OH...my, it's been a long time.

OH my, it has been a long time! Can't believe my last posting was July 30,2009. I told you in that post DH & I were getting ready for a move to Australia. In October we made that move and have been adjusting to life in a new country and seeing a few sites. You know you are not in Kansas anymore when you look out the airport window and see mostly planes that look like this.
Yep, those are all Quantas planes....and I was sitting in the Sydney airport waiting for the next leg of my flight taking me to an airport in rural Victoria where I will live for the next 2 years. Not only have I seen the kangaroos on the tail of the planes, but I regularly see them like this.
I snapped this at the local golf course. DH plays on Sunday afternoons and I walk along snapping pictures. The kangaroos are everywhere on the golf course. This momma was nice enough to stand and let me take her picture and little joey stuck his head out of the pouch at the perfect moment!

Not only have I seen kangaroos in their natural habitat, but we drove about 25 miles and saw this little guy in his natural habitat.
See that cute koala....well we went to this forest area arriving about midday and we saw 16 of these guys as we walked along the trail. Not only did we see these guys, but there were herds of kangaroo too.

We haven't traveled much yet, just to see things in our area. I've been surprised by the diversity of landscape within 2 hrs. of where we live. This is what my area looks like.....flat farmland and many, many vineyards.
See all that green......those are grape vines. There are also olive groves and lots of fruit orchards in the area. Within 2 hrs. we also have areas like this
This was taken when we drove up Mt. Buffalo. I was surprised to have mountains like this so close to us.

When I arrived in AU, I had already made contact with a group of ladies who quilt in the area where we were to live. They have taken me under wing and welcomed me so warmly. They have made the adjustment for me so much easier. We meet and sew every two weeks....or as they say... every "fortnight". Not only are they welcoming me to their sewing group, they are also teaching me "Aussie slang", introducing me to typical Australian foods, and trying to get me to develop an Australian accent to go along with my Texan...Virginian....Missouri accent.

So.....how is my stitching coming along. Well, I had to bring only sewing that I could do by hand, so I brought the papercuts on blue background that I showed in my post on April 13, 2009. I now have 9 completed and I'm well on the way to completing number 10. I haven't taken pictures of them, but I will try to lay them out and get a picture for my next post. My postings to this blog will not be regular as I do not have unlimited internet access as I had in the US. I will post as often as I can....and some postings will not have pictures. I do hope to get back to posting more often than I have been!

Where Oh Where Have I Been?

Chasing myself....or at least it feels that way.

In June, I accompanied DH on a trip to a technical engineering conference near Salt Lake City UT. We took a few days vacation on the way there. The first day out, we drove across KS. It was beautifully green.
Near Limon, CO, we drove through a hailstorm like none I've ever seen before. Thank goodness the hail was small and did no damage to our car! When the hail ended.....it looked like about an inch of snow on the ground. We went as far as Manitou Springs, CO that first night.
See that mountain with snow in the center of the photo. Well, that's Pike's Peak. After we had dinner, we went to Garden of the Gods. We had a nice evening walk there and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. I snapped a picture of some of the wildlife we saw that evening. See the deer just behind the fence. The next morning we went through Alma, CO across Hossier Pass and into Breckenridge, CO. Scenery at the pass was just beautiful.We had lunch in Breckenridge and then headed on north to Grand Lake, CO. I visited a quilt shop there and bought a few goodies. The next morning we got up early and drove into Rocky Mountain National Park. I've been there several times over the years, but always later in the season. There was still lots of snow.
Since we were early in the morning, we got to see lots of elk near the entrance on the west side of the park. We also saw 4 moose.One thing we noticed throughout Colorado was all the dying trees. Literature we got at the park entrance said this was because of a serious infestation of the Pine Beetle. See the dead trees....well there are thousands and thousands of them.

Before noon, we were on our way north through Steamboat Springs. We were headed for Salt Lake City UT. The northwest corner of CO is very arid, but we were pleasantly surprised to see so much green there this year. I snapped this at the Colorado/Utah border.We actually stayed in a hotel in Ogden UT. Two days during that week while DH was in meetings, I drove the 25 miles into downtown Salt Lake and went to the Family History Library. That place is amazing. I enjoy doing family research and was able to find some info on my Texas family there. DH and I also had a day to do some sight seeing. We drove up through Logan UT to Bear Lake on the Utah/Idaho border. It's a beautiful lake and about half of it is in each state. There was a nice visitors center on a pass overlooking the lake so we stopped and snapped a picture.We took a different route on our way home. We drove across southern Wyoming & Nebraska In Wyoming,we saw beautiful sights like these.


After we got home.....life really got crazy. We have had some decisions to make. Decisions? You might ask what kind of decisions. Well, decisions that are going to really change life for both of us......in a good way. My husband has been selected to head up a program that his company is doing in Australia. This assignment is going to require us to move to Australia for 2 years. All this is happening so quickly. We will be going soon for a 2 week visit to look at housing. Then we return home until all the government paperwork is complete. As soon as that is done, we head down to live. I may not be posting much for a while because I am cleaning, sorting, and preparing for the adventure of a lifetime.

Done!

I've been working very hard over the past few days trying to finish this baby quilt. The pressure became more intense on June 1 because the sweet little girl who is going to receive it was born on that day. She was a tiny thing weighing only 5 lbs. 9 oz. and was 18 inches long. Her name is Paige.

Here's a look at the back. I had a difficult time finding something for the back. I'm not overly crazy about this one, but it was the best I could find on short notice. Now, it's off to the post office to get it in the mail.

Progress

I've shown you the sample blocks for the baby quilts I am making for my niece. I've also been saying I'm going to get it done.....and then I say I've been busy doing something else. Well, today I finally found some time to sew and I have made some progress. I still have some sewing to do, but at least I'm making progress!

No pictures today! I did sew a few more blocks over the weekend, but no where near what I had planned. I hope to work on them later today after I run a few errands.

So....what did I do over the holiday weekend?? DH and I scrapped and painted the trim on the front of our house. It gets direct sun there and the paint was beginning to fail. It was hot and humid and the work was dirty. We worked on Saturday and Sunday because rain was in the forecast for Memorial Day. It did just that! We had a slow, drizzly rain most of the day.

Baby Quilt

I promised a picture of the blocks I'm using in the 2 baby quilts I need to make. I'm using the same colors on both of them and will most likely make them both using the same pattern. One quilt will go to my niece and one will go to DH's nephew. Neither of them know each other and they don't live in the same area, so I feel safe in making them just alike.

These blocks went together very easily. I'm using a 6 inch finished and a 3 inch finished block. If you are interested, I am using a pattern I found online at www.About.com. You can find the pattern and instructions here. Janet Wickell is the designer and/or contributor of the instructions. My thanks to her for sharing!

At this point, I think I am simply going to alternate these two blocks. I'll also be making the larger 6 inch block in the same 4 colors I used in that smaller block. Of course.....I reserve the right to change my mind as I get the blocks all sewn together.

My clematis has almost all the buds open now, so I thought I would share one more picture. Isn't it lovely?


I have gotten a start on the baby quilts I have to make. I'm using a bow tie pattern. I have the pieces cut and will show pictures soon.