Nothing Strange!

Today's topic was "Strange". But I didn't see anything strange today to post, so I have added the photo below instead.

Is this strange enough for everyone! Deb and Lee are going to kill me for this!

This was taken last November at Captain Cook's Cottage in Melbourne while visiting my sister Deb along with my other sister Lee and her daughter Amy. 

Left to right it is Lee, me ( obviously channelling my younger son Michael when he was aged about 10!), Amy and Deb! We had a fun week together in Melbourne with quality girl time and lots of shopping. 

Really have to do it again sometime!

The first thing you see

This lavender is one of the plants I first see when I walk out the front of my home every day.

What a wonderful day it was here in Northam today. Expected maximum was 27C and Sunny. Right now it is 24.9 and the wind has come up. I spent some time this afternoon relaxing by the pool with Jeff and read my book. This morning, I went for my Saturday walk into town to have coffee with the gym girls. Apart from the several loads of washing it has been a very relaxing day in all!

Photo a Day for Friday.

I was wondering what to post for today and had decided on my favourite photo of my favourite pet, Chi, my cat - but! There is always a 'but!'

Today I had a reunion lunch with my grade 7 school teacher after 38 years, Mr David Ross. This was made possible by an old school friend I have been back in touch with for the last twelve months. Stan was interested in tracking down Mr Ross for an upcoming Nollamara Primary School reunion and managed to do so and arranged to have lunch with David today.

What we thought would be a couple of hours over lunch extended out to four and a bit hours. David regaled us with school tales and the trouble he and another teacher got into at school for continually pushing the expected boundaries of teaching by making their students extend themselves. David also got into trouble for allowing girls to play basket ball back in1973!

So here is a photo of my favourite primary school teacher, here is a photo him and my old friend Stan, taken by me and one of Mr Ross and me taken by Stan and also my year 7 school class photo.

David Ross and Me

Stan Hessell and David Ross

Our Year 7 Class
Stan is standing next to our Teacher, David Ross in the third row on the right
I am third from the right in the front row.

Table

was the subject of today's photo. Hmmm....very uninspired. So I waited. Do you know what the good thing about waiting is? You remember you bought a book!

"Digital SLR Settings and Shortcuts....for Dummies!" Yep that is me. A dummy!
1. For not remembering I had this wonderful book that takes all the guess work out.
2. For NOT READING IT!!!!!

So, I looked in the index for 'Candlelight', having decided to take a photo of the table in our meals area with the candle lit. The candle is the only light in this shot. I am quite happy with it as it is my third shot and the only instructions for candle lit photos was for portraits!

Today's Photo..

Together!

This was harder than I thought especially as I was by myself all day! Jeff had gone to Perth to do a bike ride with some friends. Then I realised that I had something "together"!

As I said the other day, I did a workshop with Leesa Chandler of Chandler's Cottage and here is the result, all 'together' ready to be layered and quilted and embellished.

There are two bedrunners in the picture. Gifts for some special friends of mine.

More tomorrow!

Sept 11 - My Hero. My Dad.

I was wondering about how to take a photo of today's Photo-a-day subject, My Hero. I was chatting with my younger son this afternoon as he had sent me photos of his newly arrived furniture in his flat. Michael moved to Melbourne 2 weeks ago.

I asked Michael who I should take a photo of as my Hero. He straight up said "Grandad". As I can't get to Perth today to do that, I have posted a picture not taken by me but by my brother in law Roy at my Dad's 80th birthday last year.

My dad is my hero. He has always been there for us. No conditions. We get the odd hint now and then about ringing him more often but he doesn't berate us for our neglect.  Us being me and my sisters Debbie and Lee. My dad is wonderful. I love him very much. At age 80, Dad is the full time carer for my step mother Pat who has advanced rheumatoid arthritis. He is patient and caring while looking after her.

Dad is the most gentle, loving and caring man I know apart from my gorgeous husband, Jeff. I am blessed to have 4 wonderful men in my life: my Dad, my husband and my two beautiful sons, Matthew and Michael.

Thank you all for being part of my life.

Today it is...

Black and White!

I spent today in Perth with my bestie, Gillian. Last minute, I remembered I had to take a black and white shot for today's photo. G's hubby Bill suggested I take a shot of his pride and joy - his motorbike.
Shamefully I forgot to ask the make and model! But here is a shot of the 'pipe' as suggested by Bill.
Not as sharp in places as I would have liked but the lighting wasn't too flash and I was doing it hand held.

The best thing that happened today was the collection of our tickets and itinerary for the up coming trip to Florida and California in just over three weeks time! Now I am excited!

Today's Photo Theme...

"Something you do most weekends"

Any one who knows me well won't be surprised at the photo I chose to take today!

I am a quilter. I sew most days. Either at the machine or by hand. The fact today has been mostly by hand, I wanted to post a picture of my most prized possession. No - not my camera though it comes a close second.

The project in the machine is a block for the mystery quilt class I did at the beginning of last month. Proper pictures will be posted when I have the top put together!

Photo A Day - At Night

At Night is the topic for today's photo which is why this post is going up so late. Obviously I needed to wait for night!
I don't do a lot of night photography so this was a bit of a challenge but I think I got there in the long run. I tried a couple of different things including a self portrait which was terrible! I just couldn't get the light right on my face and juggle the camera as well, so I went out side.

My final shot is Northam at night from my front verandah. There is no moon and it is pitch black out there other than the fairy lights of Northam.

P.A.D 3

Today's subject is "Nature."
Unlike the suggestion from a friend to go ‘el-natural’ I decided a flower in the garden was the way to go. What better than WA's state flower?
I was going to be gung ho and go out this morning to take this shot when I saw the Kangaroo Paws were in flower but common sense got the better of me.

Take the photo in mid morning sunlight or wait till later in the afternoon when the light is better? I waited and am very glad I did!

Photo a day - Day 2 for me!

Wow. I am determined at this point to try and do this!
September 6 is "Every Day"

The one thing I do every day with out fail is have breakfast. So here is my breakfast today. One multigrain muffin with a slice of short cut bacon and an egg accompanied with a cup (or two) of green tea. I never go with out breakfast unless medically advised. It is the start of my day even if it is just toast or a bowl of cereal. Sometimes, when off bike racing with my hubby at 'crack of sparrows', we will have fruit buns in the car. Jeff will have coffee and I will have my tea. But breakfast always. It is the one meal in a day I won't skip.

Anyway, just a short one this morning. I have to get my butt into gear and get to the Northam Craft Centre. I am attending a quilting workshop by Leesa Chander from Chandler's Cottage. This is an all day event. We are making a bed runner today and then tonight Leesa is introducing us to the Tilda range of products which is taking Australia by storm at the moment!

So, have a good one everyone! I know I will!

Photo A Day... (I hope!!)

Well, didn't I nearly faint when I saw it was January when I last posted! Surely it hasn't been that long. I recently read a post on LifeHacker where having a blog is the same as having a puppy. It is a commitment! I am so glad that I didn't get a puppy instead of a blog. The outcome would have been tragic!

Anyway, here it is. September 5, 2012 and I have just read another blog to inspire me not only to blog a little EVERY DAY, but to also take a photo either with my iPhone or my camera, EVERY DAY!

The blog Fatmumslim has a photo challenge running through out the year. It gives you a list of what to take each day. 

September 5 is "Bright"

I got out my camera, opened one of my fabric drawers and snapped. Not great, but bright! LOL!

The next question is: "Will I play catchup?" I don't know. I will see.

Creativity

I have been practicing my machine quilting, following along with Leah Day's blog The Freemotion Quilting Project. The first project I did was a huge learning curve. In Leah's words, I quilted "the snot" out of this quilt. I started doing a bubble pattern and did it on a very small scale which meant the rest of the quilt had to be quilted on a similar scale. I do love the finished product but boy! It took forever!!

The finished Project!

Detail of the quilting - it is quilted about 1/8 to 1/4" apart! Madness!

I got a little wider on the borders.

This week, I picked up my copy of Quilters Companion Magazine. (no affiliations) and it had a free dvd on how to machine quilt "zentangle style" with quilter and Zentangle teacher, Jane Monk. The method of quilting is similar to Leah Day but the inspiration comes from Zentangle patterns. So last night, instead of sewing or crocheting blankets for charity, I 'zentangled'! This is the result. I couldn't believe how quickly the time passed! I started about 7.30 pm and all of a sudden I couldn't keep my eyes open. No wonder! It was 11pm!!

I have also been enticed to turn my hand to baking sour dough bread from scratch by my bestie, Gilly. I am actually really enjoying the challenge - Yes! Terri is enjoying cooking!! Don't faint! Here is my first attempt which I photographed and messaged to Gilly to show off!

Hello 2012!

Lets hope I get a bit better at blogging this year!

A great start to the new year. Up at 5.05am to be at the Lakes Roadhouse before 6.30am. Why? I hear you ask. Because I love my husband and he has asked me to help out at the registration desk for ATTA (Australian Time Trials Association). So there I was! Thankfully today has been decidedly cooler than the last couple of days. It was a fun morning and we were home again by 11am.

Jeff didn't beat his personal best but he said he didn't do too badly. The course was 41kms and he rode it in 1 hour, 21 minutes and 10 seconds. The course record was broken today by a young rider named Cameron Meyer (he has ridden in the Tour de France for team Garmin). Cameron did the course in 58 minutes and 42 seconds. Personally, I think the lot of them are crazy!!

One of my goals for 2012 is to complete the Project 365 photo challenge. This is my contribution for today:

The idea is to take a photo with your iPhone everyday for a year. I forgot while I was at the time trials but snapped this as I got out of the car when I got home.

Jeff bought me a new Canon 60D EOS digital camera for Christmas so my goal this year is to learn to use it well. I had a play with it after my morning walk yesterday and came home with these photos. Not brilliant but a start. I have posted a couple of these on Facebook and was told by a US friend (hi Janet!) that the duck and duckling look quiet impressionistic! What a compliment!! I did play with it a bit in Aperture but not much. The water was so still and clear that the reflections were gorgeous. I didn't realise how good until I got the pictures on the computer.

I love the leaf detail in this one.

The feathers on mummy duck blew out a bit but I love the colours in the water!

The flour mill.

Pesky seagulls do not belong in Northam! (but it was nice of him to pose for me!)

Three weeks ago...

I went to Melbourne! And it has taken me this long to get around to telling you about it. How slack is that!

The trip came about during the afternoon tea celebrations for my Dad's 80th Birthday. My sister Lee commented that she and her daughter Amy, were going to visit my sister Deb in Melbourne. Jeff suggested that I go too!

So, armed with Lee and Amy's flight numbers, I came home and proceeded to see if I could get on the same flights. I managed to get on the same flight over (and seated just in front of Lee, but couldn't get on the same flight home, so came home the day before Lee and Amy.

While this planning was going on, I was swapping emails with my cousin Kerry in New South Wales. It turned out that on Tuesday when we were in Melbourne, Kerry's husband Peter had meetings in Melbourne, so Kerry came down with him to spend Wednesday with us.

What a week! Amy wanted to shop and shop we did. After breakfast in a little cafe in Albert Park, we spent Monday at the DFO at South Wharf and only managed to do the lower level! At one point in the morning, Lee and I left Amy and Deb to the shops and went and had a massage. I had woken up with a stiff neck and this helped a lot, though through the week when I got tired it would stiffen again. It was a great indicator to all of us when we had to slow down a bit!

Tuesday was more shopping. This time in the city along with a visit to Queen Victoria Markets. It was back home to organise a bbq dinner with Kerry and Peter, who had arrived that evening.

Our days were getting a bit routine happening by now. We would rise, go for a walk, have breakfast, head out either on foot or by tram, have coffee and then get into what ever was planned for the day.

Wednesday was High Tea at Where A Girl Goes in Collingwood. This was a special request from Lee. Lee had a close friend pass from cancer earlier this year who loved this place. So we had a high tea in memory of Rachel. What a great place! We had a choice of teas, coffees or chocolate and the most amazing array of sandwiches, macaroons, cakes and chocolates to feast on. We had lots of pictures taken and this one is my favourite.

High Tea at Where a Girl Goes
L to R: Lee, Amy, Deb, Terri, Kerry

Kerry, with the yummy stuff we had for High Tea!

After high tea, we browsed the shops on Smith Road and much to Amy's delight she ticked of a couple of must have buys while she was in Melbourne. She wanted something vintage, which was a gorgeous lace shirt and something from a Designer which is a cute little dress she got from one of the boutiques which of course, I can now no longer remember the name of!

After shopping, we decided a cocktail was in order before Kerry had to leave us to go home. We went to this kitsch little bar called Madame Brussels in Bourke Street

We then all said goodbye to Kerry who had to go and meet her hubby to catch their flight back to NSW with a promise that we will all do this again in two years time. So rock on November 2013! Hopefully, Kerry's sister Vicki will join us! It was such a fun day!

From here, all the shopping is a bit of a blur! We went to Acland Street in South Melbourne, the South Melbourne Markets,  St Kilda (for cake!!!) and so it went on!

I escaped for a few hours on Thursday afternoon to visit with Jeff's and my friends Heather and Richard Broughton and their very cute 2 year old Zac. It was nice to sit and just visit for a while. Richard and Heather have just moved house and live about a 10 minute walk from Deb and Roy's which was great.

Friday we did the tourist thing as Amy had never been to Melbourne and Lee hadn't been for a long time. We got the City Circle Tram and got to see the main points of Melbourne. When we got back we went to visit and have lunch with "Chloe" at Young and Jacksons.

While we were there, Amy attracted an unwanted admirer. An older man with dreadlocks came and asked who was Amy's mum. He then thanked Lee for bringing a beautiful girl into the world! (we all agree but...) He then disappeared only to come back later to gush over Amy again while we were eating. He said that he would come back again when we had finished our meal. We finished eating and made a hasty exit in case he delivered on his promise!

After lunch, we caught the tram up to Fitzroy Gardens to the Conservatory and Captain Cook's cottage and had a wander through and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Of course we had to do the photo with the face in the hole thing! I look like my son Michael when he was younger!

We headed home after this as we were going to dinner at another Melbourne icon, Mizuzu's in Albert Park. It was a wonderful evening with wonderful food. Deb and Roy had taken me there before with my besty Gilly so I knew how good it was!

Saturday was time for me to go home but not before more shopping!

It was a great week and Roy was so patient with 4 females in the house (5 if you count Zoe "the cat formerly known as Cuddles"!

Oh - and don't let me forget my favourite picture of Amy for the week! She was absolutely taken with the display shoes in Myer!

and she didn't like my close up! (I did threaten to put it on Facebook!)

Early Birthday Gifts

Tomorrow I am 50 years old. I don't know how I feel about that but we will see! Yesterday, I went to my friend Hetty's for the afternoon as per usual. I do this every Sunday. We chat, cross stitch and generally watch a movie.

Yesterday was a bit different because another dear friend, Gail, from Perth arrived for a cuppa too. I was duly presented with two early presents. Gail's early gift I could understand. I won't see her tomorrow but I am having lunch with Hetty! She never can hang on to a gift once she has it for you. I have experienced this on more than one occasion.

Hetty has gifted me with Kasey Chambers' book "A little Bird Told Me..." She knows I like Kasey Chambers and I am really looking forward to sitting down and reading it. For thos of you who don't know who Kasey is, she is my favourite Australian Country Singer.

Gail presented me with a beautiful hand embroidered wall hanging featuring 9 different tea pots. She knows how I love my pot of tea! It is truly an inspiring gift. I was thrilled to bits with it!

My new quilt and book

Detail - sorry can't work out how to rotate it!

Trying!

to be a good girl, I am! And posting a bit more often.

This week has been all about redecorating. Unfortunately I failed to take pictures. We had floor coverings removed from the sewing room and study and had lovely vinyl flooring laid. This had the knock on effect of painting my sewing room and the guest bedroom. It is finally done and the furniture back in place. We are now just awaiting the new blinds. Then I will take pictures and post. :)

Today has been very unexciting so far. I have vacuumed and scrubbed the grout in the passageway tiles and mopped the floor. Riveting stuff! This afternoon, I plan to do the ironing. Isn't my life exciting!

The upside is that will leave tomorrow totally free to do what I want to do. Some sewing more than likely!

Later gaters - I have a date with the ironing board!

Better show you these...

The boys both asked me for quilts late last year.

Matt requested an all black quilt with the logo of his favourite band Alkaline trio and Michael didn't care what he got 'as long as it didn't look like it came out of Target"!!!

Here are the results:

Matt's Quilt 

Detail - Matt's quilt

Mick's Quilt -ever seen this in Target??

Cough!

Okay, I nearly choked  when I realised it is nearly two years since I last posted. Mind you, in that time, quite a lot has happened in our family!

A quick summary of events: (not necessarily in chronological order)

We have sold our business. Jeff retired in September last year and I got to stay on at work for 8 more months. Lucky me. I finally finished in May this year.

Gilly, my BFF and I spent 3 1/2 weeks in April and May 2010 meeting up with friends in the USA and had a blast of a time.  We met some amazing people and saw some amazing sights. We are looking forward to going back in October 2012.

Gilly's eldest daughter got married in October 2010, which resulted in me embellishing Caris's wedding dress for her. A job done with much love. The wedding was a fabulous event and the happy couple are still in bliss 12 months later.

The other thing that occurred because of the wedding is that the Ushers finally have a family photo with all the family members together!

Matt has changed jobs. He is now working as an advertising sales rep for Community Newspapers in Perth. He and his girlfriend Kerry Anne are now living together. Great news. Jeff and I both adore Kerry Anne.

Michael has also changed jobs. He is now working for AARnet as an IT guy. He has a new girlfriend too. We have only met Amy a couple of times but she seems lovely.

Chi the cat is still soldiering on. He is 16 now and a little arthritic but is enjoying having Jeff and I home most of the time. Jeff is spoiling him rotten. Honestly, who feeds their cat camembert cheese? Please!!

Plans for the future? Right now, we are just taking it a day at a time. Jeff is happy working on the garden and riding his bike. I am happy researching the family tree and finishing off the pile of unfinished quilts I have accumulated over the years and also starting some new projects.

The Usher Family!

Matt and Kerry Anne (she is wearing six inch heels!)

The happy Couple - Thomas and Caris

Caris and the embellishing!

The Magpies - Chicago

The Magpies - New Mexico

t

Franca & Diana - The Magpies San Francisco 

Quilt for Kerry Anne

Completed Row by Row Quilt from 2006ish

Everything Old is New Again Challenge - Northam

Latest completed quilt - Beyond the Garden Gate

More Pictures from Melbourne and Daylesford