This and that, again.............

This newsfromjude catchup post is a summary of lots of things, and I always struggle to find a title. 

 IN THE GARDEN

As you can see from the first 2 photos, the garden in the pergola had become quite an untidy mess. I have to walk through this area to get to my car, and for months now I have tried not to look too hard. It was time for some action. There were a lot of pots that had plants in them that no longer showed signs of life, and a few more that needed to be repotted. The leaves from the trees had all blown in and it all looked rather sad.

Some plants received a prune and the garden bed had some nutrients added and a few new plants were added. Now I just need to be disciplined and give more regular attention. Then perhaps I might find some time over the New Year break to actually sit out there, with a cuppa and perhaps read a book?

 I haven't finished around the corner yet, but feel as though I am making progress.

DELIVERIES

 I have made a bit of time in the last few weeks to read some books. One of my recent online orders included some books and I have read 2 of the set of 4. I am not game to start the next one, as when I start I read until it's finished, and there is too much happening in the next week of 2 for that.

There have been quite a few deliveries lately, and here are a couple more of them. Perhaps Christmas has come early??

There was another box of threads that arrived, but haven't got a pic of that. It must have come on the "slow boat" as it took more than 2 weeks to get here from Melbourne. I also purchased a cordless vacuum and that arrived in a couple of days. I do have a very good upright Dyson for use in the house, but wanted something that I could clean the car with, that I didn't have to find an extension cord and plug for. I have used the vacuum at the car wash, but the amount of money I have to feed to the machine for a short time put me off of using that. ( I do have to tell you that this arrived last week, and I have not yet tried it out on the car, but I will.)

A CHALLENGE

One of the quilts that I did last week had quite a bit of excess in the centre of the quilt. 

To keep the quilt square I needed to contain that fabric in the centre, so I added a lot of basting stitches to the area before quilting to avoid the problem of the fabric shifting and creating puckers. By the time it's quilted you would never know.

PLANT PURCHASES

Last week I took a friend to Naracoorte, which is an hour's drive further south, for a medical appointment. While she was there I sat in the car and "people watched".  I should have taken the next book in that series? It is a long time since I have just sat and watched the passersby, wondering who they were, and where they were going? 

After the appointment we went for lunch and then called into the plant shop and a few more plants might have come home with me?

Don't you love the colour of the petals on this dahlia plant? It will make a nice addition to the collection I already have.

VISITORS AND A TRIP

Thursday was a busy day here with a lot of comings and goings. It had been Val's birthday early in the week and Laurie's was to be a few days later. So we had coffee and birthday cake for them both.

Laurie is the fabric rep who calls in every so often and tempts me with lovely samples of fabrics. When Val had her shop at Mundulla he used to call in and tempt her, so she often calls in when he comes to have a chat and say hello. It is 5 years since Val sold her shop, but she still has a good eye for colours and what goes with what, and I value her opinion.

It wasn't long before Pat arrived and soon after that Helen called in.

Helen left, and time went by and Pat stayed and chatted. Her visits have been few and far between this year since the border was closed, and thankfully now restrictions have been lifted. Pat was thinking about heading home, but on the spur of the moment we decided to go for a coffee to the local shop.

Before we knew it, we were in the car and driving to Frances, which is a half hour drive away, and not the local shop at all. (Frances is home to the strawberry farm, which was an added reason for our trip). Pat's daughter Robyn came with us and we enjoyed a coffee........

...............and made some purchases to take home of 5 x 3kg bags of frozen strawberries! I think that I might need to make some time to cook up some strawberry jam real soon! (These were shared between us all and not just mine).

I probably don't need to add that there was absolutely no work done that day! 

WORK

I did manage to get a few quilts done in the next couple of days though.

UP THE HIGHWAY

After church on Sunday I headed up the road again for a visit with Mum. We did some shopping and then drove around the town. It was a very windy and cold day and had been raining heavy when I left home, but there was a bit of blue sky along the river. The local council have upgraded this area a lot since I was last along here.

This is the Proud Mary across the other side of the river, and it's about to come in and tie up to let passengers disembark after their trip up the river.

Looking back towards the rail bridge that goes across the river. This is the main train route between Adelaide and Melbourne. On the other side of the bridge that you can see is the road bridge that connects the town that is on both sides of the river. 

After our drive along the river Mum and I called in to see my nephew and his little boy, who is acting rather shy in this pic and wouldn't leave his dad. He is one of mum's 19 great grandchildren.

The reason for my visit was to wish my amazing Mum a happy birthday, which was the next day. She turned 89 years old!! Hope your day was a good one Mum, luv from Judy xx. 

I think that is enough rambling for this post, and I am now almost caught up on the newsfromjude. I have plans for some quilting on that custom quilt, (and I could be working on this one for some time yet!.............

.............. some time in the kitchen for Christmas baking, more time in the garden and then I might need to think about Christmas?? Restrictions will change again next week so it looks like our family will be able to gather on the 19th which will be very special after the year of separation.

Blessings, From Jude