen from space

enjoy

Tim Peake British ESA astronaut and test pilot. Part of Expedition 46/47 on the International Space Station, launched 15 December 2015.

in DTE weekend reading

well i was totally blown away this morning when i went in to read Rhonda's weekend reading & found a link to my blog, gosh i felt like i just won lotto!  

Down to Earth

i want to thank Rhonda for giving me a mention & to all who come to have a peak at my little blog &  apologize that there's been no new posts since before my Tasman trip.

please enjoy your stay 

thanx for visiting