A WEE POEM ABOUT SOCKS

THE SORROW OF SOCKS

Some socks are loners -

They can't live in pairs.

On washdays they've shown us

They want to be loners.

They puzzle their owners,

They hide in dark lairs.

Some socks are loners -

They won't live in pairs.

I've been cleaning out my office.  Went mad, even dragging all the files out of the filing cabinet.  Some were torn at the corners because they were too full, so I hopped to it and headed down to Officeworks.  Had a wander and bought a box of new files, some folders, a new mouse pad and some more plastic boxes.  I love my plastic boxes.

While I was tidying up the books on the bookshelves, I found Wendy Cope's poetry book "If I Don't Know".  I loved this poetry book so much that I bought a few copies for gifts a few years ago.  Now I can't remember who I've given one to so have decided to scatter the remaining ones around the house.  

Note to self..."Remember to write down what gifts you give to whom!"

Love Nanxxx

THE FINISHED CUPBOARD

Hello my lovelies

Here are a couple more photographs of the finished cupboard Papa was working on.  

I have decorated the top 'Emily Henderson' style.  Emily Henderson is a stylist and shows you how to 'style' all the tops and bookcases in your home.

Auntie Emma decided she didn't like this painting any longer so we are now the proud owners.  I think the flowers may be anemones which were your Great Grandmother Mary's favourite flowers.

Love Nanxxx

COTTAGE WITH A YELLOW DOOR

Hello my lovelies

I found this photograph in my 'Scotland' file.  I must have taken it a few years ago.  

Happy days!

xxxNan

PUBLIC TOILET IN GOOMBUNGEE

Hello my lovelies

When Papa and I were travelling through Goombungee the other day, I saw this painting on the public toilets.  I thought it was just great.  The poor lady looks as though she's just going to make it! 

 A bit like your Nan :)

xxx

VISITING A CARNIVAL GARDEN OUT AT HADEN

Hello my lovelies

Well here we are on the dusty road making our way to one of the carnival gardens which was open for visitors.  You can see how dry things are just now from this photograph.

We were glad to see this sign as we were starting to think that perhaps we were on the wrong road.

The cows, across the road from the garden in the shade of the old, old shed.

The garden!

What a miracle the owners of this garden have pulled off.

An opening in the garden where you can see the land beyond.

It's 33 degrees today and there's a strong wind too.  There are fires burning in New South Wales and if we don't get rain SOON, we're going to have fires up here too.

Love Nanxx

NEW TREES ALONG THE FENCE

Hello my lovelies

I thought you might like to see how the trees (Pittosporums) are growing along the fence.  We planted them a few months ago and I can see from this photograph that the house next door was still undergoing its renovation.

Here are the trees today.

A few months more and they may be as high as the gutters next door.  Woo hoo!

Love Nanxxx

SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT 12.57PM

Hello my lovelies

It's been a busy time here in Kenneth Street and Toowoomba in general.

We've had the flower festival, open gardens, quilting trail and a lovely visit from Auntie Emma and Fergus.

Papa and I went to see a wonderful garden out at Haden which is between Crows Nest and Goombundgee. I can't tell you how dry everything is at the moment.  The drive out was almost soul destroying and then we drove through the property into an oasis.  I can't find the camera that I took the photographs on so will have to leave them for another day - when I find the camera!

Today the temperature is up in the low 30s and it's supposed to be like this for the rest of the week with no rain in sight.  Today is quite windy too - not good.  As you can imagine we are on EXTREME fire alert.

Papa finished off the cupboard and it is now sitting in pride of place in the kitchen with a gorgeous painting Auntie Emma passed on to us.

Do you like?  I have pretty dishes inside the cupboard which you can catch a glimpse of through the mesh on the sides and in the drawer I have put my place mats and serviettes.  

I must dash.  Papa is calling me for lunch.  I think he may have made a Caesar Salad.  And...I'm sure he's set it up outside on the back deck with a lovely cool glass of white wine to go with.

Molly says "Hi!"

Love Nanxxx

QUILT EXHIBITION 2

Hello my lovelies.  

Some more photographs from our visit to the quilt exhibition up at Fairholme.  Can you see this quilt has a log cabin design?  The red centre symbolizes the fireplace.  In this quilt, Leona has used lights and darks and for her dark colours she's used various brown fabrics.  I love the pattern she has used for the various borders around her log cabins.  This pattern is called Flying Geese.

Another miniature with Papa holding his car key next to the quilt to give an idea of its size.

This quilt had one hundred and thirty two blocks if that's what eleven times eleven equals.  The circle surrounding the flower is made up of three different materials, one on top of the other and all hand stitched, red, cream and then the flower material which, as you can see, Leona has cut very carefully from the fabric she used.

I'm not quite sure how this quilt was made but isn't it just amazing?  How on earth did Leona do the steeple on the building?

Leona made a tag for each of her quilts which allowed the person viewing the quilt to gain a deeper understanding of when, how and sometimes why she made it.  That made looking at the quilts even more interesting.

And a photograph of part of the verandah with some Clivias in flower.

And one of Papa as we left for home.

Today, we took ourselves off to Haden which lies somewhere between Crows Nest and Goombungee to see a prize-winning garden.

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Love Nanxxx

QUILT EXHIBITION AT FAIRHOLME

Hello my lovelies. 

 Papa and I set off nice and early this morning to go to the Quilt Exhibition at Fairholme, the girls' school up the road.  Here's a picture of one of the buildings we passed as we walked through the grounds.  And here is the Homestead in the distance where the quilts were being exhibited.

As I've mentioned before, my friend Lynne who organizes this quilt exhibition does a terrific job not only in the display of the quilts themselves but also with morning, lunch and afternoon tea on the verandah.

Can you see the lovely bunting she has hung all around the verandah?

And here are some of Leona's hand work.  Leona doesn't just quilt.  She also does beautiful cross stitch.

Here are a couple of photographs of her miniature quilts.

I asked Papa to put his finger near the quilt so you get an idea of just how small it is.  It was pinned to a board along with other miniature quilts.  I thought you would especially like this one.

And this one's gorgeous too.

...and some home baking with our morning tea.

I'll put up some more photographs tomorrow.

Love Nanxxx

PAPA AT WORK ON THE BOTTOM-HALF-OF-THE-DRESSER

Hello there my lovelies!

I just took this photograph from my office window.   

Auntie Emma decided to pass her old dresser on to me as her new house has heaps and heaps of built-in bookshelves and she didn't think she would have a place for it.

We took the top part off and put the two pieces into the back of the car, came home and unloaded into the garage.  As you can see, the top part is still off and Papa has pulled the whole of the bottom half to bits and slowly rebuilt it all.  We have decided just to use the bottom part.  Not quite sure what we'll do with the top part.  Will put that in a basket until we decide.  Papa has taken off the old wire screens that were on each side and will replace them with new screens, similar to this idea.

I think they must have used the screen idea on the sides in the past and perhaps placed foods inside the dresser.  The screens would have helped a breeze keep the food cool.

The drawer has also been taken out and rebuilt as have the two cupboard doors and shelf for inside.

It's going to be so lovely when it's all finished.  Papa is in the process of painting it now.  The colour hasn't come out too well in this photograph.  It is a Porter's colour called Breakwater.  I'm not sure, but I think that may be the colour your Mamma used for your new kitchen in Canberra.

I just Googled the colour.

We are going to put the finished 'bottom-half-of-the dresser' in the kitchen just beside the door to the side verandah.  We also have a lovely painting that Auntie Emma passed on to us which will be above the 'bottom-half-of-the-dresser' and I'm looking forward to placing lots of lovely books, objects and a vase of flowers on top when it's finished.

Love Nanxxx

BORDERS ARE ON!

 I just joined up some of the scraps.  All that's left is to baste and quilt it!

Love Nanxxx

CARNIVAL OF FLOWERS AND QUILTER'S TRAIL

Hello my lovelies

Today is the start of the Carnival of Flowers.  The town is looking lovely although perhaps a bit dry.  I can't remember when we last had rain.  Everywhere you look though, trees are in blossom, flowers are in bloom, Wisterias are dripping off verandahs and fences and Jasmine is filling the evening air with its perfume.

I'm looking forward to going through a couple of the Exhibition gardens.  These are quite large gardens which open to visitors for a fee.  The money raised goes towards a good cause, often The Hospice.

I'm also looking forward to going to see the Quilt Journeys Exhibition which will be held in The Homestead at Fairhome College.   Lynne from my Wednesday quilting group at Kerrie's organizes this exhibition each year and this year the exhibits include works by another lady in our quilting group, Leona.  Leona's work is just inspirational.  I hope I can take a couple of photographs for you.  You can see a tiny bit of her work in the photograph above.  I just adore the colours she uses in her quilts too.

Another lovely aspect to the Exhibition is the morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea which you can purchase and eat on the verandah overlooking the lovely gardens of the school.

Lynne and her helpers set up tables with beautiful tablecloths, flowers and serviettes.  She also hangs bunting all along the verandah.  All this of course adds to the Spring atmosphere.

  Lynne is an amazing baker and her cupcakes are to die for.  I shall take a photograph of one for you to see how amazing they are.

  Perhaps we will have morning or afternoon tea together on the verandah next year.

Love Nanxxx

TOO UNWELL FOR THE PARTY

Spot!  Under the table while I sew.  

It was my "Quilting Birthday" yesterday and I wasn't able to go to the party!  Still coughing and coughing.  Kerrie has postponed the celebration to 4 October.  Looking forward to catching up with all my pals, receiving some lovely fat quarters and eating some yummy birthday cake.

In the meantime, I sew.  But not quite alone :)

Love Nanxxx

HE MAKES ME LAUGH

Hello my lovelies

This is Spotty Boy's winter coat which we put on him when it's a cool night.  When Papa gets him up in the morning, he parks his wee coat on Margaret's head.

Love Nanxx

I CAN HEAR A CLICKING NOISE...

Doesn't this photograph make you smile!  I took it a few years ago at Summerfield.  I can't remember what the stars were;  probably Venus and Mars and of course our very own moon.  I picked this photograph because it was taken at night-time and tonight when I went to close up for the night, I could hear cicadas.  It has been a warm day with the temperature in the high 20's.  The sound of the wee dears said, "Summer is on its way Connie!"  At this point I must say sorry to Auntie Amanda because this means that I am taking warm and sunny days from her part of the world.  "Sorry Amanda!" 

And here are some photographs from the archives...

Love Nanxxx