A Table and a Wombat

The painting is coming along and now we have only two more bedrooms to go. There are still lots of fiddly bits to do, which are down to me, but the progress so far is heartening. The house is looking warm and cosy and is so much more comfy than it was. It looks clean and fresh and even smells good!

The weather over the weekend was very cold. We visited the farmers market at Blackheath on Sunday and it was 2 degrees as we set off from home. We saw a family of kangaroos, dad, mum and baby, and a lyre bird on the way as well. The kangaroos were down towards the more populated part of our road and were heading towards the oval, probably for some breakfast.

At the Imperial Hotel on Saturday evening, when we dropped in for a beer and a warming shiraz, we met Chloe, who is a six month old baby wombat. The bar attendant has taken on her second orphaned wombat to care for. The first one she had, Rosey, has been released back into the wild. Both babies were found in their mum's pouches after they were hit by vehicles on the road.

Chloe was soooo cute. She was tucked up inside a beanie and a handbag!

Our big shed, where the traction engine sleeps, has all sorts of other stuff in it and most of it is pretty dirty and dusty. One of the things down there was an old wooden table which had had a hard life! However, I could see it had once been a very nice piece of furniture. It was covered in dirt and an oily greasy film of muck which took some serious scrubbing and de-greaser to get off. However, after a clean and a serious going over with an electric sander it came up a treat. I only wish I had taken a photo before we started. It looked terrible....

 

 
Mike painted it with some stain and then after another sand, a coat of clear lacquer, and this is how it looks in the dining nook! It has lots of marks on it which still give away its hard life but it looks great and fits perfectly. Its so nice to bring it back to life again.

Thats my Jacobean Star quilt ( a Chris Jurd design) hanging on the wall which brightens up the room too. The flowers are beautiful proteas which we bought at the farmers market in Blackheath.

It was a great weekend, catching up with old friends and family. 

Before and after

The reno's at Mt Vic are done except for the painting. We have made a start but there is a long way to go. I thought I would share some before and after photos. The before photos are a bit scary but now that they are a thing of the past I can relax!

The old bathroom before..

And after!!

The ensuite bathroom looked like this.

It had a storage/hanging space area next to it which we have changed completely, incorporating a nice vanity bench, new window and built in wardrobe. This is what it used to look like.

The new ensuite....

The laundry used to look like this!!!

and now looks like this! It still needs to be painted of course but its much lighter and brighter already.

A lot of cleaning out has happened as well so as not to contaminate the new space! Replacing the old aluminium windows with nice new white ones made a huge difference and adding the little fixed window in the ensuite area has made it lovely and light. The view of the tree tops is lovely too.

Our builder Eamonn Doran did a wonderful job and was very easy to work with. Nothing was a problem for him.

Our next door neighbours who own about 40 acres on both sides of Mt York Road have recently cleared a lot of their property along the boundaries. This is what we found when we went down behind our shed to have a look.

 A bit different to how it used to be. Nothing stays the same for ever!

Tea Towels but its not Tuesday

Life has been very busy lately but lots of fun. Our renovations are pretty much complete at Mount Victoria, except for all the painting which is down to us. We are very happy with the results and excited to get stuck into the painting so that we can stay there in more comfort. At the moment its still a mess with furniture all over the place so once the ceilings are done we can start moving things back into their respective rooms.


The 'new' Rayburn stove has been fitted with a new flue and connected up to the hot water system so we will be able to enjoy a smoke and soot free kitchen, with warmth, hot water and cooking capacity. The old stove made the house very sooty and it has become apparent since taking it out that it was not functioning very well at all. I'm itching to christen the new stove with some yummy baked goods! The house feels more like our house now.

Moving on to the subject of this post, my friend Grace who lives in Blackall in far western Queensland, sent me these amazing tea towels for my collection. Grace has been helping a friend of hers, Marie, while she recovers from illness. Marie generously gave Grace some tea towels for me once before and now she has revealed these beauties from her cupboards!

My favourite!

A collectors item I think.

None of the side edges are hemmed. Apparently, that's how you could buy them back in the 40's and 50's. They were cut from a roll with scissors (no roller cutters then!). Some of these still have the original prices on them. They are beautiful soft Irish linen bought by Marie when she was in her early 20's back in the late 50's. I feel very fortunate to be the recipient of such treasures.


Three quilts that I made ages ago have resurfaced of late.

A small lap quilt. The border fabric is now very faded.

This one was made by fabric that I bought at a garage sale in Springwood many many years ago. I had the pale green and the black but the dark floral, apricot and backing were bought from the garage sale for a few dollars. The quilt has been with my daughter for a few years now and I had forgotten all about it. I quilted it myself with some stippling and stars which I also had forgotten about! Its interesting to look back and note how your fabric selections have changed. Certainly my colour preferences have changed and everything I make these days seems to be a lot bigger!! I think this is due to the availability and affordability of professional quilting services now.

This one was a kit I bought from Penrith Patchwork and is a Chris Jurd design. I love the pretty colours in this quilt. I finished it about five years ago. Erin had it on her bed in hospital when she was awaiting Oli's arrival. When I bought it I had no idea that I would end up going to classes with Chris each month!

We spent last weekend in the Adelaide Hills with friends celebrating a birthday. Its a beautiful place and so easily accessible from Adelaide. We stayed in Hahndorf which is only about a 25 minute drive from the city. Its a lovely place full of historic buildings. It was established 150 years ago by the Lutherans. The main street is very picturesque with so many lovely old buildings of all kinds. There are many restaurants and cafes and drinking houses to enjoy.
 

The old mill building in the main street of Hahndorf

  On Saturday we had a very special lunch at The Lane winery to celebrate Jenny's birthday.

The views from The Lane Winery

The view was spectacular as was the food. We also visited two other wineries, Bird in Hand and Deviation Road and sampled some delicious wines. To finish off we visited a chocolate factory and a cheese factory! It was a big day.

The gardens at Deviation Road Winery

We had a mini bus to get around in, as there were nine of us, which was a lot of fun. Yes, we did have a designated driver who did a great job and sacrificed the wine tasting in order to get us around safely and legally! Thanks Daniel. And also a big thanks to David for organising the whole thing. It was a great weekend.

Progress

The beautiful setting of the quilt camp venue, the Edmund Rice Centre at Mulgoa

The past month or so I have been preoccupied with our renovations at Mt Victoria and have spent very little time sewing. However, quilt camp came around last weekend and I managed to finish a quilt that had been lurking in my sewing cupboard and make some progress on another. It was great fun, as usual, with about 40 ladies enjoying each other's company, eating yummy food prepared by someone else, and indulging in a full weekend of sewing.

The resident donkey was in his usual place beside the driveway to greet us as always!

Mandy and I went walking each morning before breakfast and on Sunday we saw lots of very large kangaroos in the paddocks beside the driveway. These two were right up the top near the road.

I started this quilt about a year ago. The inner squares have appliqued circles on them. I sewed them while travelling to work on the train. I had almost all the fabrics in my stash. It looks quite different to the pattern in the book due to the contrast of the orange border.

The quilt pattern, called 'Sand Dollars' is from a book called Bloom Creek Quilts by Vicki Bellino.

I also managed to make three more ferris wheels. I have made seven now and only have two to go.  All will be revealed later on! The Ferris Wheel pattern was a project and pattern of Chris Jurd's at a previous teaching quilt camp.

I have also been inspired to get moving with my large hexagon quilt which I also started ages ago. Another quilt camper was inspired to make the same quilt last year after seeing mine individual hexagon flowers. Hers is all finished quilted and bound and already delivered as a gift for her daughter's 21st birthday!

So I finally laid mine out on its backing, pinned it down and started hand sewing the flowers down. Its a good project for doing in front of the telly!

Last Monday I took our grandson down to Coogee Beach to meet up with our son, Rhys. We went on the train then a bus to Coogee which was really easy. Oli had a great time in the water, despite us being totally unprepared for getting wet, building sandcastles, looking at the constant stream of aircraft flying coming in to land at Mascot, checking out the bendy buses, etc etc. Rhys even took him for a little ride on his skateboard which he loved!

I didn't realise how easy it is to get to the eastern suburbs beaches by public transport. Coogee Beach is very pretty and clean with lots of shops and cafes just opposite. 

The weather was perfect too! We had a great day!

Tea Towel Tuesday

For quite a while I have been collecting linen tea towels, preferably preloved or vintage ones. It all started with a visit to a second hand shop in the southern highlands one weekend where I bought five or six lovely colourful vintage tea towels from all over the place, including a 1984 calendar tea towel. I took this as a sign as we were married in 1984! I decided it was a good thing to collect as they don't take up much room, are practical and not too expensive.

My friend Grace, who lives in outback western Queensland, is also a collector and has sent many wonderful specimens my way over the past few years.

This box was a gift from Grace for Christmas a few years ago.

These are a few of my favourite retro tea towels.

These two belonged to my mum who was very politically active for most of her life. Protest tea towels if you like! These ones date back to the 70's or 80's I'm guessing

I have all sorts of tea towels. Recipe tea towels, calendar tea towels, ones featuring states,cities or regions, some with silly slogans, plain ones, stripy ones, etc etc.  I will show off a few more of the best ones in future posts.

Last night I finished my Chocolate Stars quilt and hung it in our hallway. Only the label to go now and its ready for the Springwood Community Quilt Show.