Yummy Fabric Giveaway at Retromummy

I don’t enter in many giveaways but Retromummy has some of the beautiful Grandma’s Flower Garden fabric range designed by Rosalie Quinlan in her shop and is having a giveaway.

I have fallen in love with this fabric.  It is just too darned cute.

Look Where We’re Going

Mick and I are headed off on the modern sidecar this weekend to here:

My friend Cath and I went to the Braidwood Airing of the Quilts a few years ago and it was wonderful, so Mick and I are going this year.

The plan is to go for a nice long ride (keeps Mick happy) and visit historic Braidwood, which is lovely and Mick hasn’t explored, and I get to see quilts (keeps me happy).

Unfortunately, there is some wet weather predicted, but we are still going.

Is anyone else headed to Braidwood?

No Stitching Happening – Just Motorcycling

I don’t seem to have sewn a stitch lately.  This week has been just too hot and we seem to have been motorcycling on the weekends.

A week ago there was a classic bike rally in Bathurst.  Mick has normally had to work on that weekend, so we’ve missed out.  However, this year, as he’s just got the old sidecar on the road he decided to make the effort to enter.

 

We had a great day.  The weather was not too hot and we went on some great little roads around the area.  We were surprised to go on a few roads we hadn’t been on before, and we have been on most.

Mick won the sidecar section of the rally, but that wasn’t hard as there were only two in the class.  The bike went really well and is nice and comfy.

This weekend we went to Sydney to the Motorcycle Expo at Homebush on the modern BMW and sidecar.  We travelled down with some friends who have just got into motorcycling and they enjoyed it thoroughly.

Firstly we went to Dural to have breakfast with the Hills Group of the Ulysses Club.  Our friends are members of this group.

The number of exhibitors at the Expo was down a bit on previous years but there was still lots to see. 

 

Mick treated himself to a summer weight bike jacket and it more than paid for itself on Sunday.

It was really pleasantly cool riding over the mountains early on Saturday morning and the Showground halls were air conditioned, so we avoided the worst of the heat. 

On Saturday night we went to Church Street Parramatta with friends and dined al fresco.  It was a lovely evening.

As it was going to be a stinker on Sunday we left relatively early to head home.  Once we got up into the mountains the wind picked up and it got really hot.  There were fire trucks on standby all over the place.  We were so thankful we were on the sidecar, as a solo bike would have been blown all over the road.  We were very glad to get home at about lunchtime and try and stay a bit cool in the house.

Unfortunately, there were some potentially serious fires in our region, but none near us thank goodness.

The weather has cooled down nicely now, so I will do a bit of stitching in the next few days.  I have secret squirrel business requiring attention.

By the way, Mick got another brown snake between the house and shed on Friday.  That’s now five we’ve seen in the yard and it’s not even summer yet!

Quick Christmas Swap Received

Recently Jenny and Vicki arranged a Quick Christmas Swap.  You were to send two Christmassy fat quarters, two buttons or trims and a metre of ribbon.  Simple.

My swap partner was Edy from New Mexico.  This was very exciting, as she is my first international swap partner. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have a blog, so I can’t share a link.

This is what I received in the mail.

I was very spoilt!  Edy was naughty and sent a few extra bits and bobs.  Mind you, I won’t complain, because they are very cute.  I love the chillies on the card. The Santa is actually a little brooch, so I’ll be wearing that in the lead up to Christmas.  Everything is lovely. 

This is what Edy received.  I forgot to take a photo with the card, so I’m using Edy’s photo that she sent me.

It has been lovely to meet someone new through this swap.  Thanks so much to Jenny and Vicki for arranging it.

Now I have to decide what to create with my lovely gifts.

A Snaky Tale

Let me tell you a story………

My Dad was a real bushy in his earlier days and used to catch snakes in western Queensland and send them to the Brisbane Museum.  When I was a kid, I loved taking snakes and spiders and such in jars to school for show and tell.

As I’ve got older I’ve developed a fear – well probably more like a phobia about snakes.  I hate them!!!!

Mick would have liked to move out of town years before we did as he had grown up on a property.  My fear of snakes kept us in town.  We saw a few of the snake man demonstrations at the local show and such and I learnt that yes, if you froze they forget you are a threat due to their tiny brain ….. but they never told me what I needed to know until I asked the really dumb, girly question……….. “But can you scream?”  The answer, after everyone finished snickering, was that yes, I can scream as snakes are deaf.  Now I felt better.  At least I could yell out to Mick if I saw a snake.

We moved out of town and I’ve seen quite a few now……. yes, it is nearly always me that spots the snake.  We have lost 1 dog, 1 chook and have had 2 cats bitten, but saved.  I breathe a huge sigh of relief ever day when I come home and see the animals running around.  I hate snakes.

I have never killed a snake and I’ve never touched a snake.

We didn’t see any in the yard for the last two summers, but the year before we had 6 in the yard during the warmer months.

Yesterday Mick saw one near our top gate, we saw one crossing the road when we were on the bike (fortunately it was on the other side of the road) and a fresh dead one on the road.

This afternoon I went out onto the back verandah and noticed Biggles our Jack Russell  watching something intently in the herb garden.  I called him, but being his usual independent soul a disobedient dog he totally ignored me.  However, my calling roused Felix our cat from his nap on the chair on the verandah.  He walked towards the edge of the verandah, which is about 18 inches off the ground and started watching something intently under the ramp down to the yard.  I couldn’t see anything…….and then in the grass I spotted about 6 inches of scales……the mid section of a brown snake!!! It was so well hidden. 

I ran around to the front of the house where Mick was working in the garden doing some plumbing for our pressure pump and tank to water the garden and yelled that there was a snake.  He took off over to the shed, and as he left I heard a rustle in the garden below me.  The verandah is about 6 foot above the ground at the front and there was ANOTHER SNAKE wriggling its way along the front of the house in the garden.

I yelled at Mick again.  He got his weapon of choice, known as “The Big Stick” better known as a 12 gauge shot gun….shot the one at the back of the house, which Felix was watching but not attacking, and then ran around the front and shot the other one.

MY HERO!!

What are the chances of having two snakes near the house at the same time?

They were both about the same size, but one was still wriggling a bit when I took the photo. I was too stunned to think of taking a photo until Mick suggested it.  I’m glad he did.

By the way, I don’t know what Biggles was watching, I just hope it wasn’t a third one!

I’m really glad I saw them both, as Mick might have been under the house doing some of the plumbing with two snakes for company ….it doesn’t bear thinking about.