Trip to the Coast!

In all the hustle and bustle leading to Christmas, we decided to opt out for a couple of days and pay a visit to an old friend who lives at Somerset on the North West coast of Tasmania. It was a great couple of days even though the weather was somewhat inclement, in fact over night there was a howling gale and John kept talking about tidal waves and how we could get away from one. Talk about pessimistic.... I love to watch the sea when it is rough, covered in white topped waves and foaming on the shore. The picture above was taken from in front of our motel unit. Great view... Except for the shrub of course lol...

           Storm coming in from out at sea. Table Cape at Wynyard in the distance.

              Blue skies and calm seas the next day on the way home.
                             Heading back towards Burnie.

Arthur Henry Mitchell

This is a picture of my grandfather taken at my wedding shortly before he passed away.He fought in two world wars and was missing in action for as long as it took for him and a few other men to fight their way across Europe, from Normandy, where they missed the boats that were sent for the evacuation of the soldiers, to Sweden where they hitched a ride with a fisherman who kindly took them home to England.  We have been so fortunate to grow up in the world they made safer for us by their sacrifices. A true gentleman in every sense of the word and still missed and loved after all this time.

Two more beauties!

Had to show these beauties off!! The pink orchid is a Miltonia and the white and purple is a Phaleonopsis. Too beautiful not to share!

Sarcochilus Show!

 Thank goodness!   Our last orchid show for the year is finally over and done! We had almost 300 plants on display and i must admit, everything went really well for our one day show. We are both really pleased with our four prizes, especially as one of our plants was considered for grand champion. That was a real boost for us as we have never been that close before. I am so pleased that things went so well, as show marshall, the 'buck' as they say, stops with me so it's nice to be congratulated instead of castigated lol... Now i can have a rest until next years round of events. 

                                  A view down the hall.



Oh, i almost forgot, can't rest just yet, got to get over christmas but that's something i'm looking forward to, lunch at my son's home with all the family.....  Can't get any better than that.

Sunday Drive!!

Sunday storm coming in! Looks nasty but just a  bit of rain and wind and then it was gone.

 On sunday we went for a drive down the beautiful west Tamar. It was not the best of days for a drive but we both needed to get away from home for a little while and looking at the water is always soothing to the spirit. On the way home i remembered i had my camera with me and took a few snaps of the river. Beautiful...

Black swans on the river with Egg Island in the background

                                                        Swans with Deviot on the far shore.

Xmas Stockings!

I made these little xmas stockings for the kids.... Not sure what they will make of them because the youngest is 11years old. A few years ago i made xmas stockings out of fabric and gave all the grandchildren one. I wasn't sure it would go down too well with my then 19 year old grandaughter. When i mentioned that she nearly didn't get  a stocking she was quite forthright about it and stated that she would have been very upset if she was left out. The youngest who was 9 at that time, got a couple of tennis balls in his beside all the other little goodies that were in there, he gave it to mum to take care of and came back every few minutes to see if she still had it with her. So nice to think that they can still get enjoyment out of the little things in life like a xmas stocking filled with sweets and other little goodies... It was quite heartening to see them all sitting around watching a dvd with stockings in hand, munching on the sweets...

Another Rose!

Another rose appeared this morning, i must have been a very good girl lol... Yesterday one appeared on the table, it is on my other blog Time to Cook  & Craft .
Must show John where i keep the vases, spreadable tuna jars and vegemite jars do the trick but don't look so good and i can't very well change them over, i might not get any more flowers  lol......

Exchange squares!

These are the squares i made for my 7in square exchange partner. I have not blocked them yet but i am quite pleased with how they turned out. I hope she will like them because i enjoyed making them.

Made a start!

I have finally made a start on some christmas stocking fillers...  Now i just need the stockings to fill so i will have to get going and either buy them or make some. These are washers and potholders, i have quite a few more to make as yet but they do tend to crochet up very quickly using 'Sugar and Cream' cotton.

Full Moon!

Last night the moon looked like a golden ball in the sky. I watched it come up over rooftops and trees, it looked magnificent....  I managed a few pics and here are a couple although they certainly don't do it the justice it deserves.

Taken from our driveway. Just appearing above the line of hills in the distance.

This one is after some cropping to remove the background.
Just stunning....

School Fair!

We decided as it was such a beautiful day, we would pay a visit to Lilydale school fair this afternoon and here are a few pics taken with my new, touch screen camera. Lot's of kiddies and visitors around.

This is the school sports oval. I attended this school as a child and all my grandchildren have been taught here also.

In fact i still have 2 grandsons in attendance at present.

We quite enjoyed the afternoon, caught up with my 3 grandsons, one of my d-i-l's and a few other people we know as well. There were lot's of stalls and even snakes on display. Was very naughty and bought cakes and biscuits, home made of course and quite yummy... :))

It's finished!

Well here it is, the finished product... I am so pleased with it, very bright and cheerful... Thanks to all the ladies who contributed the squares.  :))

Friendship Rug!

I spent a lovely day today at my friends home, crocheting together all the squares i have received in an online crochet exchange i belong to plus a lot i made myself. So far 126 squares are attached, in one direction at least. I still have to add quite a few more to get the size i need. I want it to cover my 3 seater leather couch to protect it from the winter sun. Not as strong as summer sun of course but still not good for leather. These are a couple of pics taken today by my good friend just to show the progress of the rug. Can't wait to get it finished...

Show pics!

A few more pics taken at our show.The shot above is a view down the hall to the front.

On the left is the display that received the Champion Novice award, well deserved too, some nice blooms..

The next display belongs to me and John. Just a small display but I was quite pleased with it seeing as i didn't have time to plan it out, just threw it up on the day.. Lol...    Thanks for the loan of the small pagoda Pat. :))

Just a couple more pics to finish off.....

 This stand belongs to our members who hail from Devonport. A lovely display...

Grand Champions stand on the right, ribbons galore..

 Beautiful display. The last pic is of the other side of the hall. I really love this venue...

After the Show!

What a great show!! Everything went beautifully... Setup was finished in record time and the hall looked stunning. Many of our members voted it the 'best show ever' and we had a lot of positive feedback from the public. I haven't got all the photo's sorted yet but here are a couple to go on with.

The lovely little flower on the right belongs to our secretary and her husband and was fully deserving of it's award of 'Grand Champion'. 

Reserve Champion was beautiful, first flowering cymbidium belonging to our second eldest member of 87 years. His first really big award so he was totally thrilled. I will post more later as i get sorted out.

One More!

I thought i would add just one more orchid...Lol..  This one won 'Champion Any Other Genera' in last years show, i'm hoping it will do as well this year. Fingers crossed  :)) It's called coelogyne 'Cristata', always covered in pure white blooms with yellow centers. Doesn't really matter whether they win or lose, we get to enjoy the blooms for quite a few weeks to come.

Our Beautiful Blooms!

I have spent some time this morning taking photos of our orchid blooms ( much better than housework ) lol...

So i thought i would share some of them with you. I hope you enjoy them as much as i do.. :))

This yellow cymbidium is just so beautiful, i really love yellow flowers.. This miniature cymbidium is another of my favourites, it's name is Sleeping Dragon 'Carolyn'. Our show starts on thursday so i won't have time to post anything new until it finishes on sunday. I will have a few photos of the show to post next week... :))

This is our coelogyne cristata that won 'champion any other genera' at our show. A beautiful plant that flowers profusely every year, without fail so far. We have owned this plant for 6 years and it just grows and grows... It has doubled it's size each year since we have had it. One of my favourites...

Craft show!

I recently visited a craft fair at a nursing home in my area. There were so many lovely things to see but what took my interest the most were the beaded dolls dresses. There were so many and all made by the same lady and beautifully done, there was even a four poster bed. I would love to be able to say these were mine but unfortunately they aren't. Well done ladies..

I can't imagine how she made this bed or how long it took her to finish it, mind blowing...  It must be time for me  to move into a nursing home?? Then i would have loads of time to finish my craft work.. Lol..  :))

Show Signs!

Our local orchid show is on very soon,  aaarrghh.. I am not ready yet, I need more time... but i say the same thing every year and every year it all works out on the day.. Thank goodness it's only once a year. The new signs arrived today and we are really pleased with them, the printers have done a wonderful job and now we only have to place them in spots that will give us the most  coverage. Mmmm.. i don't think our lounge room will do it.  Lol,  although it does look very pretty.

My 'It's taking it's time' Quilt!

Since starting my blog I have posted a lot of crochet, some pics of orchids and a  few bead projects, I thought it was about time i showed some of my quilting for those who are addicted. I started this quilt 2 years ago and have only to finish the binding. Getting to it with so much else to do is the problem, just not enough hours in the day.... Mmm.. maybe i should blog a little less and work more?? What do you think?? Lol... Well... maybe..  :))

Spanish Lady!!

Pat asked me if i had a photo of this bead doll so here it is. She is really beautiful and what a job of work that was.. Thanks for all your help Pat.    :))

Snowflake square and hexagon!

I have always loved the snowflake granny design but i do like to add my own little touch.While the center of this square is the traditional snowflake  i just made the rest up as i went along. I really enjoy 'add libbing' so to speak just to see what i can come up with. The hexagon is another of my designs which i made for my friend.