Off On An Adventure!

 

I'll be a bit quiet on the blog front for the next month. 

Noel and I are off on an adventure to the Kimberley. 

We are heading to Mitchell Plateau up the top of 

Western Australia where we'll be staying at the

 Kandiwal Aboriginal Community. 

I'm going to be making a quilt with the children 

of the school among other things.

 

When we get back, I'll tell you all about our adventure.

I'm sure I'll have lots to share!

Five Siblings Plus One and OPAM

Last week we headed off to Palm Cove (Queensland) 

for a short holiday with Noel's brothers and sisters. 

Hence the 5 siblings plus 1, me!

  

No hat or gloves were needed for our morning walks!

 Off we went for a day up at Kuranda. 

 

We went up on the Kuranda Scenic Railway.

 

Such a lovely station.

 

We came back down on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

 

 Next day was a trip to Hartley's Crocodile Adventure.

 Went full crocodile for lunch. 

Crocodile pie, crocodile spring rolls and skewers.

Mossman Gorge.

Mossman Gorge.

Mossman Gorge.

Trinity Bay Lookout in Port Douglas.

Trinity Beach in Palm Cove.

Donald MacDonald, "Dad", trained here in 1943 

before being shipped off to Papua New Guinea.

This photo is taken looking to the same place 

as the original one on the sign.

There's always one or two silly people!

This photo is the battalion that Dad was in.

  

All too soon it was time to head home. 

We found this cute coffee van at Cairns airport.

Due to high winds, our plane went past the airport 

and came in from the city side. 

We got a great view of the city.

My one finish for July, "Nelson's Choice".

Thanks to Kris for keeping us inspired.

OPAM For May And What's Been Happening!

  

Only two finishes for this month as there's been a lot going on.

A Tilda candle mat.

 

Tilda bunny.

. 

Thanks to Kris for keeping us inspired.

 

So, what has been keeping me busy at MacDonald's Patch?

After 47 years in our house, Mum decided it was time 

to sell up and down size. She wanted to stay in the area 

and we found this lovely unit just 3 minutes away.

This, of course, meant we have to sell her house. 

We've been very busy getting it ready to put on the market. 

There is so much "stuff" after 47 years and we've only just started. 

The real clean out will be once the house is sold.

We were lucky to get two open houses in before the lockdown.

Noel and I celebrated our 26th Anniversary 

and had a couple of days in Ballarat. We had two honeymoons 

when we got married. First we went to the Cook Islands and 

then to Ballarat. We stayed at Sovereign Hill then and we did again..

We stayed in the same room that we did on our honeymoon. 

It was the front room on the left.

 We walked around some of Lake Wendouree. 

For dinner we went to The Boat Shed on the lake. 

It was lovely and we sat overlooking the water. 

We were given a complimentary glass of champagne when we arrived 

as it was our anniversay, which was a lovely surprise. 

The meal was delicious. We can highly recommend this place.

 

Went to the Conservatory in the Botanical Gardens.

 On the way home, we stopped in Ballan so I could visit 

my favourite shop, Chrissie's Timeless Treasures.

Chrissie has so many gorgeous things inside. 

Lots of vintage things, buttons, laces, crockery and new things too.

You might remember that back in February, 

Austin and Paris bought a house.

They got the keys last week and have started moving in!

On the sewing front, I've been sorting threads for 

my Heart Strings stitcheries. Not exactly sure if I'm 

going to do the Heart Strings quilt or not but I have matched the 

threads to go with my bundle of Tilda Old Rose.

I've also pulled out my Lillian Elizabeth's Kitchen 

blocks to calculate what borders I need to cut.

I think I'm all set to start cutting now.

Phew, what a long post! Hope I've haven't bored you.

A Quick Trip and Sewing!

 Mum and I had booked a five night package to Port Douglas last year and we finally got to go. But it turned into a two night stay in the end. We arrived in Queensland to reports that there was talk of closing the state borders. We made the decision to change our flights and came home early. We also made the decision to self isolate when we got back after sitting in close quarters on the plane just to be sure. What Noel and the boys thought would be five nights being bachelors turned into more! I think they survived all the cooking and shopping but they were glad when I came home!

 I had Noel bring my machine over to Mum's which was great. 

I was able to finish the quilt I had started just before I left.

The fabrics are Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille. 

I was given the bundle for my 50th birthday from my lovely quilting friends. 

I got it all put together in about five days.

 I also finished some of my Lillian Elizabeth's Kitchen blocks. 

This is block 11.

 Block 13.

 Block 14.

 Block 15.

 I ran out of red thread but now have some more so will 

be able to finish the last two blocks. This is block 12.

Block 16. Then to design the layout and add 

the embellishments (buttons, vintage lace, ric rac, doilies).

Two week's at Mum's was very productive for me.

I hope everyone is well and stay safe.

Still Smiling, A Weekend Away and OPAM

 The Grand Final celebrations keep going. 

Nelson and the lovely Jameson off to the 

Eltham Football Club Presentation Night. 

That winning smile still hasn't left his face!

Noel and I headed up to Beechworth in country Victoria 

for a few days and stayed with his brother and wife. 

We had perfect weather the whole time 

(apparently it poured and was cold in Melbourne on Friday!). 

Saturday we went to our niece's cafe for some scones. 

Best scones in town! See those lovely tea cups? 

They used to belong to my mother-in-law. 

It's always nicer to have tea in proper tea cups.

This is Betsy (and Bella at the back). 

Look at those big beautiful eyes.

Beverley and Ian have this beautiful wood fired stove. 

I made a couple of quiches. This was the first time 

I have ever cooked in one of these. 

Makes you realised how hard it was in the 

old days keeping the temperature constant.

Managed to get a little stitching done too. 

This is block 3 of Jenny's Phyllis May's Kitchen.

 Block 4 that I finished last week.

 

 Now for September OPAM. 

One finish with Billie's baby quilt.

Thanks to Kris at Tag Along Teddies for keeping us inspired.