Monday 29 July 2019

Tea Time

Over several months I have had to change a few things around when it comes to my health, and one of the ones that happened was that I could no longer have 'normal'  tea or coffee - not even decaffeinated stuff, and the recommended drink was camomile tea.

With this in mind, I started taking some tea bags with me whenever we went out in a snack-lock plastic bag, but I found it didn't last long. The reason for this is that some cafes etc do not have camomile tea, although thankfully most do.

The fact the plastic bags kept splitting with use, I rummaged around in my fabric collection and came across a small piece of appropriate fabric just the right size. This is the result of 5 minutes at the machine.


Oh, I must tell you, my day's shopping I mentioned in my last post was disappointing to say the least. Have you ever had days where you are so looking forward to shopping and when you get there, you really don't need much after all. Well this happened the other day and I only ended up with minimal in my shopping bag. Ah well, another day will reap a better shopping trip I am sure.


For now though ......


                                                                                             and thank you for stopping by.

Friday 26 July 2019

Countdown to Christmas - July

Oh, I can hear the groan coming from you all, and usually I would agree with you, however this year I decided I was going to start early as I find making all my Christmas items all in December seems to send me into a frenzy with such a short time to complete them, but ..... this year I will be more organised. Well, that is what I am saying now, I bet I shall be still frantic come December!



So, for my first 'Countdown to Christmas' project I have made a couple more of my mug sweaters with a Christmas theme. The only problem here is that Christmas here in Australia is normally hot! Guess we will just have to have a 'Christmas in July' party.


I am quite happy with the way Mr & Mrs Claus came together.

For now though .....

                                                                                                    and thank you for stopping by.

Tuesday 23 July 2019

Using up Some Fabric

I have been able to say to Pete that yes, I have used some of the fabric I purchased on our recent trip. Do you remember the panel of indigenous patchwork fabric I showed you in a photo in one of our previous posts? If not, that's OK, here it is again ...


Well over the weekend I managed to get into my craft room and do something with it.

I have made 2 sets of 4 placemats, and oh don't they look good - really bright and viberant
 - will look good on any table.


I have also started a couple of small fun projects that hopefully will be finished by the end of the month - watch out for those. However, I find the need to go back to my craft store and buy a few more items - didn't say fabric you will notice, but Pete has given me strict instructions, yet again, that there is ....

                                                     LOAD LIMITS ON


Now I ask you ....... 

Found these scales and have decided to take them with me to the shops


They have a 40kg load limit - do you think that should be enough?

But looking at my list for tomorrow, there is NO fabric on it, so does this load limit apply??

Think I had better stop here and go and do some knitting before I get myself into trouble with my whacky sense of humour.

For now though .....

                                                                                                 Thank you for stopping by.



Tuesday 16 July 2019

Back to My Sewing Room

It seems such a long time since I was last in my sewing/craft room that I was amazed just how tidy it was. Not any more though, by the time I unpacked the fabric I had purchased while away, one could say it was back to being a mess.

Haven't had a real lot of time to get behind the sewing machine though, what with catching up on the washing, ironing, cleaning etc. that comes with the end of a trip, I decided that I would dig out my knitting needles and do a bit of knitting at night whilst watching a bit on the tv.

So .... the background to this fun item is that I purchased a re-usable mug whilst on the boat/ferry crossing Port Phillip Bay in Victoria from Sorrento to Queenscliff. It was a cold, wet miserable day and a hot drink was most welcome.

Then somewhere further along on our trip, a lady (can't remember where) suggested I make a mug sweater for my new mug. Not wanting to appear ignorant, I smiled and nodded my head - yes I would look at doing that.  When I got the chance I looked up Mr Google, and oh my goodness ..... I was gob-smacked at the pictures I found, along with a few free patterns to make some. I waited patiently until I got home, downloaded and printed off a couple of the patterns, and considering it has been such a very chilly weekend, I dug out my knitting needles and some wool and off I went. As my mug was a different size than the patterns called for, I had a bit of knitting, undoing, knitting again, Pete just shook his head, but when I had finally finished it and sewn it up, the result bought a smile to his face.

Now, to see what you think.


For now though .....
                                                                                         and thank you for stopping by.

Tuesday 9 July 2019

Finish Line in Sight

After our time in Tambo, it was onto Augathella and Mitchell for our next nights stop off. Mitchell is famous for it's Artesian Spa pools, which I have to say are a great reviver, but this time we chose not to have a swim in them as we had done so on our previous trip.


Our first stop the next morning was at Roma - another bakery to sample, and oh so yummy!! However, we found a store that had everything a sewer could possibly dream of, and surprisingly the owners knew where everything was - goodness knows how. One could say it was an Aladdin's cave or an absolute nightmare. To be honest I do not know how workplace, health and safety allow him to continue trading - to me, it screams of a fire/death trap.



We then continued on to Miles, doing a little grocery shopping before heading for our stop over for the next three nights. This would be a Veteran's Retreat at Columboola which is half way between Miles and Chinchilla. Really basic/rustic, but very peaceful, although water was to be an issue - another product of the on-going drought.


There was this beautiful waterhole though, but sadly not suitable for drinking water.


During our stay at Columboola, we took a run up the Leichhardt Highway to Wondoan and Taroom.

At Wondoan we saw another one of those 'quirky' things that appear every so often in Australia - out in the middle of central Queensland - the Wodoan Surf Shop!


We continued on through to Taroom where we saw Leichhardt's tree, where the famous explorer passed  (and marked the tree) on his inland explorations of this area.



Just across from here, we enjoyed another yummy (late) morning tea, before it was time to start heading back to camp.

After leaving Columboola, we continued down the Warrego Highway heading towards Brisbane via Dalby and Toowoomba. Have to say, at least this time through Toowoomba, we did not encounter a pea-souper of a fog like last trip thankfully. Then it was down the Range and on to Brisbane.



This is where we began and ended our adventure, we trust you enjoyed coming along for the ride - our journey to Darwin, via Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide covered some 11,000 kms.


Time to unpack the caravan, do the washing, and (hopefully) put our feet up for a while.

See you next time in the sewing room.

A B-I-G Dose of Happiness

After Blackall, our morning tea stop was at Tambo - now Tambo is known world-wide for it's beautiful teddies. The idea of making the teddies began some 20 years ago by two women who were trying to come up with an idea to help their farming husbands and supplement the income for the drought affected properties. (Hmm ..... another 7 year drought is here at present) Anyway, these women created the Tambo Teddies and they are now sold all over the world. I have visited this store before and it was with joy I re-visited it and it's new owners. I was able to introduce them to my bear that travels with us (OK, with me!) and I wonder if you can find him amongst all the other bears.



 

OK, I've had my little bit of indulgence, now back to our trip.

PS The morning tea at the café across the road was rather tasty too.

Western Queensland

First off, apologies for the delay in writing this up, but of late we have had minimal phone reception and no internet for 5 days - not good, but that's the outback for you.

Now this is the real outback ..... after Kynuna, we continued down the Landsborough Highway, with our nights stop at Winton.  The Pub here has a caravan park attached to it, and being basically right in town, we could walk to have a look around the place. First off was the Pub - oh boy, this is beginning to sound like a 'pub crawl' doesn't it, but trust me it's not. These outback pubs really do have lots of history to them and are amazing to check out the insides as well.




And no, this is not my bear sitting up at the bar!

From here we walked down the main street taking in a great way to encourage people to use the rubbish bins. There is evidence of fossils of dinosaurs having roamed this region millions of years ago - hence the bins.


We continued down to the new Waltzing Matilda Centre (the previous one was destroyed by fire some years ago) and we were quite impressed with what had been created out of the ashes.



After Winton, it was further down the line, we pulled into Longreach, the home of QANTAS, and it was here we also crossed back over the Tropic of Capricorn.



As we have previously visited the famous Stockman's Hall of Fame, we decided not to include that on this trip.

Next came Barcaldine, a town that grew from the formation of the union movements in Australia, and is the birthplace of the Australian Labour Party. In the centre of town was the 'Tree of Knowledge' however unfortunately it died (or something) some time ago, and a new sculpture was created around the original trunk - quite impressive.



The centre pieces are hanging and as the wind blows through it, they chime - sounds really lovely.

Oh, and I couldn't help myself ...... I purchased some more fabric - just 3 fat qtrs. this time.

Time to keep moving, and onto our nights stop at Blackall. A bit of a hazardous journey though, with cattle being grazed in 'the long paddock' this meaning the cattle are grazed beside the road to get the 'best pickings' so to speak.



For now though, it's goodnight from Blackall.








Tuesday 2 July 2019

Back in Queesland

For as much as we have thoroughly enjoyed our trip and there is still more to come before we are back home, it was nice to be back in our home state.


On our way back though we will be travelling through Queensland's outback region - and what a region it is.


Our first stop off was Camooweal where we spent the night - not a real lot to Camooweal, and less than 5 minutes is all you need to see the town - and that includes an ice cream break as well.



After leaving Camooweal, we made the short run (188 kms) into Mount Isa. I had found on the internet that there was a fabric shop in Mount Isa and I wanted to check it out. After buying fabric in both Alice Springs and Darwin, I was under stick instructions that there was a weight limit with the caravan, however I was mindful of this when ....... yes, I purchased more fabric! A bucket load to be honest, and no, Pete did not get cranky - he just smiled. You see, I had purchased 7 fat Qtrs in a mini bucket (got the bucket too) about the size of a margarine container.




Now I have to think what I am going to make with these Christmas prints.

From Mount Isa, it was onto Cloncurry for a quick stop off for morning tea at the local bakery (nothing unusual in that), before turning south-east down the Matilda Highway with our lunch break outside the Walkabout Hotel at McKinlay that was made famous by Paul Hogan in the movie
Crocodile Dundee.

 
                                    

Back on that never-ending road,


 we made for our night's stop at the Blue Heeler Pub at Kynuna





Now we have shown you what the road is like and how long and for some quite boring, which amazes us, because you see all sorts of things and people along the way, including bicycle riders ....



and a guy that was stopped for a while at the pub last night, who was pulling this with obviously all his belongings.

We left Kynuna at 8.30am this morning, and by the time we caught up with him, he had covered 18 kms from the pub, so goodness knows what time he left to start his trek for the day.

Our run though for the day followed more of that never-ending road.