It's a funny ol' day

It started off at dawn with this rainbow and the promise of some much needed rain. Well it rained all right. In fits and starts all day - sometimes sunshine - sometimes squall. At lunch time we had what I can only describe as "ice rain". It was similar to hail, but much finer and a lot of it. A little dog from the neighbourhood was running around the front of our yard and he had all these little icy particles over him. Very comical. Our dog was much wiser and stayed on her sugar bag mat on our porch out of the wind and rain and ice. As I write, the sun is out again but who knows for how long???

Been busy.....

Organizing and making items for our springtime Quilt exhibition sales table.


For several years now I have been co-ordinating and producing items for sale at our annual exhibition. This year, in a moment of temporary insanity, I put my hand up to "help" organize the whole exhibition! Well........now, after the other lady decided she couldn't help out at all, I am doing the whole darned thing. Acutally, I am quite enjoying it so far, but don't even come near me around the week before 20 September. We hold the exhibition at the same time as Toowoomba is showcased around the country by holding their annual Carnival of Flowers. It is the most beautiful time of year in this part of our splendid country. Bring on Spring!!!!!!


The last couple of years, a friend and I have been doing a joint effort. This happened as a result of some kindly ladies giving us fabric they could not use at the local nursing home. Thus, we started making "things" with these donated fabrics and our collaborative was formed. It has been such fun - and my friend is very imaginative and does beautiful work.

Speaking of our splendid country, last weekend we went into the mountains, away from the hustle and bustle of the Gold Coast, and enjoyed some fresh country air. We headed up to Springbrook and the Purlingbrook falls for a picnic. Bliss.

That is the Pacific Ocean you can see on the horizon. We were mighty high up at the "Best of All" lookout.
This valley leading down to the Gold Coast is called the Numinbah Valley.


The tree on the far top left is said to be 2000 years old. I just wanted to hug it. I love Australia!

Marmalade Jam learning curve

This is my very first attempt at making any sort of jam. When we visited our daughter in Caloundra on the weekend, they had this very fruitful orange tree at their new rental property. Yes, I thought, I'll take some and make some jam. I only used 5 small oranges to make these four jars of very ordinary marmalade.

I have learnt a lot though, and may make some more next week when we return from the Gold Coast.

What I have discovered is that there is a very fine line between jam and toffee. Also, I was extremely lazy in cutting up the oranges and thought a little bit of pith couldn't hurt. Hmmgh, I definitely should have peeled the rind off, removed the pith and then sliced up the oranges. Instead, I just chopped away and threw it all in the bowl.

Well, the upshot is, it actually tastes okay, but I think the big lumps of rind will be a little hard to digest!

Oh, about the rain - we did have a little. The weather is still like spring weather though, hope it keeps up for the weekend.

Winter Rose

This beautiful pink rose greeted me when I headed out to the clothes line this morning. The roses haven't been pruned yet, (waiting til after the threat of any frosts). It was a very pleasant surprise to see this rose blooming in the middle of our winter. It is quite warm here today, more like a spring day, so it might be gonna rain. We can always live in hope!

If you know the name of this rose, please let me know. It was one we transplanted from another area of the garden when we first bought the house.

Dads 80th Birthday

This past Sunday we had a lovely family luncheon to celebrate Dad's 80th birthday. He is pretty good for 80, considering he has very bad heart disease and is an insulin dependant diabetic.

We think he enjoyed his day - he is not very demonstrative.

Here he is receiving his quilt. He seemed to like it very much, and was concerned he might dirty it, like spilling his dinner on it or something. I reassured him it was meant to be used and was fully washable. This is my sister on the left who just loved the quilt, and we gave it to him as a gift from all the family. There is just my sister and I and she has 3 children and I have 2.

Here he is with four of his five grandchildren - Nicholas, the only boy amongst them - was on tour with his rock band "Phalanx".

I ended up tying the quilt with six strands of brown embroidery thread (I was in a hurry). It turned out to be just the thing to finish this type of quilt off.

Next Project?? Maybe I'll start on the Kaffe Fassett I have in mind.