Gum Valley Patchwork

Last day of Summer

Today is the last day of Summer and to say I am looking forward to Autumn is an understatement. I do like that we have definite seasons as it makes us appreciate the next one even more, but Autumn and Spring are my favourite seasons. We have had a very dry Summer here and have missed out on most of the rain that has fallen over the last two weeks. Only 27mm since the beginning of January has meant that the water tanks are getting very low. I am making a few trips to the laundromat just to save on a bit of water, at least until we get some rain.

The end of Summer also means that it's Heytesbury Show time again......and that means I am busy busy busy in the Homecraft Pavilion. The Show is on this Saturday, the 2nd March at the Simpson Recreation Reserve. Don't worry the Shop is still open on Show day, so why not visit the Show and be inspired but all of the lovely displays in the Homecraft sections and then pop down the road just 4km and grab some stitching supplies.

Linda     :) 

A successful day

Saturday turned out to be a successful day all round.

My sister's house in Melbourne was sold at auction.

I finally found a pair of shoes for the wedding.....yay....was beginning to think that I may have to go barefoot!

I bought 20 plastic chairs for the wedding at Bunnings and managed to fit them into our VW Golf!

And I won an argument discussion with Russell.

Me: I'm so glad I got these shoes.

Russell: They don't really match, they are brown.

Me: They aren't brown, they are taupe.

Russell: Taupe's not a word, you made that up.

Me: It is so....(showing the name on the shoe box)......Google it then.

Russell: Okay I will......................

Silence.......

Linda     :)

Colac Quilters Pot Luck Night

The Colac Quilters are holding their Pot Luck Night again this year. It is held every second year and last time (2011), Hannah and I attended and had a great time. This year I have decided to get a table together so if you would like to come along and enjoy a great night, please let me know.

Linda    :)

Out of my skin too!

I have been weeding my extremely neglected vegetable garden at the shop. It was a mass of weeds and you couldn't work out where the beds or pathways were. It is hard not living there to keep it all up to scratch.......but hopefully one day I will be able to plant it out with vegetables. I did find this yesterday in amongst the dried weeds.

I am seriously hoping that this belonged to one of the many Blue Tongue Lizards that I see around the garden and not a Tiger Snake that we have sometimes had visit. I can't see any little leg bits but I am telling myself that they must have fallen off!

Linda    :)

The sweet smell of....

I wonder why my back porch smells like apples.........

These are off one of our trees at home......an old Gravenstein tree. This year instead of eating or stewing or giving them away or letting Lister eat them (yes our dog loves eating apples!), Russell has decided to experiment and make some cider. I will let you know how that turns out......hic!

Linda    :)

Oui oui petit lapin

Lots of little ears

and bodies ready for stuffing

Just add some cute little faces and tummy spots

These cute little bunnies are available as a kit, using the same fabric.....'La Belle Fleur' by French General, for $14.50. The kit will make 5 bunnies and can be ordered here .  Or you can get the pattern only for just $4.50.....Quick Easter Bunnies is a Creative Card by Rosalie Quilan Designs.

Linda    :)

Must remember to keep my mouth shut!

If I am lucky it doesn't happen at all.

If I am unlucky it only happens once a year.

If I am really unlucky it happens more than one a year.

Yesterday I was unlucky.........I swallowed my first fly for the year......!

Linda    :)

A day out

It has become a ritual at this time of the year to attend the Sungold Field Days at Allansford. As we are Warrnambool Cheese and Butter suppliers we get free tickets to attend as well as a lovely 2 course meal put on by them. I can only attend on the Wednesday as I am at the shop on Thursday and Friday......so yesterday we went for a look.

Money is tight in dairy farming at the moment so we had nothing on the list to buy. It was lovely to catch up with friends and also a few of the people we do business with. 

Enjoyed looking and dreaming.......would love this to get the cows in!

I could even do my stitching in this!

And marvelled at the sand sculpturer......

wish I could have been there at the end of the day to see the dragon. 

And also the Sungold logo.....he was working from the business card stuck in the top of the sand.

We didn't stay all day as we had a couple of jobs to do in Warrnambool, now where did we park our car?

Linda     :)

Victorian Quilters Summer Gathering

Yesterday I spent the day in the company of some lovely and talented ladies at the Summer Gathering of the Victorian Quilters which was hosted by Camperdown Clocktower Quilters.

As the ladies stitched, the Victorian Quilters held an informal meeting in the morning. We also saw some beautiful quilts in the Show and Tell session. We were very lucky to see a couple of Janet O'Dell's  antique quilts. 

Unexpected entertainment for the day was the cricket match that was being played on the oval outside........every now and then there were screams of howzat and lots of yelling and cheering as someone went out!

The VQ Raffle Quilt was on display and I will have tickets available soon.

My photos do not do it justice ........... it is beautiful.

I was also the guest speaker for the day........I am used to talking to groups of people but I have to admit that I was nervous about whether I was good enough given the calibre of the audience. They all made me feel very welcome and at ease and seemed genuinely interested in what I was talking about. It was lovely to have my Mum come along for the day, and although my shop kept me busy during the morning, I was able to spend some time with her during the afternoon.

 A big thank you to everyone!

Linda   :)

 

Berry Delicious

It's blackberry season at the moment and Russell has been very busy out and about, around the farm and the outpaddock spraying the little (and big) suckers. They are horrible plants particulary when they get into shelterbelts or worse still into the garden. They are not  so horrible when they are up the road in front of someone else's property and are laden with plump juicy sweet berries, ripe for the picking. Tonight I picked about 650 grams of blackberries as all of the tourist traffic was whizzing past......heading home from their day along the coast. 

Nothing tastes as good as wild blackberries......they beat the culivated varieties hands down. Our Gravenstein apples are starting to ripen and as they aren't good keepers I need to start using some of them. I decided to make a Free Form Apple & Blackberry Pie.

I have never made one before as I usually just make 'normal' pies.

The pastry was crumbly and the apples weren't quite cooked, but it was still delicious. 

And even better with a scoop of Bulla Icecream.

Linda   :)