First few weeks of April

Wow what a start to April!

Following the traumas of the rainy drive to Underhill I decided that as my Renault was 10 years old it was time for a change so Kim and I set off together to choose a new one - a Hyundai Tucson (white).

A beautiful Australian Blue-banded Bee seen on the way to Pilates.

 On Friday I was in the city all day with Robyn at the QuiltNSW Friday Showcase then the St Stephens Friday Lunchtime Concert. I then met Ellen for dinner and we went to see West Side Story (my Christmas and birthday present from her). It was an outdoor show and we had rain until the show started so had to buy a protective poncho each. We did look a treat. The rain stopped as the show began and we were blessed with a starry night and city lights as the backdrop.

On Saturday I as back in the city to meet Kerrie for our catch-up day. This time a walk through the Botanic Gardens to three art exhibitions - Botanica, Margaret Flockton Competition and the Marijka Greenway "Tree Whispering" exhibition. We then wandered slowly back through the gardens while I pointed out various bits significant in my life to Kerrie.

We lunched at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant.

Then headed to the Calyx to meander through the Insectivorous Plants display. These photos are worth clicking on and seeing at higher resolution. The plants are stunning.

I left Kerrie to wend her way back to Springwood, spent some time in Grill'd having an early dinner and marking up my music, then headed for St Mary's Cathedral to meet up with Alastair for our performance of Stainer's Crucifixion. The light of the setting sun was wonderful on the cathedral west wall.

Prizes for those who can find me and Alastair.

Sunday was church choir as normal at St Stephens and lunch at Mum's.

Monday I had the girls for the day and had loads of fun and activity with them.

Today I collect my new car.

Raining at Underhill

A one day trip to Underhill last Saturday in heavy rain brought some challenges for me. My wipers gave out completely about half way down. Luckily it was fine the whole way back.

At Underhill it was mostly fine but we were able to see where the run-off was channelling so spent most of the day making barriers to slow the run off or making drains to direct the run off away from the sheds.

It was really cold when we arrived and we found beanies for the girls.

The girls had a great time because they were allowed to "help" make rivers and turn on taps to test the rivers. They got all muddy.

Mind you some of the adults also got quite muddy. Geoff cleaned out the little drain we'd made some months ago. It is working really well. Note the green above the drain and the brown below.

I built a little step into the shed from pavers we'd scrounged some time ago and had stockpiled for the purpose. Hopefully this deflects the water from our shed and moves it along to the drains we've made.

Greg and Ev had brought down a birthday cake for Greg and I to share so the girls thought that was great fun.

At lunch time Nathan and Karita arrived so we were quite a joyous crowd around the table.

Greg was able to photograph this beautiful spider too.

After much tyre kicking by the three fellows that were there and later discussions via email I have decided it is time to buy a new car so that is this week's project.

Memories of Japan

At last I've finished the final quilt in my Memories of Japan Quilt Collection thanks to the inspiration and time of two sewing nights on my recent quilting trip to the south coast with QuiltNSW.

I've put the whole story up on this blog in the Memories of Japan Quilt Collection tab.

A great quilting weekend

Quilt NSW organises an away weekend each year or so and this year our trip was to Berry and Nowra.

Friday
I was picked up by Robyn and Geoff to get to Hurstville station in plenty of time for the 9:45 south coast train. We met up with lots of others at the station and then on the train.

Our bus and driver Ben from the Berry Bus Service who drove all 46 of us to the Nowra Quest Motel where we settled into our rooms and had lunch.

Back on the bus to drive to Meroogal, an old home now owned by the Sydney Living Museums. We had a private tour of the current art exhibition which reflected the home and the people who lived there. Did you know that this house was home to four generations of women! It sounds a little like the Norwegian Bachelor Farmers of Lake Wobegon.

One of the art exhibits - a baby's bonnet made from tea bags and decorated with natural materials.

To enter the house we all had to either remove our shoes or wear shoe cover-ups. Guess which I chose.

Back on the bus to the Quilting Patch in South Nowra for a bit of retail therapy for those who needed it. What a pity this has such a small sign and set back off the main road. I've never seen it before even though I've had many shopping trips to Bunnings just over the road.

When we were dropped back at the motel Robyn and I went for a walk around the pond in the park across the road to get a bit of blood flowing then back to prepare for dinner at 6pm.

After dinner we all gathered in the conference room to sew and chat with dessert and tea until eventually retired to bed by about 10pm. What a happy crowd this was and an opportunity to be inspired by the work of others and to chat about options for my own project.

Saturday
Up for my toast and coffee soon after 6am. We met the bus at 8am and travelled to Berry where we had breakfast at the Fig Tree Cafe at about 9am. Far too late for me but a good time for Second Breakfast.

We then had free shopping time at the Berry Quilt & Co where we each had a $20 credit as a way of reimbursing fees. I bought thread and a few tools and only spent about $8. Robyn and I went shopping for clothes and browsing the town. I spent much more there.

Off to the Uniting Church hall for our meeting and show and tell at which I showed my chook quilt and told the story behind it.

One of the other ones that I was inspired by was a decorated vintage embroidered tablecloth. It has given me some ideas for the doily quilt I am planning.

The Berry Quilters group put on a fabulous lunch and we had a talk by Denise Griffiths about how she does her stunning Australian Native quilts.

As Robyn and I had already browsed I had a bit of an empty afternoon wandering Berry again then sitting under a tree chatting to others before the bus collected us for our return to Nowra.

Dinner at 6pm again then a sewing supper at which I finished the "boro" work on my last little Japanese quilt. I am now almost happy to call it finished. Just the binding to go.

Sunday
Our first journey of the day was a bus trip to Bundanon, the Arthur Boyd home out of Nowra. The drive out was narrow and windy and the last 5km were a gravel surface. It is definitely only a single lane drive with pull-offs for passing. Once at the house we split into three groups and had a guide show us inside (with lots of artworks by the Boyd family). Again it was a shoes off house.

I loved the detail of this painting done on a Eucalyptus leaf.

There were kangaroos lounging on the grass in the paddocks as it was such an overcast and drizzly morning.

We were then taken to the studio kept as it was left. A lovely wooden structure with lots of light.

Our trip out of Bundanon was a little scary even for Ben, our driver from Berry Bus Service. The road had become a little slippery in the wet and we had to manoeuvre around 4 cars on their way in. But we made it to the top thanks to Ben's driving.

Our next stop was back in Nowra to see the quilt show. I was interested in the way this quilt used scraps. We had lunch there too.

Then back to the Uniting Church Hall in Berry to have a talk by Carolyn Collins about dying and printing on fabrics using leaves and other plant bits and pieces. This was extremely interesting and I am inspired. I especially liked the printing on paper option.

Because the busses were replacing trains from Berry to Kiama our driver Ben offered to drive us straight to Kiama instead of to Berry Station. We were so glad as by this time it was teaming with heavy rain. This meant we got a train from Kiama an hour earlier and home to our own beds at a really good time.

In all a great weekend. Thanks Megan for your superb organisation.

Hard Work with Kim

Over the last few weeks Kim has visited and we've made huge strides in small areas.

First we tackled the garden shed. Anne had given me her old carpet so everything had to come out so the new carpet could be laid. Now I can get in to all the cupboards. We even threw out lots of stuff.

The next job was the pantry which I have not been able to walk right into for ages. Now it is a clear run and everything has its place again.

In the process there were lots of things to come out permanently. If anyone would like any of these before they go into the bin then please let me know. All the containers have lids.

Then we put together the old cot that Geoff and Jen had borrowed. It is now in use as a seat/small bed in the girl's room. It was Surrey's cot when he was born and lasted him until he was about 4 years old. Then Ellen and Geoff used it when they were small. It is now nearly on its last legs but has a bit of use in it still.

I really feel I am getting on top of things that either need two sets of hands or a tall helper. Thank you Kim.

Who would be a farmer!

Don't count your harvest before it is in.

At Underhill in the last week or so we've had huge winds which not only blew off the fruit from our trees but also blew two over. Here is our harvest... 2 Cox's Orange Pippin apples, 5 quince, 6 Golden Delicious apples, 3 Greengage plums, a handful of damsons, some tiny potatoes that I have brought home to plant and 6 peaches.

 We arrived to find our peach split and over and only 6 peaches left to pick.

One of our apples was over but it had been suffering from termite infestation for some years.

Geoff christened his new stove and now knows what steps to take next. It worked really well and boiled our kettle. The only problem was putting it out when we were leaving as it has no doors and dampers to shut it down yet.

Heather and Ponyo came and we had fun together but Heather was a little scared of Ponyo who immediately had a swim then rolled in the dirt and ran around like a mad thing.

 

Apart from picking the almost non-existent harvest our plan was to twist the bottom tank so that it could be easily joined to the next tank up and water from both used for drip watering the fruit trees. First the task of emptying the last of the water out of the tank so Geoff had to lift it with a jack. That meant we could also get a round pole through under it to roll it on once the water was gone.

Now the two tanks are coupled and attached to the watering system which we checked actually worked.

Because of the 90mm of rain in the last month the dams are OK ...

And the oaks are still alive...

Maybe it will be a better harvest next year.

An amazing day on our Harbour

Kerrie and I had a catch up day yesterday and after meeting at Circular Quay decided to get on a ferry to Pyrmont Bay. We often just decide when we meet what we are going to do for the day.

We wandered around Pyrmont a little way then had an early lunch at Grill'd at the Pyrmont end of Darling Harbour. Next decision was to walk across the foot bridge. We were lucky enough to be there just as it opened at noon. I've never actually been on it when it has opened before. Nothing went through so we assume it must have been a test run right on 12:00.

We walked along to Barangaroo Wharf but unfortunately waited on the wrong wharf and saw our ferry leave a wharf further down. We actually waited on the wharf where the ferry dropped people off on the way in but it seems it is the wrong one.

Eventually we found the correct wharf and had a lovely slow trip back to Circular Quay.

We had noticed that the ferry was continuing on to Watson's Bay so we decided to just stay on. Just after we left Rose Bay the ferry sped up quite suddenly and I guess it was to get off the seaplane landing area because one landed within seconds of us escaping. I tried to get a photo but unfortunately missed it.

At Watson's Bay we wandered up the hill to The Gap. It was really quite hot and sunny so we did not linger long.

It was very crowded down at the coffee shops and eating places so we decided to forego our coffee and get on the ferry back to the Quay. After expressing our disappointment at the very fast ferry trip on the way down we were blessed with a very languorous trip back up the harbour. All boat traffic was slowed to a crawl by the SailGP International Catamaran Race There are some fantastic photos at the linked site but mine is as I saw it.

Eventually we arrived back at Circular Quay and had our long awaited coffee before heading up to the station and home. I arrived home quite exhausted as we had stood for most of the trip down to Watson's Bay.

What a great day for a trip on the harbour!