quilting weekend

This weekend i went to a quilting retreat. Went to a new venue in Thornton, it is an adventure camp. Schools make use of it during the week. The accommodation is basic. It is just what you need for a weekend, a bed and meals provided for and we can just sit down and keep sewing. It was a nice country drive. Took a different way back and found it much easier to drive.



The outlook from the pergola was magnificent. We were quit high up. At nighttime it became quit cool. All our meals we had alfresco.







Had a lot of ufo's with me and hoped to finish them. Friday night I had the 1st one ready, a stable bag.



After the stable bag, went to work on the puzzle blocks quilt. The templates of each star was send by email to me and with that had to make the stars. The only thing left was the binding. Got that done.



The last quilt i got finished is Hilde's mystery quilt. You get every time a new pattern to make, the colours and fabrics are you own choice. The last part is how you have to put it together. Well Rudy you wanted to see my upside down sun. Here it is. When you have daylight it is here night. So here is my upside down sun.

Have a couple of tops to the stage of quilting. They are sand witched and i have started already on them. Have been working on them for a couple of years and they have to be finished.



A lot of quilting is done already and now will I put the leaves on or leave them of?



This gollywog quilt is a work in progress

Not so long ago when I moved from house, I had been cleaning out an awful lot and have started again.
Here is how to get rid of a kitchen chair. You need only a spanner, sledge hammer and the wheelie bin.







Last month I got a new lounge suit and the old one had to go. Have no pictures of those but they went also in the wheelie bin. It could not all go once , it took 2 weeks. The foam out of the back of the chairs is in use by the dogs, mine and DD.

It is more then a year ago that I posted something to this blog. Have had a very big blogging dip and still not sure if I will keep doing this.
However have to update a couple of things, which I showed and not the end results.

Have finished the retainer wall and there is again grass growing. On the top level I am trying to get some ground cover but am not yet very successful.



My doggie Jaynne is digging holes if she gets a chance to get in that area.





Before I started painting had the plasterer in and he fixed the ceilings, it started to sag. It looks new again. Have been painting the house, last year august I finished the corner where the air conditioner was to go. Got that installed and used it at night time.


Corner with airconditioner.


My bedroom.


Corner in the lounge.

In November I had to stop with painting because it was getting too hot.
There were only 2 bedrooms and my bathroom to be done. Not so long ago I finished the two bedrooms, one is my quilting room. Now I have to put my stuff in place and I can start patching again.


Quilt in between.

Made a birthday quilt for DD’s friend and one for an auction.


Bithdayquilt




Had a lot of blocks with stars on it and put it together. When I am watching TV I do the hand quilting.

Back again after 6 months

It’s now about 6 months that I have not written a thing.
Have done quit a bit in this time.
Went on holiday on Good Friday. We (DD and I) went to the Netherlands.
Arrived on the Saturday and went to Lelystad, stayed there for a couple of days.

Any way we visited a lot of places. Also the places where I was born and have lived.


The street in Amsterdam where I lived till I was 8 years.

Our ancestors were living here in Appingedam where you will find the hanging kitchens

Did couchsurfing, saw the flower procession,


Flower Procession

Visited the flower auctions in Aalsmeer.



This system is so complete different to what is here. They start with the highest price and you press a button when it comes to the price which you want to pay.


The auction board.

They know who is pressing the button and when the car with the flowers comes out of the room straight away there is a strip stuck to it for who the flowers are.


The cars coming out.

On the floor where the flowers are there is a complete chaos. The cars are coming and going everywhere and crisscross over the floor. You would expect a smash but there isn’t.



At the end there are trucks waiting and then they go to the customers in the country itself or outside. They also go by plane overseas.
Have done a lot genealogy research and found a lost member of the family.
This man was born in the 1760’s, lived in Sexbierum, NL and was suddenly gone. Know he was still living when in the Netherlands they had to take on a surname in the early 1800’s, but could not find him. Well to make the story short, I found a trace of him in the Central Bureau of Genealogy in The Hague. Did also find the marriage of my DH’s grandfather' sister. She married a Major and she had 2 children with him in Indonesia and they went then back to NL and he became a councillor in Alkmaar, NL.
Found 4 sons of the grandfather of which my father in law was one.
Was very happy with my findings.

Spend some time in Italy, where we mad a tour around the Amalfi coast. It was a walking tour. Went up and down the mountains had my muscles screaming the first couple of days. After that it became easier.



We went one day to the isle of Capri and made photo's of the coast.
On the last the day of the tour I managed to fall twice. The first was not so bad only a scrape. The second time I fell was more serious, had a big lump and the skin was broken and squashed. Francesco disinfected it and put a cold pack on it,
was still able to walk. We stayed an extra day at the hotel. On the Monday we went back to Naples via Salerno by bus and flied out in the afternoon.
DD had soon to go back home again.

I did see some more people and went to Scotland for a bus trip through the Highlands.

Looks very much like the Sidney Opera House but is in Glasgow, Scotland.

Learned a lot of the Highlands’ history. We went to Culloden and walked around.

Found this hilarious "locally caught" Haggis.

Afterwards the tour guide told us about the author Diane Gabaldon. She is writing a whole series, which start 3 years before the battle with “Cross Stitch”.
You can’t stop reading. Have 6 books, nr 7 will come out very soon.

Was early June back in the country. Needed a rest from my holiday.
There were a couple of messages for me on the telephone and took care of that.
Got some electricity panels on the roof and I am now generating my own electricity. On east side of the house the soil was getting away from the foundations. Made some repair there. First the fence went out, then concrete against the house and a retainer wall so that the soil is now staying.


Working on the retainer wall.

The fence went in again and I put some ready made grass in. This was over a 6 weeks period. Most of it I did. The concreting and putting up the fence was done by someone else.
Rang the council about a tree on the footpath, they had a look and tree is going. It is rotting away and is dangerous. Got an air conditioner put in and will have by the end of this week also insulation.
The insulation is paid for by the government and you are a fool if you are not getting it. Have started painting the house. The lounge is already finished because the air conditioner had to be fitted. Had already earlier this year put in for a subsidy for a solarhotwater system and electricitypanels. The hotwatersystem was in place before I went on holyday and the panels went in after I came.


Both systems on my roof.

There is not much quilting at the present, do quite a bit of knitting. Have been knitting with the blanket of the Wolhemel. Their blocks are finished but I got patterns from internet and are knitting more blocks.

Relocated

Glad the move is over. Live now for about a month in my new home. The first two weeks I went back and forwards. After moving out of the old place there was still a lot left which had to go. Had another moving sale, what was left and still good I packed into boxes and that went to Lifeline.



Got a container and the rest went into this.




There was guttering long 7 metre, which I cut with the electric saw into smaller pieces.




Chairs underwent the same treatment. If it was not cut then it got smashed. It fitted all in a 4cubic metre container.



Have now started on a lot of repairs to the new place. First thing the locks were changed and the sliding doors checked.
Have bought some paint which matches with the colour on the inside doors. There is quite a bit to patch up.
Today the plumber changed the downpipes, which came nearly down. It is raining now, good that it is down. The roof has to be checked and get then a solar hotwater system and panels for electricity. There are so many subsidies for these. It is now affordable.

House sold

Yes my house is now sold. Have bought a new home in Forest Lake. What a process is this..
First you get a sales contract made up, without signing you go to the solicitor and let him have a look at it. He can now change the wording when it is not done properly. You do not want to end up with a house when the sale of your own house is falling through. Then you have a building and termite inspection. If it has termites you can terminate the contract, it has to be on the contract. If the building inspection is not favourable then you start negotiating through the solicitor till you are satisfied with the price.
Then you wait till settlement date and the sellers are out of the house and you can move in.
In the meantime I am cleaning out the house, garage and have a garage sale coming weekend. What is left over after I move out of the house will be thrown out and in a container.

Moving

Have some time ago signed a sales contract and will be moving. To where I do not know yet. Have to buy another home yet. I am not very impressed with what I have seen up to now . Will be looking in a bigger area. Might be seeing something which I will fancy. Hope to have a house by the end of this month.
Past weekend have been on a quilting retreat and had quite a lot of senior moments, forget the lead for the sewing machine. Had enough work to do without machine and will try now to finish a quilt on the quilting meetings.
Dear daughter is planning a trip for the 2 of us going next year to Europe. We leave in April the winter is supposed to be finished then. We will also going to Italy, the Almafi coast doing a trip then.