A Hot wind that blows no good

Today must be about 40 deg C with a hot wind factor of 50.  A wickedly hot day which is shrivelling up our garden.  The poor old lettuce have curled up their toes and I am going to harvest the beetroot this afternoon, as it is getting a bit knocked around and ancient.

My friend's poor black sheep that I mention in my last post (pictured above) was put down a few days after this photo was taken.  She was understandably upset, as they had had him for nigh on 20 years. 

Here is Joe the Painter (our son-in-law) slaving away one hot day.  Part A of the painting is now done and the green wall you see there is now a warm white colour with the dado board a nice glossy white.  It looks so much lighter and brighter.  Then there is just the tiles to go down.  Before Christmas?  have my doubts.

All the bedrooms had this wall paper frieze around the wall.  It is going (much to our childrens joy).  Not too hard to take off, just a bit of a soak with warm sudsy water and then scrape with a paint scraper.  Very messy though.

Gee I'll be glad when it is finished.  

Lesson learnt:  Never do a kitchen reno and get the house painted at the same time!!!

A visit to the country

This visit to the country happened a whole week ago, but with the reno and everything that has been happening around here, there hasn't been time to tell you about it.

One of our quilting friends owns this gorgeous little church about 45 minutes drive from Toowoomba. This quaint church, built in the 1890's is currently an art space, but is fully kitted out with a kitchen/lounge area, where we partook of food and fitted in a little stitching as well.

I loved all of the owners little bits and bobs and collections inside, and a lot of her deceased husband's art work. He was a talented artist and seemed to enjoy painting and drawing the female body.

In the bathroom is an old art deco theatre dressing room bench with mirror and complete with hollywood lights (worth a few visits to check it all out).  Very inspiring surrounds.  She has a poor old black sheep who is looking down the barrel unfortunately.  Poor lady really loves this sheep too.  We left with a tinge of sadness as she told us how she has to face losing her beloved sheep.  

She also owns a very cute cottage across the road from the church - but I will have to check that out next time as we completely ran out of time.  Looking forward to going back some day soon, it was a lovely day out.

Herb Garden

 We have a small herb garden outside the kitchen door.  At the moment, it needs some TLC. 

You can see how this thyme has grown wild, and the weeds are beginning to take over in the other parts of it.  I love the delicate white flowers of the garlic chive plant, eventhough we don't use the plant, it looks pretty.

   I intend to get some mulch later today at our local hardware store and work on tidying up the herb garden when the weather cools down a bit this evening.  It has been sitting on 34 deg C the past couple of days!

This is my Life

This is my life at the moment.  The whole house is topsy turvy.  

All the kitchen stuff is spread around two rooms and it is a bit like camping but we have our very own comfy bed and our own toilet/shower.  Since this photo was taken,  the new cupboards and bench top have gone in.  Not quite finished yet though with the cabinetry.  Will show all when it is looking all spiffy (and finished!)  This may not be until after Christmas now.  Oh Joy!!  

Oh well, it will be good when it is all over.  The next step is the painting inside, tiling, and after that new carpet.  

We usually do a reno and sell the place, but this time we are going to enjoy it and ain't going anywhere.

Can't get fresher than that

Thanks to Mr Neat's methodical watering, our vegie patch is thriving.



















We had the fresh beans with our grilled steak last night which led Mr Neat to saying, "can't get fresher than that"!
Straight from the garden has a unique old fashioned taste.  They taste how they used to in the good old days before long distance haulage and cold storage.


















Beetroot is ready for harvesting and I am going to pickle it (if I can remember the instructions from father's wife)















Capsicum (bell pepper)  Still growing but nearly ready.

 

Plenty of lettuce for our summer salads.  Will share this with the neighbours!  Mr Neat did the smart thing and planted the lettuce a few weeks apart so we didn't have a huge glut.

Basting Kaffe Fassett Quilt

We are at Robyn's house in this photo - basting my Kaffe Fassett quilt.  Robyn's husband who is an engineer has designed this fantastic frame for her to baste her quilts whilst standing up.  It is brilliant.  Robyn very kindly lets us baste our quilts on it too.  It is extremely helpful when your quilt is as big as this one. 

Two colours I love at this time of year.  The flame tree with it's brilliant flame orange (sorry about the foggy picture - taken through the very dirty windscreen of my car) and the jacaranda tree.

I particularly love the purple carpet it lays down.  This carpet is from the tree just outside the meeting rooms of our quilt group. 

We have a few jacarandas in our garden, but the flowering was a bit disappointing this year.  They are still beautiful to look at though.

Cough Cough Cough

Not much of anything doing around here as I cough.  Picked up an ugly coughing virus from somewhere and it has really knocked the stuffing out of me.  
Lethargic isn't the word for the tiredness I am feeling, and I am not even motivated to pick up a needle.

This little blossom cheered up my day today.  It doesn't flower very often, because yours truly doesn't look after it as she should.  One thing I did discover, after losing many African Violets, is that they don't like too much water.  Water only when dried out, and a tiny little bit of liquid fertilizer every now and then.


Tomorrow, health permitting, I am going to tack my Kaffe Fassett quilt and get it all ready to do some hand quilting.  I am on the look out for some No 8 perle cotton, I think in a variegated yellow and golds, for the quilting, and using a No 7 crewel needle as Sarah Fielke does on her quilts.  Should make the process go quicker, I hope.