Li Bode

Plumed Whistling Ducks

2012-02-16T08:13:00.004+10:00

This wet season these ducks with personality have been visiting our local park-cum-flood-catchment-area. In the tropics we often have isolated, heavy downpours which would cause flash flooding if it weren't for the many parks built to collect the water and channel it safely away. In the cooler, dry season the parks make wonderful leisure spaces.

I don't have a camera capable of capturing good enough images of birds from which to draw, but Janet and Annette do. So they have very generously been supplying me with wonderful bird photos. Thank you so much. I reverted to using a little walnut ink as well as the normal sepia ink in these drawings.

Vitamin B12, I love you!

2012-02-03T16:12:00.004+10:00

I owe my regained zest for life to supplementing this vitamin. If you've never been low on just this one of the at least 12 vitamin B's, you won't understand. But, if you ever feel so lethargic that you have to remind yourself to even breath, then investigate your B12 levels. What would I do without the supplement? Lie on the sofa in a fog, and think the doctor was right about depression, that's what! Instead:

At our art group this week I did a pen and ink drawing of a Juvenile Bluefaced Honeyeater. (Thanks for the great photo Janet.)

And, today I've finished off the last of 50 toys for our Toymakers group. That's a fortnight's worth for the Emergency Department of the local hospital to help comfort the children they treat. We have been donated a very generous amount of fabric and I've been wondering how best to use up the different weights. I've come up with this little fellow to make out of the light weight cottons. He's made from two 12 inch squares with a head and ears attached. He's my first attempt. I've cut the heads for the next 3 just a little bigger.

Who's a Boasting Granny?!

2012-01-30T22:06:00.000+10:00

We're very proud of our Zoe!

She did well in the Trans-Tasman athletics in Auckland, New Zealand. She won the 400 and 800m, came 5th in the High Jump and 9th in the Long Jump, and her 4x400 relay team won.

She certainly didn't get those genes from this grandmother!

Congratulations, Zoe. You did so well.

Pelican Sketches

2012-01-27T14:11:00.004+10:00

This time I only used sepia artist's ink and watered that down to get different shades. My photography isn't all that it should be. Neither photo is quite true to colour. One is too tan and the other too white.

For the just-one-step-further than plain black and white pen and ink drawings, which I'm trying to achieve, I think this is more suitable than adding the walnut inks I experimented with last time. Although those walnut inks are lovely to use ....... Your comments will be appreciated!

Pen and Ink

2012-01-18T18:16:00.003+10:00

I've been playing with the sketching nibs which I bought with a Christmas gift voucher from the Platypus Farm family.

Previously I've done my pen and ink drawings with Artline pigment pens in a variety of sizes. My new nibs are the old fashioned 'dip' kind which fit into a handle. They will take some getting used to, but I like the effect. On watercolour paper I've used some sepia ink diluted one half and one quarter. I also tried some walnut ink in van Dyke sepia and black orchid silver. I used a fine paint brush to shade in some of the colour.

The African Flamingo is drawn from a photo taken by my sister Kate at the Pretoria Zoo in South Africa.

The seagulls were drawn with a little bit of my own imagination helped by some images downloaded off the internet.

Every Family has One!

2012-01-06T08:54:00.002+10:00

Childminding's a piece of cake these days!

First, expend all excess energy in your subjects, even if that means in yourself as well. In our case this involved a cycle to the swimming pool and back. No matter that it included one Granny tumble off the bike (No laughing! It's months since I last mounted the mean machine.) and no less than 3 Owen tumbles. The difference in the way our tumbles were handled is significant. Mine was executed as quietly as possible with furtive looks around to see who might've witnessed my indignity. Owen bellowed lustily each time to draw as much attention as was required to sooth his bruises. The swimming was fortunately accident free. The reward for the effort is evident in the above photo!

And then .... sneak off to your craft room. Yes, mine's not very well organised is it? Nevermind, it gets the job done.

And this is when I must acknowledge that I'm the one of which every family has one! On Boxing Day I bought a whole heap of Christmas fabric from Spotlight for 75% off and cut out 26 Christmas Stockings. So I've been quilting the outer layers in-between childminding and other things. I now have 10 to go. Well, the Christmases do come around quicker each year, you know. And I'll have 12 months in which to fill the stockings and will feel very pious when one morning we all wake up to find the silly season is back.

Oh, by the way, that green crocheting under the pile of quilted stocking tops is Sam's Granny-blanket. Two Grandies' blankets done, six to go!

Do you like to listen to music no one else around you likes?

2012-01-02T21:02:00.000+10:00

I do! So when my family asked me if there was anything I'd like for my Birthday I asked if they could all club together for a set of wireless headphones. Now I'm going to be right in the front row, listening to whatever classical music I like without my husband doing mock conducting whenever he comes within range of my cd player! And I'll be able to hear those audiobooks over the sound of my sewing machine. And ... there's more! I'll be able to walk around my craft room without dragging the cd player off it's perch because I've forgotten that I'm attached to it by the earphone wire. Modern life is full of wonderful things, isn't it?

So if you call around and I don't hear your polite knocking, shout and ring my very loud doorbell. I do still put my friends first!

(Do you see that 21st card in the photo? One cheeky family tried to hoodwink me into turning 21+ when we all know I'm still 18+.)

Old Year's Day or New Year's Eve?

2011-12-31T11:38:00.001+10:00

Today is my last day as an apprentice Senior citizen. Tomorrow I start a new and exciting life in the uncharted territory of the Senior Citizen! I'm undecided as to whether to spend the day celebrating the old or heralding in the news .... (LOL - liked that pun too much to correct it!)

I'm very content with my time gone by. Against the odds of coming into this world with an arm broken in two places and a bit of mild epilepsy due to the consequences, weathering the parenting of an egocentric father and a bipolar mother, I have fulfilled my dream of being a pretty normal wife and mother. My wonderfully forgiving and understanding children and husband have made my many mistakes of small consequence and made me very proud. All four of our descendant families are continuously making my heart burst with joy. I feel quite serene about watching them all make of their lives what they now will and and am looking forward to Seniorhood with irresponsible anticipation.

Happy New Year to you all and I hope 2012 brings everyone lots of love, hope and happiness.

A Flock of Angels?

2011-12-22T20:09:00.000+10:00

What do you call a collection of angels? A crowd, a school, a flock ...... ?

I finished these off the other day to add to our various families' Christmas parcels. Won't be a surprise now, except for which colour they receive .... oh well! I just had to show them off.

Grandfather Green Frog

2011-12-17T19:11:00.001+10:00

A friend who lives across the road called me over this afternoon to collect this monster green frog from her veranda. She dislikes frogs with a passion and knows that I give them safe haven in my pot plants. He was so sleepy that he hardly opened his eyes whilst I moved house for him. He (or would he be a she?) filled my hand, he's so big. Once plonked on the shell, he opened his eyes enough to find a spot he preferred and is still sound asleep there. Hope he decides to make our garden his home! Green frogs are very friendly creatures.

Twelve Aussie Days of Christmas

2011-12-17T18:37:00.000+10:00

Silly Season

2011-12-17T10:14:00.011+10:00

I blinked and it was here again! And the children with it .... the novelty of decorating Granny's Christmas tree a bit tarnished after the excitement of having done their own at their home. Fair enough. So it was back to their digital preferences while Granny decorated her own tree.

The little white tree I'd made as part of Fibres and Fabrics Alba Leucos exhibition proved more interesting. They enjoyed decorating that with coloured pipe cleaners.

(You may wonder why my photos no longer show my beautiful grandchildren's faces? Well, I've been forbidden to feature one particular granddaughter's photo on the internet - which's understandable and I hope I'm respecting the request sufficiently by not showing her face.)

Anyway, the little angel I'd made for the top of our tree looked very smug to take up her position.

By now, I was feeling desperate to finish sewing the vest I was making to wear for the Fibres and Fabrics Christmas lunch dress-up and the children's games still needed a referee. So, being the mother of invention after juggling what I wanted to do myself with four children of my own, I nominated the oven timer to allocate 5 minutes to each child to be the boss of it's own game with which the other had to comply. Worked a treat!

The vest was completed! This year, the Fibres dress-up theme was anything beginning with the letter "S". I tore up the most recent newspaper full of pre-Christmas sale advertisements and glued them to a piece of cloth with PVA and hey presto, I had a sale vest. To see some of the other outfits have a look here. The lunch was a lot of fun.

The Plover Family

2011-12-04T14:11:00.006+10:00

We have a new resident in our village! The plover family have proudly been exercising their chick between our houses. There were two chicks, but sadly when they paraded by yesterday, there was only one. And what a handful it is! Like most young it thinks it's invincible, confidently racing along, the perfect miniature of it's parents in stances and mannerisms. The parents continually quark out to it, calling it back and trying to guide it along their pre-planned route. They pass by at dawn and dusk going first one direction and then in the opposite direction. I'm not fond of plovers as a rule. They're noisy and vicious, attacking passers-by with their hooked wings if they have a nest in the vicinity. I've been known to be reduced to a handbag swinging fishwife to protect myself. But I must admit this teeny little chick has won my heart. It's very cute!

The Hedge Trimmer

2011-11-26T17:07:00.000+10:00

Our neighbour, Barbara, kindly came over this afternoon to let us know that the hedge trimmer was doing his rounds:

He does a really good job and doesn't charge!

Another Community Fair!

2011-11-07T17:50:00.002+10:00

Our retirement village held another community craft display and fair on 29th October. There are many talented people living in the village with a wide range of skills. Amongst the many groups of painters, woodworkers, knitters, machine embroiderers and scrapbookers is a quilters' group. Their display was most impressive. In fact they had so many quilts to display that they had to keep a relay of work going, changing the display on a regular basis until everything had had an airing! This was the first display in the cycle.

An Itch to Etch

2011-10-28T22:58:00.003+10:00

I enjoy doing ink drawings and have recently felt an urge to take that one step further and try etching. I haven't the faintest idea where to begin but watched a couple of brief demonstrations on dry point etching on uTube. I don't have any of the tools or materials to do the real thing but today I experimented with a bit of stiff plastic, a sketch I'd done of a kangaroo, a homemade awl for a scribe, an old bottle of sepia ink, 250 gsm computer paper, a bowl of water and my very small laminating machine for a press! The results left something to be desired, but considering the makeshiftedness of it all, I wasn't too disappointed.

The Birth of a Quilt

2011-10-28T22:44:00.001+10:00

It took my daughter and I five years to collect lots of different striped materials for this quilt and now I've started sewing it together. There are well over 1000 triangles sewn into various sized squares. It's a Kaffe Fassett design for a tablecloth, except my daughter wants it to be a bed quilt. I listened to the audiobook of Julian Barne's Booker prize winning The Sense of an Ending whilst I sewed and before I knew it all the squares were together. Now to compile the blocks. Thought I'd download another of Julian Barnes' books on audio for that, I enjoyed Ending so much.

Long Island, Whitsundays

2011-10-15T18:30:00.001+10:00

Just back from a wonderful 3 night stay at Long Island Resort, Whitsundays. Although there was plenty to amuse those guests who wanted to enjoy happenings of the sort, we were able to be quiet, relax, read and enjoy the natural surroundings.

A Sulphur Crested Cockatoo and a Grey Headed Person
discuss the merits of red-fruited facepacks.

For photos of some of the other birds I managed to capture on film click here.

The resort at Long Island is particularly unspoilt and uncommercialised, as the Whitsunday Island resorts go. Here are a few of the textures of the environment.

And the views are spectacular.

Who wouldn't be relaxed here?!

The photo of the stay?

Jonothan Seagull demonstrating how to use the
footbath provided at the entrance to our room!

This is where my soul belongs ......

2011-10-10T14:31:00.001+10:00

A friend, who must share this soul-home with me, thought to send me these photos of the place our families went to for their holidays in our childhood, Umngazana, on the Wild Coast of the Transkei, South Africa. In those days there were no roads to the little holiday settlement and only the houses built on the peninsula. The vehicles were left 4 miles upstream and the last bit of the journey was made by boat down the river. Young African children would meet the boats at the jetty and carry our belongings to our houses for sixpence or a shilling. There were no phones or electricity, no TV and the only water was from our own rainwater tanks. A month there and you were your soul's best friend again and restored sufficiently to face the noise and haste of the world. I know my soul will return here in due time.

Back to the old way!

2011-09-29T15:08:00.000+10:00

Thanks for letting me know, by comment and by email, what you honestly thought of the new blogger interface. Results? The old way is better liked!

What do you think?

2011-09-29T09:00:00.000+10:00

I'm trying out Blogger's new look. I'm sot sure about it. Seem to have lost my gadgets on the side, but no doubt I'll find them somewhere? What's your opinion?

Modern Living!

2011-09-29T08:56:00.000+10:00

............. And me on the computer. If you can't beat them, join them!

Fibre Arts Townsville Event

2011-09-24T14:14:00.003+10:00

From start to finish this was an experience I wouldn't have liked to miss. My chosen workshop was with Dr Pamela Croft and a very fine choice I made! We had the best fun, laughed a lot and created stress-free little works of art relevant to the topic. Pamela is devoted to what she calls Bothways. By appreciating and combining the differences between the original owners of this great land and the newer lovers of their homeland, the understanding between both may lead to a richer whole. We used natural, found objects from which to convey our message. Because the Aboriginal people of the Townsville/Magnetic Island region include the Wulgurukaba people, who are the canoe people, we based our work around canoes and boats and related items. This led to the idea that, in one way or another, all Australians have come here by boat (or 'air-boat' i.e. plane) and we're all to some extent 'boatpeople'.

To see a slideshow of more pictures from our workshop click here.

I had not been to this type of event before, so for me the whole concept was an education in itself. The week long workshops were held at Cathedral School in Townsville and managed by Glenys Mann with the help of Joss. Participants could live in or not, as they chose. Accommodation was in the newly built girls' boarding house. Every occupant had a single room which was very comfortable. The meals were supplied by the school catering staff in the school dining room, whether you were living in or not, and I think we all must've gained weight, the food was so delicious. Each of the tutors was allocated a classroom which best suited their need. Although we had received a materials list for our individual classes beforehand, Rae was there with the most enticing array of materials with which to tempt us or fill in the gaps had we forgotten something. Each day we were treated to a short talk and slide show by one of the tutors which gave us a glimpse of what the other classes were learning. On the last evening there was a display of everything achieved to which the public were invited. The comeradie and brainstorming at all times, in workshops, over the dining table or, I imagine for those in residence, in the boarding house were heaps of fun. There will be another Fibre Arts Townsville at the same venue in September 2013. Don't miss out!

Moon Rise

2011-09-16T10:00:00.002+10:00

What a beautiful evening!

A Visitor

2011-09-10T14:02:00.002+10:00

Guess who's come to stay for a while? Do you remember Rosie? When we moved to Carlyle Gardens she was given a home by Arlene and Michael where she's very happy but they've gone to New Zealand for the World Cup Rugby Union. So I get to cuddle and spoil Rosie to my heart's content whilst they're away.

Nothing like an uncomplicated and unconditional doggy cuddle, is there?

Rosie takes it all in her stride and is completely relaxed in her role,

Just Hibernating!

2011-09-01T10:33:00.002+10:00

I can't believe how long it is since I blogged! A month? More? I've pretty much been hibernating. Literally. I've been so tired that I've been sleeping day and night and only doing the bare essentials for minimal survival of myself and family.

When I finally felt that it was too much effort to even draw breath, I took myself to the doctor. After draining me of an inordinate amount of blood at various times and making me drink a disproportionate amount of sickly sweet fluid, the doctor proudly announced that I have both a Vitamin B12 deficiency (pernicious anaemia) and diabetes. Great.

But at least I now have a reason for being both fat and lazy - or is it the other way around? Which comes first, the hen or the chicken? Well, whichever way round, I now have a point from which to start improving my health, for which I'm grateful. Today is a good day to start looking forward again - the first day of Spring.

Community Call!

2011-07-31T18:42:00.002+10:00

Our retirement village (read 'resort'!) held a community fair on Saturday and our group of toymakers and my husband's woodworking/hobby workshop group were each asked to man a display table. It was good fun and a lot of interest was shown in both tables. The toymakers, who make comfort toys for the children going to the emergency department of the hospital, received offers of donated fabrics and a some interest in joining. The exercise was, I think, mutually beneficial.

Daydreaming ..............

2011-07-23T08:50:00.004+10:00

Recently, we got up early one morning and drove to Airlie Beach, a drive taking 3 1/2 hours. We caught the ferry to Daydream Island which lies amongst the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsundays is high amongst my favourite places on Earth and we're so fortunate to live within reach. This day, we made the trip to meet up with long time friends. Margie and Lorrie, who were holidaying there.

Daydream Island is a small island resort.

It was a beautiful 'Winter' day in the tropics: cool, clear and dry! Margie and Lorrie come from Victoria and were really enjoying the opportunity to thaw out, something that a lot of Southerners do at this time of the year - migrate into our beautiful Winter climate. To locals they are known as the Grey Nomads or Snowbirds.

We spent a such a wonderful companionable day catching up with our friends before driving home in the evening. There's nothing like good friends who share a common history with whom to share news of children and grandchildren.

Mid-year Birthdays

2011-07-22T08:40:00.004+10:00

Our family have so many Birthdays between mid-June and mid-July that it would be celebration over-kill to fit in a Christmas-in-July! Starting with a fourth Birthday in mid-June we've reached a fortieth in mid-July. In fact 2011 is a year of exceptional family milestones including a 70th Birthday, a couple of 40th Birthdays, a 10th Birthday, the 25th Anniversary of our arrival in Australia and our 45th Wedding Anniversary.

Aloes in Africa (and at home).

2011-07-01T15:04:00.005+10:00

A South African cousin emailed me this photo of some aloes in flower in the Eastern Cape, growing wild on the roadside between Addo and Cathcart.

The smaller aloe vera, which I've planted in my own garden here in tropical North Queensland, must have some DNA links to these South African aloes because it's also coming into flower at the moment. It, some Namaqualand Daisies (Gazanias) and a Strelitzia are my acknowledgement of my country of origin. I grew up in an area called Transkei where the gently rolling hills are dotted with aloes of various varieties. Just a little nostalgia!

How do I Look?

2011-06-30T17:10:00.001+10:00

My monitor died very young this morning, at only 18 months of age. Very sad, but has been replaced with a flash new one which is panoramic be comparison. The first thing I noticed on coming into my blog was that the header didn't fit the space provided any more. That led me to wonder, how it looked on your screen? Did it fill the top of the page? I've made some alterations, so I hope it works for you?

Play Dough

2011-06-30T08:43:00.001+10:00

A postscript to my previous post about a day with the grandchildren:

I forgot to mention that the carer at day care mentioned when I picked Charlotte up that she'd put play dough in her ear! I left that to her parents to sort out later because she seemed unfazed by carrying it around in it's unusual pocket. A visit to the emergency department (where her father happens to work but was off duty, luckily) that evening to have her ear syringed out and she is fine!

Clothes Tree

2011-06-29T09:42:00.007+10:00

I've been quietly plodding away at a contribution to the Alba Leucos exhibition which our craft group will be holding in a month or so.

This is my idea:

A tree clothes itself in leaves. Like people do, trees shed their clothes from time to time as they grow and change. Ultimately a spiritual state is reached where clothes are only a symbolic representation of the physical being.

I'm taking the partly done piece in to the group today to see if it's going to be acceptable.

My day went like this ....

2011-06-29T09:22:00.002+10:00

I want the ‘ellow ball – well you can’t – yes I can – no you can’t – yes I can – no and it’s a YYYY-ellow ball .... Granny Owen’s being mean to me ..... well Granny I said first .... well Granny can you find Owen’s gun – you can’t play with it, it’s boys toys – yes I can – no you can’t .... you can play with my sweetheart doll ….. yuk! It’s so girlie….Granny .....

I was going to take them to MacDonald’s for lunch so they could play out of the windy, wet weather but when Owen and I went to fetch Charlotte from day care she was eating paella which she’d made with her group and they gave Owen a bowl full too. So, their tummies filled with good-for-you-food instead of junk-food, we went to get cry-scream on the Strand. Bad move! So illogical! It was soooo windy, that the ice creams quickly liquefied and Charlotte needed to weeeeee! So after an emergency stop at the flooded, revolting toilets with their cold stainless steel seats, we went to the toy sale at Toyworld. Charlotte quickly selected a little doll dressed in pink with Little Sweetheart embellished across the bib and announced that she needed to pooh! So I grabbed the Nerf Gun I was trying to talk Owen out of getting, in addition to the inexpensive bat and ball set which I had intended to guide the pair into wanting and headed home, as fast as the speed limit would allow. Well, yes a little faster, but I reasoned that, if I was caught, the policeman would take one whiff of the interior of the car and agree that my haste was justified. I love being a Granny!!! Truly I do ....?

One Dad phoned at the appointed time for fetching his offspring – could he fetch him an hour later than planned? For the minute the two children were cooperating – after Charlotte having had her third pooh and for the third time sung out “Granny I’m finished!” so I could do the necessary. When is her day care going to teach her to wipe her own bottom?!

I love being a Granny!!! Truly, I promise, I do!

Skateboarding!

2011-06-25T08:48:00.006+10:00

We attended Grandparents' Day at two of our grandsons' school this week. I 'did' the younger and Charles 'did' the older. This is what greeted me when I entered Owen's classroom:

Notice the bewildered concentration on my face? And the whoopee enjoyment on Charles'! Hmmm...

Grandparents' Day starts in the all purpose shelter with a concert by all the classes from Pre-prep to Grade 6. The Grandparents are then rewarded for watching with tea or coffee and the most scrumptious scones, liberal cream and jam, for which I suspect some grandparents are guilty of solely attending!

For those who were inclined to be less entertained by the singing of the classes in which their own grandchildren don't feature, the resident pigeons supply a side show. The area is scheduled to be enclosed and air-conditioned soon. I'll enjoy the cool in summer, but will miss the pigeons.

A vain attempt has been made to discourage the birds from nesting by hanging owls and rubber snakes at either end (you might just be able to pick them out in the photo above). The pigeons aren't fooled though and I saw, but failed to capture on film, a pigeon swinging happily on the owl.

I do love being a granny!

Snippets

2011-06-18T10:33:00.011+10:00

SCISSOR HAPPY. I had a haircut recently and my hairdresser, an absolute darling, took my 'cut it short please' literally!

CIVVIES DAY. When I fetched the O's from school on Thursday I was surprised to find a little punk rushing me for a hug! The older punk kept his hair under wraps, having had to wear his cap for sport, but came armed with a stash of lollies.

4 MORE SLEEPS! Until Charlotte's Birthday. And I'm onto the binding of her birthday quilt.

GRANNY BLANKETS. My mother-in-law crocheted every member of her family a blanket during her lifetime and I still have mine. It's at the end of our bed at the moment, to pull up when the tropical winter nights get chilly, LOL. The blankets are a wonderful reminder of Granny McGill. Now I'm a Granny McGill, so I've decided to carry on the tradition for those members of our family who didn't get one of her blankets. I have begun with one for our eldest grandson.

Willows Markets

2011-06-12T12:47:00.003+10:00

For the last two Sundays we've arrived at the Willows Shopping Centre before dawn with our little Corolla bursting at the seams with boxes of boxes, a folding table and all the other paraphernalia required to have a stall at the Sunday markets. I was rather hesitant about the whole idea beforehand. For one thing I'm not a morning person. But I'm now hooked! Sitting there with my handwork and a cup of hot coffee as the day breaks and the music begins and the shoppers start arriving has worked it's magic on me. First come the vegetable and fruit buyers. Next to arrive are the dog walkers and browsers. Last come the families often with Nanna in tow and numerous children gleefully calling out 'Mummy look!', only to be enticed on to what Mummy wants to see .... The neighbouring stall holders chat and help one another out. It's altogether a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning even if sales tend to be very modest.

This week we're enjoying visiting rights to our ex-dog, Rosie (now Rosey), because her new people went away for the weekend. She came along to the markets with us and behaved like an old hand at the job of receiving pats and sandwiches from small children.

Guess who's a Bragging Granny then?!

2011-06-08T22:08:00.001+10:00

Click here to see why! Scroll down a little when you've opened Insight Creative's link to where it says Making of Cafe Bambini Ad: Toy Soldier and you'll see my youngest grandson being a child model - and enjoying himself immensely!

Kookaburra Laugh! Kookaburra Sing!

2011-06-07T09:03:00.001+10:00

Paddy's Daughter has some great photos of Kookaburras on both her blogs today, so I thought I'd make it a Kookaburra-happy day and add one of my own! A pen and ink sketch.

Townsville's inner City

2011-05-31T17:19:00.006+10:00

Since we arrived in Townsville we have seen the inner city go from the thriving hub of the community to almost a ghost town, which only came to life on Sundays when the Cotters Market attracted locals and tourists.

This may or may not relate to the closing of the main street to form a mall. It might have as much to do with the development of shopping centres in the suburbs. I'm sure it's really far more complicated than that! But, the powers that be have recently decided to reopen the main street to traffic. The reconstruction is half complete, so we went in the take a look on Sunday.

Although the newly completed section of road was closed to traffic, whether just for the Cotters Markets or not, I'm not sure. The stalls were however all huddled on the footpaths which made for rather cosy viewing.

The reconstruction is attractive, with trees and islands of vegetation in the roadway.

Perhaps the venture, together with the large number of units and apartments which have been built in the area, will bring the inner city once again to life. It is such an interesting part of Townsville with many historic buildings, galleries and shops. Well worth a visit, if you're in town.

Family!

2011-05-27T09:40:00.001+10:00

Over Easter we had a family photo taken by Megan at Insight Creative who was amazing. She managed to organize 18 of us cheerfully and expertly and got some wonderful shots. This is just one of the many she took. I hope the link will work so you can see it! It's so special when a whole family can come together all at once.

Roses and Yarn Bombing

2011-05-10T16:58:00.003+10:00

Mother's Day makes me happy! Thanks kids and grandkids for all spoilings ........ so special each and every bit. Love you all!

And have the rest of you heard of the Yarn Bombing happening on the Strand on 11th June? Something really fun to get involved with. I'm working on my bit .....

This is the information I received from Pompom Rouge :

So...it's all rather exciting and now is the time for the important question you need to ask yourself....Do you want to be part of the first ever Townsville yarn bombing?

If you're keen, all you need to do is knit or crochet different coloured panels about 30cms wide and up to a metre long. These panels will then be wrapped around poles, trees and other things up and down The Strand. We ask that you use brightly coloured left over yarn in whatever ply you have. Please don't use expensive hand dyed organic wool that cost a fortune. We don't want this to cost anything. Cheap and cheerful coloured wool will be grand.

If you aren't interested in doing any knitting or crocheting you can still participate. If you happen to have any left over brightly coloured wool that you would like to donate to our yarn bombing please drop it into Pompom Rouge . If you don't have any wool, please pop in and pick up some donated wool that you can knit or croch for the bombing.

So get knitting, crocheting or whatever it is you do and let's get these panels together. The more we have of various colours, the more opportunity we will have to brighten up the world and make people smile.

So, please join in the fun. Invite other possibly interested people and let's work together to create something rather fabulous whilst getting our knit/croch on!

So I'm inviting you!

PS Delores sent me this link to a great guerilla or urban knitting site. Have a look! (<-click)

Toys

2011-05-08T10:41:00.000+10:00

Our toy making group has another 50 assorted toys ready for distribution! These are an example of the different styles in this batch. Aren't they gorgeous?!

Just trying out something ....

2011-05-01T07:00:00.001+10:00

Zoe, one of my grand daughters, made this wonderful zebra back in January and brought him to visit over Easter. She created him completely out of her head and I'm enthralled!

Kangaroo Sausages, Biltong and too much Chocolate!

2011-04-27T14:56:00.012+10:00

I slept until 8.30 this morning and had a pear and pot of rooibos tea for my breakfast! That’s what Easter combined with a family re-union to celebrate a 70^th Birthday and the 25^th anniversary of arriving in Australia did to me.

The long weekend was everything a wife, mother and grandmother could possibly wish for. There can be no greater happiness for a mother than to have all her children, their partners and all the grandchildren together, can there? All the plans worked out with just enough distractions to make them amusing. Celebrations were embellished with both Australian and South African delicacies amongst which were lamingtons, Eet-Sum-More and Romany Cream biscuits, biltong, rusks made by Zoe, Five Roses and Nerada tea, kangaroo sausages and Tiny Tot lollies. The South African treats were mostly provided by the Lathams who have just recently arrived home from a holiday there.

For me, one of the most exciting happenings was having the family photo taken. You can never be sure if the whole lot will ever be together in one place again. There were just enough clouds in the sky to make it interesting as a background and just enough breeze to ruffle our hair. Everyone turned out in the blues, beiges and creams stipulated. Perhaps not quite as ‘pale’ as the photographer had asked for, but then we’re not a pastel family. And Charlotte wore an apricot pink tutu because she refuses to wear any colour which can’t be passed off as pink, at present. Stephen arrived in one of my maroon shirring elastic skirts and Sam in bunny ears, which broke the ice. The photographer was so good at getting everyone to cooperate, she needs a bouquet. She had to contend with Charlotte making sand angels lying flat on her back on the beach and haul various children out of a gigantic tree which had washed up onto the beach during the cyclone. The resultant photos should be very spontaneous! I can’t wait to see them.

The adults-only dinner at A Touch of Salt was very special. Fiona had reserved an alcove which helped cut out some of the background noise so we could talk and Charles could hear us. He was presented with his family gift, an iPad, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. He was somewhat frustrated until he was pointed in the right direction for learning how to use it. Now he’s raptly studying the iGuide manual.

Sunday was the grandchildren’s day. It started with a very noisy but successful Easter Egg Hunt, followed by a towering rainbow cake made by Fiona with lots of helping hands.

Very loud singing of ‘happy Birthday to you’ and cheering will probably find an eviction notice in our mail today! We then took the children to the Riverway swimming pools to cool down and let off steam before bringing them back here for a sausage sizzle.

On Monday, ANZAC Day, Oliver and Owen marched with their school and wore my grandfather (their great-great grandfather), Grampa Hibbins’ medals from WWI which brought a little tear to my eye. We went to watch, of course. Here's the Birthday Boy looking good at 70!

I do love the marching bands!

That evening we all went to Fiona and Danny's for dinner in the garden. Ideal for the children who played cricket, jumped on the trampoline and watched Basil the cocker spaniel demonstrate how he can use the slide like any child can.

A projector and screen were set up after dinner and the kids, Allan and I, settled down outside to watch Invincible Me while the less juvenile adults retired inside. (I did enjoy seeing my four children doing the dishes together in the same kitchen and in the same way as they did 25 years ago!)

On Tuesday morning, Allan and family started their long drive home and Danny, Bronwyn and Stephen took Oliver, Owen, Connor and Zoe to a waterhole at Rollingstone to swim before lunch, which was a hit. The Lathams left after lunch and it’s terribly normal and quiet around here again.

Where the Wild Things Grow

2011-04-03T12:19:00.002+10:00

Margaret and Robert came for a stroll with me this morning. Well, Margaret and I strolled and Robert zig-zagged ahead of us, like an impatient puppy and eventually went on alone. The reason for our slow progress was my taking photos of the so-called weeds along the verge and in the park. The council workers have been unable to get around to mowing in our area since Cyclone Yasi, both due to all the clearing of fallen trees and because of the persistent rain this wet season. The resultant wildflowers have been delightful and more than compensated in my opinion. The middle of little park acts as a catchment for flood water during the summer so turns to marsh. A running stream is complete with fish which magically appear with the water. While Margaret acted as a flower-spotter, I took a total of 86 photos. Here are 24 of them!

I'm afraid I'm not up to giving the flowers and grasses botanical names, nor even common names. I just like the look of them!

Moggies

2011-04-02T17:54:00.001+10:00

I've just added these little moggies to my Etsy shop. They were great fun to make. The kittens with personality are soft and cuddly. Entirely hand stitched from clean, new felt they're 7” (18 cm) tall, 5 ½” (14 cm) from paw to paw and about 2” (5 cm) plump. They have cotton cloth faces. Their felt eyes are securely embroidered on and they have stitchery features. A whimsical tail of handmade cord is securely attached to their behinds.

Do you think I might be missing the little kitten I fostered for a while?!

Generosity of Spirit

2011-04-01T11:21:00.001+10:00

Have you noticed how amazingly generous Australians are? One just has to mention a charitable need and the donations of time, materials and work flow in, quietly and unassumingly. This is my second experience with the phenomenon. Previously I was involved with making quilts for AIDS orphans in South Africa and was overwhelmed with donations of fabric from all over Australia through the Southern Cross Quilter's internet group. This time it's toys for the children passing through the emergency ward at our local hospital.

The third batch of toys for the Emergency Department of TTH made by our little toy making group is ready to go. There's a good variety of different sorts of toys in this batch, including Elaine's knitted bears, Geraldine's astronauts and kittens Margaret's squared off dolls with the cute faces, the fabric bears and Joy's pancake dolls, plus more! Everyone in the group has contributed to all of these in some way, whether it's in cutting them out, sewing them up, knitting them, filling them or putting on the faces. Such a fabulous group of toy makers!

How Does my Garden Grow!

2011-03-29T08:46:00.012+10:00

Do you remember me posting this photo when I redid our front flower bed?

Well, this is what it looks like now after a very wet, wet season!

The jasmine I planted just three weeks ago has taken to my birthday arch like a duck to water, too.

Now about the weed pulling ...........

Charlotte Bluebell's Quilt

2011-03-27T11:10:00.004+10:00

One of my sisters and I each have a grand-daughter named Charlotte. To avoid the inevitable confusion I've taken to calling them Charlotte Blue (for Charlotte Bluebell aged nearly 4) and Charlotte Lou (for Charlotte Louisa aged 4 months). This quilt is for Charlotte Blue. As I made double the number of blocks needed, and as my sister likes the colours, I'm going to make Charlotte Lou a similar quilt but with different sashing.

A Day Slipped Away.

2011-03-20T14:38:00.003+10:00

On Friday I got a bee in my bonnet and doodled the day away.

A subconscious reaction to floods, cyclones and tsunamis do you think? In any event it was a calming and relaxing exercise and I enjoyed it.

(What is the plural of tsunami? A google comes up with It is a Japanese word which is both singular and plural and also It is commonly accepted in English to use the word 'tsunamis' as the plural.
So take your pick.)

What We Wear When Sewing!

2011-03-18T08:18:00.004+10:00

The Southern Cross Quilters' List is currently discussing the topic of 'What we wear when quilting'. Charlotte has solved the dilemma - nothing!

Problem solving is her forte. She watched me stitching her quilt-to-be on the sewing machine and wanted to help. I told her she could begin sewing on the machine when she could sit on the chair and reach the pedal with her foot. She pondered this apparently insurmountable criteria for a while and then announced that she would work the pedal while I 'did' the needle. So we did that for a while, with me shouting 'Stop! Stop!' at the end of a seam. Then she told me to do the pedal and she would 'work the needle'. With trepidation I agreed, but on her own pieces of fabric, not the quilt blocks. She managed extremely well for a 3-nearly-4 year old. And like most quilters she's now hooked!

And, perhaps a little slower for the interruptions, her quilt blocks are progressing.

Hearts for Christchurch

2011-03-06T10:59:00.000+10:00

Here are my two hearts for Christchurch. Hope someone who sews gets them because they could be used as pin cushions. In any event, perhaps they'll cheer someone up and show we care!

And these are the other sides of the same hearts.

Charlotte's Quilt

2011-03-06T09:40:00.000+10:00

It's coming on ....................

The Ova Family

2011-03-01T15:43:00.002+10:00

My little family of Ova are now ready for adoption through my Etsy Shop, Princess Rose.

Quirky little O+ figures, they're soft and cuddly but each one makes her own statement! Completely hand sewn from felt and cotton cloth, embroidered with perle thread and stuffed with resilient fibre toy filling.

They're approximately 7 ½ inches (19 cm) tall, 5 inches (13 cm) wide and 2 inches (5 cm) thick.

Each Miss Ova is a member of the all-female Ova family and comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by her creatress!

Clockwise from top left there's Hang Ova and Make Ova, (both purple), Sleep Over (black), Comb Ova (cream), Look Ova (white), Cross Ova (yellow) and Pull Ova (deep rose).

Another 'comforter' for our cousins in Christchurch

2011-03-01T09:27:00.002+10:00

For those up to making quilts have a look at Quilts for Christchurch earthquake victims but if you want to do something smaller ......

I (that's Evie not me) am gathering hearts for Christchurch. Not heart blocks in the quilting sense but `hanging' hearts. Two heart shapes sewn together, stuffed or not, embellished, embroidered, CQ'd, quilted, plain or fancy, felt or fabric or anything goes. Add a loop at the top. However many inches high that you care to make. For ease of postage, envelope size is a good measurement. Also for ease of postage you can send them flat, leave an opening and add a note "Please stuff me" I have a couple of non sewers on stuffing. You can choose to sign them on the back and add a message. It would be nice to have at least the area they come from. This is just a small measure of something nice to give in this terrible time. A heart is a symbol of caring and I know we all feel an overpowering desire to do something. If you aren't in a position to donate a heart or two send a little bit of fabric. I have heart makers at the ready. Or simply pass on this message with my address (please do that anyway).

Thank you.

Hearts for Christchurch

c/-Evie Harris

523 Main North Road

Bay View

Napier 4104

New Zealand"

Comfy?

2011-02-27T20:06:00.001+10:00

Well, I think I've won the kitten's trust, don't you?!

Back to Basics!

2011-02-27T16:05:00.001+10:00

Lately I've felt the need to get back to basics, so out has come the patchwork block books and the rotary cutter! I'm quite surprised at how soothing and enjoyable I'm finding the process, too. Perhaps it's being on jury duty that's done it, but I'm not feeling very arty-farty (as Charles would have it)! I'm two weeks into a five week run of being available for jury. Have only been impanelled a couple of times so far.

The quilt is to be for Charlotte. I'm doing a saw tooth star block patchwork pattern on one side and using the pictured print whole on the other. I plan to hand quilt simple images like butterflies, stars, bluebells, a sun and so on in the middle of the centre of each saw tooth star. Should keep me occupied for quite a while!

Little Lost Soul

2011-02-21T14:47:00.003+10:00

Yesterday morning my son and his wife (parents of the often featured on my blog Charlotte) arrived at our house and deposited a little bundle in my lap! They had found this beautiful but traumatized little kitten in the middle of a busy road. They took her to the vet for advice and were told to bring her back the next day to be tested for feline AIDS before exposing their own cat to her.

Where to keep her until then? Why, at Mom's of course. And I've absolutely loved having her. It took her a while of calm and gentle care before she would trust me, but now she'll play with me, purrs and shows affection. She turns feral again if anyone else approaches her. She needed to be shown that the food offered to her was in fact edible, but she soon got the hang of that! She wouldn't drink, but watched me drinking a cup of tea and then tried some out of my cup! Luckily I drink my tea lukewarm.

I'm going to be very sad to let her go .....

PS A reprieve! The vet has decreed that the kitten should be kept away from Mr Guinness, the older cat, for another 2 weeks and I have the honour of caring for her.

Lengths of the Earth

2011-02-21T14:26:00.004+10:00

Do you remember my earlier post picturing each individual part of my piece for the Lengths of the Earth scavanger challenge? Well at last here is a photo of the completed work.

A most enjoyable and elegant opening of the exhibition was hosted by the owners of the venue, Federation House, in the beautiful stairwell surrounded by the owner's wonderful collection of art. All the pieces made by members of Fibres and Fabrics are hung in the three story stairwell. If you have the opportunity the exhibition is well worth a visit.

Southern Cross Quilters to the Rescue! A Sad Tale with a Happy Ending.

2011-02-12T10:19:00.005+10:00

You’re going to faint in horror when you read this story:

My Bernina Virtuosa 153 Quilter's Edition jammed. As the technician I use is in Cairns and the roads were closed due to Cyclone Yasi, I set it aside and was using my 40 year old 730 until I could take the newer one north. The old girl still purrs like a kitten.

Well, I went out the other day and when I got back my well meaning husband and his buddy had taken the jammed machine apart and oiled it’s innards where I wouldn’t dare to go and put it back together again. In the process they unclipped the connections in the electronic parts and obviously didn’t re-connect them correctly, because the screen no longer lit up and it wouldn’t go. Grrrr! Bless all husbands and their mates .....

So they wanted a photo of the connections so they can see where they’d re-connected it incorrectly. That required taking the top off the machine by unscrewing the two screws holding it closed – that’s all! Once open, a photo taken from above of the innards would do the trick. Where to get the photo? Well Southern Cross Quilters, of course! I emailed the group (of which I'm a lurking member) and within the blink of an eye members with the same model and make were in touch and the photo arrived.

Thank you so, so very much Sue and Carol. Not only have you saved my machine but the lives of two miserable men who are now no doubt happily congratulating themselves on how clever THEY are!

PS Southern Cross Quilters are holding their annual retreat in Townsville in 2012, if you're interested.

2011-02-12T09:19:00.001+10:00

The Toy Makers group I belong to have completed 81 items so far. This batch of 50 were despatched to the Emergency Department of the Townsville Hospital and the next batch will follow as soon as we've finished another 50. Great work girls!

Back On-line Again!

2011-02-10T23:45:00.003+10:00

Well, I'm all Yasi-ed out, but thankful that we're safe and now, with our internet restored, able to get on with life again! You'll have seen many dramatic pictures of the event of TV. For a short slide show of our own less spectacular experience click on this little frog who hid out inside:

The whole city is a mess with huge piles of sawn up trees lining the footpaths waiting to be collected for mulching. Signs were blown over and lots of power cables were down and some telephone poles snapped or blown over, as you no doubt have seen on TV. But not a lot of buildings were damaged. All those rules and cyclone regulations regarding building safety paid off and we can now appreciate why they’re there.

Our retirement village houses are built to withstand a category 4 cyclone. We got a high 2/low 3 and the houses stood up very well. I’ve seen a few bent clothes lines around the place but that’s all. Our house is fine. Every footpath tree in our road (and most others in the village) was lying flat on the grass by the time the wind abated, except ours and three others of the same breed. I feel very special to have scored one of the lucky trees! Nearly all the shrubs in the garden were partially blown over but have staked up well and none have died – yet.

It’s truly amazing how quickly things have been repaired, all services restored and the place cleaned up. The army has done an amazing job, as have the council workers, the electrical workers and tradesmen of all kinds. The power is nearly all on again and so are the telephones. We lost everything in our fridge but are being adequately compensated by the government.

People are still getting over the experience and talk about little else – me included! It was frightening and the tension everyone felt has to find an outlet somewhere. One amusing little anecdote: our street was overlooked in the collection of rubbish so someone in our street phoned the council to report the situation because it was getting rather smelly with all the contents of people's useless fridges contained in the bins. The rubbish truck duly arrived and the men were observed studying their paperwork for some time before they carefully tipped the complainant's (and only the complainant's) rubbish into the truck and, leaving the rest of the street's bins to carry on rotting, departed. Imagine wasting all that time during a time of intensive cleaning up to empty only one bin!

It’s all but over now for us, but places like Cardwell, Tully, Tully Heads, Mission Beach, Babinda and lots of other small places in that area are going to take years to recover and will never be quite the same.

Flood, tempest, fire, heat waves ..... my goodness! Is there anyone in Australia, not in some way feeling the wrath of Mother Nature?! Our thoughts are with all those less fortunate than ourselves.

The Blank Family

2011-01-24T14:59:00.002+10:00

I recently made a family of 'blank' white ragdolls. If you speak Afrikaans this is a bit of a pun because in Afrikaans blank is the adjective for white. Oh well .............. I expect that only amuses me!

As they are, they are featureless, hairless and ghosts of their selves. They're going to be embellished into character by others for possible future use by our craft group.

Baby Wopilly Pouches

2011-01-18T08:30:00.002+10:00

I've been fulfilling a 6 month old promise to a local wildlife carer to make her some new pouches for the orphaned baby kangaroos and wallabies (wopillies to Charlotte) she raises. I managed to get 19 out of the fabric she gave me to use. She hangs the pouches from the straps at heights suitable for the little fellows and it's amazing how quickly they learn to somersault back into them after their bottle feed! The wildlife carer has recently completed new accommodation for the babies, lovely big rooms adjacent to her kitchen. The pouches will be a bright and cheerful addition.

Queensland Flood Appeal

2011-01-14T07:32:00.005+10:00

We've all see the horrifying pictures on TV. But, when all that water has rushed it's way out to sea, that's when the real heartbreak begins for those affected. Imagine having to clean up the mess and devastation on top of the loss of so many of your possessions, possibly even the loss of family or friend. When the sensation in the media ends that's when our support will be most needed. For most of us the best way to help is to donate money, cent added to cent will all mean something to someone in the end.

Click on the button above to see how you can help!

Or make a direct donation .

Toy Makers

2011-01-10T14:51:00.003+10:00

Ten enthusiastic ladies came together this morning to form a group of toy makers. We're making toys for the emergency department at our local hospital. Amongst lots of chatter (and a scrumptous morning tea supplied by members of the group), a good many dolls and teddy bears were cut out and taken home to be stitched. At the next get together in a fortnight, we will fill them and finish them off.

New Paints.

2011-01-08T12:21:00.003+10:00

For my Birthday I was very excited to be given some beautiful watercolour paints in a basic palette of colours. Thank you Allan, Helen, Jack, Sam and Matthew.

This is my first attempt to use them and I must say that I found them much easier to use than the budget paints.

For the first time I feel that I'm taking a tiny step forward in learning to paint.

All Over Bar the Shouting!

2011-01-04T09:16:00.001+10:00

Well Christmas and New Year (photos tell the story), including my Birthday, are all behind us now and 2011 is a tantalising adventure just begun.

This Birthday was one on which I was very happy to acknowledge my age because at last I'm 'old enough'! Old enough to qualify for the pension, that is. I received my pension card the other day just to make it official.

And I don't mind having my Birthday on New Year's Day, either, because for one thing it is possible to have as many of my family as can make it around, it being a public holiday for most (nurses excepted). And secondly, I have a ready wish to give back to everyone when they say 'happy birthday', like handing out party packs at a kid's party: Happy New Year everyone. Hope 2011 is very good to you.

A Chip off the Old Block?

2010-12-31T14:21:00.003+10:00

Connor (8 1/2) has been making himself a pencil box under Grampa's tutelage, whilst he's been here.

Getting it nice and smooth!

Another member of the family hooked on rope bags!

2010-12-31T13:58:00.001+10:00

I'm very impressed! Zoe (nearly-but-not-quite 11) wrapped and sewed her own bag during her visit. She caught the addiction from me and there was no stopping her!

Decking the Halls ....

2010-12-28T17:47:00.004+10:00

The day before Christmas I dug out an old, outdated wreath and stripped it bare.

I collected a range of leaves from the garden and we painted them gold, bronze and white. The white ones didn't look right so we ditched those and glued the rest into the wreath. Garland? That sounds nicer, doesn't it? Then, with more help from grandchildren and a visiting tweeny with whom my grand-daughter swaps fabric postcards, we made some felted berries to add the final touch before it went up at the front door. It's still welcoming visitors and will be packed away when the Christmas tree comes down, in the hope that the leaves last until next year. They were green leaves, so I just don't know what to expect. Either way, the result was a happy one for this year.

A Very Tropical Christmas!

2010-12-26T09:07:00.000+10:00

It was a very monsoonal Christmas this year. A developing cyclone closed the roads and later passed over Platypus Farm preventing our farm family from joining us. But those of us who were here did our best to enjoy ourselves on their behalf and look forward to celebrating with them later. It was also very wet here as wave after wave of downpours passed over us.

Christmas morning!

We had a great day with family and friends. To see a slide show click on Christmas .

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2010-12-24T09:17:00.001+10:00

Hope everyone has a very happy Christmas and that your dreams for 2011 come true.

One of our families, Allan’s, can’t get here because the roads are closed between us. So much rain! A shame, but can’t be helped. The rest of us have a good day planned for tomorrow and the Harry Potter movie today (due to the inclement weather) for those so inclined. Khrishna and Charlotte felt the cold when they arrived in Melbourne but were met with a wonderful reception by friends and Charlotte is being given a right royal time.

Myself, I’m really enjoying our Sydney family whilst I can.

A Little Pink Dress!

2010-12-13T16:47:00.003+10:00

I have a new little grand-niece, Charlotte Louisa! Congratulations Laura and Matthew.

I wanted to welcome Charley Lou (not to confuse her with our Charlotte Bluebell) by making her something myself. A quilt was already accounted for, as were receiving blankets. So, after many years of not making any clothes, I decided I'd give it a go. And I really enjoyed myself.

The outcome looks very large for the little person I've only seen in photos, but hopefully she'll grow into it before the end of Summer.

School Holidays have Begun!

2010-12-11T08:55:00.002+10:00

Have had lots of fun with Oliver, Owen and Charlotte over the last two weeks. Oliver and Owen's school closes earlier than most because they have lots of boarders to give a nice long summer holiday at their homes. On Thursday morning Charlotte and Owen had a busy morning doing some craft and playing computer games.

The Christmas tree is up and decorated, the anticipation and excitement is mounting and the countdown to Zoe, Connor, Jack, Sam and Matthew's arrival has begun ........ 10-9-8-7-6.............

All Wrapped up

2010-11-30T17:51:00.016+10:00

Annette and Rafidah came around for a cuppa this morning and were quite impressed with my rope wrapping obsession - the obsession that is. Annette's having regrets about having introduced me to the habit. They insisted on my photo being taken with some of the things I've been making recently and the wrapped rope waiting to be made into more things.

Talking of which, I seem to have cleared out all stocks of the pictured below braided cotton rope/clothesline ($2.99 per 15m hank of 6mm thick) at the local cheap stores like Crazy Clarkes and Sam's Warehouse. So I'm putting out an SOS for more. Should you find yourself wandering aimlessly in one of these cheap stores, whatever they're called in your area, please keep an eye out for these:

I'll happily re-imburse family and friends for up to 10 hanks at a time, if you'll buy them for me and let me know. I'll send you the money and a pre-paid postage bag in which to mail them to me.

Thank you!

Five month's Postcards in one weekend!

2010-11-22T08:19:00.013+10:00

I at last put my head down and spent the weekend catching up on the last of my postcards. As you can see I was months behind.

August 2010: All boxed in

September 2010: Ni hao!

October 2010: Is life all black and white?

November 2010: Mosaic

December 2010: Celebrations

My sincere apologies to the recipients who have waited so patiently for their swap. I've been very tardy.

(PS Blogger seems to have fixed the image download problem and it's back to normal, I'm pleased to say.)

Cathedral Scool Christmas Fair

2010-11-21T08:55:00.006+10:00

A week ago today, Charles and I took part in the Cathedral School Christmas Fair. It was a good morning, well attended, with lots more stalls than in previous years. Next stop: Fibres and Fabrics Christmas Fair on 4 and 5 December in the CWA Hall, Denham Street, the City. See you there? Hope so. That's a very special fair, showcasing lots of our talented members' work.

Rosy

2010-11-20T09:35:00.005+10:00

Our embroidery group Christmas lunch was hosted by Rosy's human, Arlene. It was a most enjoyable affair and Rosy and I were happy to see each other, but content to go our own ways when the lunch came to an end. Thank you, Arlene.

My First Watercolour!

2010-11-19T22:15:00.004+10:00

This isn't it! This is a photo of the still life from which I worked. Blogger's playing up and won't let me add the photo of my painting - it's not really that bad, I promise. I've not had any problems with photos on Blogger since the day I started using it until the last week or so and now it keeps telling me "The feature you requested is currently unavailable. Please try again later." Really frustrating. So, will have to wait ...... again. Makes posting to Blogger a bit tedious, I must say.

Okay, Blogger let me in to 'insert image' again!

Here's my attempt at still life in watercolours. My teacher, a very patient and gentle person, is trying to get me to be more 'transparent' - in my painting technique, that is. I can't get the hang of transparent yet, but I'm determined if nothing else!

Perfect weather for gardening ....

2010-11-19T12:25:00.014+10:00

Friends across the road have been away and I promised to water their garden for them, but we've had at least one shower every day since they left!

Perfect weather for gardening. So I decided to re-do our front flower bed.

This is what it looked like before. And here's the 'after' ............

I thought I'd go all peaceful (seeing we're living in a retirement village now - ha! ha!) and make a white and blue themed garden. Looking forward to seeing what it looks like by the end of Summer. Hopefully it'll have covered over by then.

(I had to revert to the 'old edit' mode to post my images and now I appreciate the conveniences of the updated version. Hope Blogger fix things up soon.)

Meet Clark Kent, Sooper-tadpole!

2010-11-19T12:16:00.000+10:00

A sole survivor, Clark Kent Sooper-tadpole, is struggling for his life in intensive care after all his 299 siblings were exterminated in a mass murder when his human changed the water in their home without dechlorinating it. When the mass murderer (after, I might mention, a night of remorseful sleeplessness) went to tip the bodies of his deceased family down the loo, she spotted him still with a wiggle in his tail and, crime upon crime, deposited him in a little bowl of further undechloinated water. Two days later he continues to wiggle his tail. Truly super tadpole powers of resilience. I'm in awe of you Clark! I hope you grow into a little frog and don't die ...........

PS I'm very sad to inform you that when Clark heard that a friend was on the way with reinforcements, he felt he could let go and gave up the ghost just before the new bucketful of frog spawn arrived. A valiant effort Super-Tad. RIP

New pets!

2010-11-09T18:02:00.002+10:00

To render my new petless state since moving to the retirement village less painful, my friend Annette offered me some frog's eggs, an offer I readily took up. Hundreds of tadpoles hatched the first night in their new home, much to the delight of my grandsons who were having a sleepover.

They are ravenous little fellows and after overhearing a neighbour talking to her fish about giving them a treat of zucchini, I boiled some up with a few lettuce leaves and they tucked in with relish.

So now I have not one pet, but hundreds. However, I don't think I'll be giving them a name each!

Chocolate Argus

2010-11-03T15:18:00.003+10:00

Do you remember the butterfly photo I took and was wanting to identify? Well I found a wonderful butterfly photo website belonging to Geoff Walker and emailed him. I got this friendly reply:

G'day Carol, Your butterfly is Junonia hedonia or more commonly Chocolate Argus. The photograph suggests that they are yellow/orange but in fact they are quite chocolate brown coloured. Hence the name. Whilst they are quite widespread down the entire coastal area of Queensland and also in the Top End my own photographs were in fact taken at the Palmetum in Townsville. Happy snapping.

Wasn't that good of him to take the trouble to let me know? If you're interested in butterflies, his website is certainly worth a visit.

Lengths of the Earth

2010-10-26T10:30:00.056+10:00

The Fibres and Fabrics 2010 Challenge is called ‘Lengths of the Earth’and it's a SCAVENGER HUNT!These are the requirements:

To be finished by Nov 2010

Rules

1. 150mm – 300mm WIDE

2. 1500mm – 2500mm LONG

3. Earth tones plus one colour.

4. Construction needs to have a rigid top so it can

be hung in free space.

5. Must be able to be rolled for easy transportation.

There is a list of things to be found and included on the work. Here are my efforts:

1. Add to your work, a recycled treasure

There are actually 3 treasures incorporated here. The first is a piece of damask gleaned at a rusting workshop done by our group. The second is a wooden bracelet I've had since my twenties which I love but which will no longer slip over my knobbly hand. The third is a piece of divine silk yarn found on Prudence Mapstone's stand at the last Townsville Craft Expo. I've worked the yarn around the bracelet using a crochet technique learnt from Prudence. Then I cut a circle out of the damask cloth, blanket stitched around that and fitted the bracelet into the space and stiched it into place. The circle fits together with what I did for item #8.

2. A beach object found ,during your leisure

These shell fragments weren't found by me, but by an African on the beach of Umngazana on the South African Wild Coast, where I spent my holidays as a child. They were sewn into a necklace which my sister Anne brought me as a gift recently. Sorry Anne (and unknown African lady) but I couldn't resist undoing the necklace to include the fragments in this piece. They're the perfect colours.

3. Now all heads go down, for a footpath find

One evening while eating out with family at a pub in Tarzali on the Atherton Tablelands, I sent a restless young Matthew out to look on the footpath for 'rusty bits' for me while he waited for his food to arrive. He came back with a handful of great bits, amongst which was this nail. You can see the imprint it made in the rusting process. So this doubles as item #11, I suppose.

4. You must add something with a brilliant shine

Some shiny, gold-painted plastic beads with a few red glass beads interspersed, also a little shiny. Red is my one "other" colour.

5. Something that came to you in the mail,

Wool roving from Tree Tops Colour Harmonies Western Australia ( website address being http://www.treetopscolours.com.au/ ), my favourite place for pre-dyed wool roving. Every now and then I'll splash out and mail order a couple of colour combinations. The earthy colours of this batch has a touch of red which suited my purposes. The only time in making this piece I resorted to my sewing machine was to use the embellishing attachment to needle punch the wool roving to the background.

6. A thing that is woven, have you gone pale?

Far from going pale, I really enjoyed this item on the list! Although most of the cloth used is woven, I wanted to do something pronouncedly woven. So I slashed a few lines into woollen blanketing and wove in some rusted flanelette.

By the way all the cloth used in this piece has been rusted by either using rust baths or by using vinegar and rusty bits to stain the cloth.

7. Your wardrobe will yield a fragment to add

A red button! What more can I say ...... Fallen off something and abandoned, it's now found a new home at last.

8. A print from your kitchen, that’s not too bad

Both ends of an egg cup and a plastic yoghurt container, some bronze acrylic paint and I had some circles to set off the bracelet mentioned in item #1. I did a bit of red running stitch inside some of the printed circles to accentuate them and blend them into the work.

9. An item that’s yielded from high aloft

A feather might have been nice, but I settled for a leaf which I used as a stamp to print onto the cloth with ink. The leaf itself would disintegrate in time but it's imprint will last as long as the cloth does.

10. Another you find that is very soft

To fulfil this requirement I left a wisp of the downy soft wool roving unpunched.

11. You may use any way, an item of rust,

As mentioned before, rusty nails were used to stain some coarsely woven cloth.

12. And something sticky, a definite must.

I've used a number of thin bamboo sticks to join the various parts of my piece together. These were cut from a huge clump of bamboo which grows on my son and daughter-in-law's farm, Platypus Farm.

13. Foliage collected up high or down low.

I chose something low down: the leaves of the Gazania plant, because they remind of me of my birth country. Wikipedia says: Gazania (pronounced /ɡəˈzeɪniə/)[1] is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Southern Africa.[2] It is often planted as drought-tolerant ground cover. The genus occurs in South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Tanzania and Angola.^[4] Additionally, species are naturalised in Australia, New Zealand, and California. The leaves are fascinating. Some are all frilly and segmented and some are just plain-Jane straight up and down. I used one of each to carry on the stamping with ink theme.

14. A gift from earth and you’re ready to go.

The Earth gives us an abundance of gifts on which our whole existence relies, ranging from food for our bodies to the most extraordinary food for our souls in the form of flowers.

This is, again, an ink imprint taken from a Gazania

flower.

To see the piece as a whole, you're going to have to wait for the end of November when all our pieces will be hung in the three story stairwell of Federation House in the city!

Flutter By

2010-10-22T15:59:00.003+10:00

I was trimming my hybiscus plants early this morning when this beautiful golden creature fluttered by and came to rest on a leaf. I can't find my butterfly book which I had unearthed during our move, but seemed to have re-lost. If anyone can identify this butterfly (or is it a moth - didn't look hairy enough) for me I'd be interested to know it's name so I can look it up. I haven't seen one quite like this before. New area, new insects, it seems.

Congratulations Zoe and your team on being a Wakakirri Film Finalist

2010-10-19T16:38:00.004+10:00

We are very excited to learn that our grand daughter, Zoe (10), and her school team are one of ten finalists in the Wakakirri story videos. Their film is called iPod Addiction and this is the link to it. Have a look and give them a vote if you think they deserve it. Zoe is the teacher in the film. Let's see if it works ..... it does! The film opens on it's own but takes a minute or so to load (and you need to have QuickTime on your computer). To vote you register your email address on the first opening of the voting window and then receive an email in which there is a link back to the site so that you can lodge your vote.

Sunset

2010-10-17T10:22:00.001+10:00

We're being treated to some beautiful sunsets at the moment. Charles snapped this one yesterday evening. An unusually cold snap is coming through. Okay not as cold as you're having in NSW and Victoria, I admit, but for us in October it's COLD! I'm wearing socks today .....

Craft Fair at Carlyle

2010-10-17T10:12:00.001+10:00

This last Friday Charles and I spent a very enjoyable morning at the Carlyle open day and craft fair. Lots of friendly faces and chats. Charles took a couple of tables for his woodwork and I filled one corner with my coasters. Lots of fun. The courtyard was hung with a wonderful display of quilts made by the Carlyle patchwork, machine embroidery and quilting group.

Big Hair

2010-10-17T09:57:00.000+10:00

I was reminded that it was time for a hair cut when I collected Owen from school recently and he presented me with a picture. "It's of you Granny, with your big hair", he said.

I made an appointment to have it cut immediately!

New Header and Why

2010-10-13T08:17:00.002+10:00

I have a terrible sense of direction so wherever we've lived I've always identified with the local mountains. When I was a child living in the Transkei, South Africa, the nearest range was quite distant, the Kambi Mts, but their place on the horizon served to direct me towards home. We're surrounded by a number of helpful outcrops in Townsville. To the west of our home are The Pinnacles, pictured above. (Can you spot the wallaby at bottom centre of the photo?) To the east is Mt Stuart, pictured below under a cloth of early morning mist. The tower rising above the mist marks Mt Stuart. From our previous home Mt Stuart was to the south, so now gives me the opportunity to imagine where my daughter and family are situated. (They took over our old home.) I love mountains and the permanence they represent. Like us, their mood seems to change with the time of day and the weather. Our mountains become part of our soul, don't they?

Coasting 2010

2010-10-12T20:03:00.002+10:00

I'm coasting again ..... well coastering to be accurate. We have a craft fair coming up on Friday 15th October here in our retirement "resort". It will be the first in this location for Charles and I and our first of three for the season. Charles has LOTS of the wooden boxes on which he works diligently all year so I've been preparing some coasters from my ink drawings to fill a corner of our table. Last year they sold very well at the Fibres and Fabrics Christmas Fair, so it'll be interesting to see if they still have appeal this year. I have added a number of new drawings to the collection during the year and now have over 30 designs from which to choose. It's interesting to see how drawing zentangles has given me the confidence to try drawing other things as well. Lots of fun!

Wopilly and Joey

2010-10-10T09:47:00.000+10:00

My neighbour, Barbara, just sent me this gorgeous photo of visitors to our shared lawn (which I might add is industriously tended by Barbara) with the comment "Time this youngster did his own thing." Name me any other retirement complex which has the luxury of having wildlife on their lawns? We're so lucky! I do love it here.

All in the Numbers!

2010-10-10T08:35:00.003+10:00

Numbers in the mathematical sense have always been a mystery to me, but number patterns amuse me. Perhaps that started because I was born on the first day of the first month, 01/01. I grew up at number 33 in our street. My youngest sister's Birthday is 22/11 and then my first child came on 09/09 which was a great addition to my growing collection of number patterns. Our phone number when I was a child was 525 (yes just 525 was all that was needed back when you cranked the phone handle and got a real life person to put you through and who you knew might be listening in to your converstaion if it was juicy enough). More recently our phone number contained the sequence 57875. I found it really pretty that the 57 repeated itself backwards after the 8 in the middle! The point I'm coming to is that today is 10/10/10 and ....drum roll .... our 44th wedding anniversay. Now if you work that back you'll find that we were married on 10/10/66 ...... okay, nice, but perhaps you don't share my obsession so I'll let you go.

They say small things amuse small minds.

PS I just have to add this: My sisters were born in 1950 and 1960 and turn 60 and 50 this year. Now that is neat, you must admit?! I WILL stop now, I promise.

A Stroll through the Rainforest with me .....

2010-10-05T08:56:00.006+10:00

While up on the Atherton Tableands the others galloped along the path to the Mount Hypipamee Crater which I'd seen a number of times before. Instead I took my time smelling the rainforest 'roses' ...... fruit, fungus, moss and lichen.

Young at Heart Old Friends!

2010-10-03T13:39:00.003+10:00

Getting together with long standing friends is so good for the soul, isn't it? We've just got home after spending a few days showing friends (who were holidaying in Cairns and Port Douglas) around the Atherton Tablelands. There's nothing like comparing memories of a shared past, family stories and grandchildren anecdotes with old friends to bring one's life into perspective. We also did some sightseeing, drank lots of coffee and enjoyed some good food together. Thank you for including us in your holiday, Ray and Kay.

Totems Exhibits

2010-09-21T16:12:00.020+10:00

I have recently been very preoccupied with making some exhibits for our group, Fibres and Fabrics, exhibition called Totems - a symbolic representation of a group, in celebration of our group's 35th Birthday. At last the deadline came and it was too late to tweak them any more and I can move on!

The first of my pieces was made from palm flower stalks woven with commercially dyed silk throwsters waste. I had intended to hang it as above left, but love the way it is hung in the exhibition, right. It is always interesting to see one's work through other people's eyes. The symbolic horns or cornupcopia are meant to herald the enigma of harmony between man and nature, a new twist on the very old concept expressed in Desiderata: You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. I called it Harmony.

The second of my pieces took me over a year to complete. Each block is cut from a larger piece of that colour, made by layering wool roving over muslin with various textures and types of cloth over the whole, stitched and then shrunk. Each one is individually embellished by hand with embroidery and beadwork. Finally the blocks were linked with beads and fishing swivels.

I called this one Moments as I see each square representing a moment shared between my daughters and I and the complete piece as symbolic of relationships between all mothers and daughters.

The third piece I made is a frivolous representation of some of the influences in my life in the form of books on a bookshelf. I had so much fun inventing titles for the books and names for the authors, playing on the names of my family and fellow crafters in many cases. A bit of an in-house joke because you need to know the people involved to really enjoy the humour. Every book is my own creation, using the computer to manipulate colours and fonts and to add my own photos and images. I used the few boxmaking skills I've been shown by the 'Bookies' group at Fibres and Fabrics to fashion the books. The bookshelf was made from old window frames found at the demolishers and left in their peeling-paint condition. The books are collaged onto a canvas.

You can tell so much about a reader by the titles on their shelves!

The exhibition is just amazing. Everyone put their very best foot forward and the work is exceptional and I must take this opportunity to congratulate Barb and Marion who did all the hard work of displaying it. We all feel so pleased with how professional our work looks and are so proud to be part of Fibres and Fabrics. If you're able to go along to the Perc Tucker Gallery in Townsville you won't be disappointed. I have only blogged my own work, but Janet has offered to do a post on the Fibres and Fabrics blog of the opening and the exhibition in general.

Chicken Cushions

2010-09-20T18:15:00.014+10:00

Recently one of our sons, an emergency department nurse, and his wife, a radiology department nurse, asked me to let my 'cult' friends (as they call my crafty friends) that their departments are desperate for soft toys. Apparently once a child has been given a toy to play with that toy must either stay with that child for evermore or be destroyed for fear of spreading infection. So for every child going through the emergency department a pacifying toy disappears.

I spread the word and within a day I had a bag full of smaller toys from my coven of crafty cult members and my friend, Margaret, was making chook cushions from a pattern we found at Marci's Quilting Service, while I finished off my exhibition pieces. (More on that later - it's why I haven't posted for some time!)

Within a very short time she'd cut out 32 chooks and sewn together half of those. I humbly added 8 of my own efforts.

Today Nola, joined us to stuff them, using donated fill from Geri, (both generous neighbours) and Geoff, husband of a dear lady who recently passed away.

By lunch time we'd stuffed the chickens (and ourselves with tea and cake) and 24 chooks were sewn up and ready to do their comforting duties at the local hospital.

Criteria for being a Granny.

2010-09-05T19:25:00.001+10:00

Number six grandson asked his mother if he'd have his own children one day. She said he would, and she'd be their Granny. He considered her for a while, obviously sizing up her suitability to be a grandmother, and finally said "You'll have to get much fatter" indicating enormous girth with his hands. I have obviously coloured his perception of Granny-dom!