Simple Joys

 Good morning friends. As I was preparing to write this post this morning sitting on my front verandah, enjoying looking out over my mismatched and slightly wild garden a beautiful feathery visitor alighted on the railing in front of me. The Kookaburra was looking for breakfast down in my garden....after a quick eye to eye with me to ensure I was no threat.....

He set about ignoring the human and concentrating on the garden below....

Such a privilege when wildlife choose to visit your garden and utilise man-made items to their advantage. He/she was so beautiful and in such great condition. It definitely made my morning.

So back to my post.....over the weekend I put the last stitch in the final applique block for Where We Love Is Home quilt. 

Assembly of the bottom sections got underway.

I finally have all the sections together. 

The big house block and quote was what originally hooked me when I saw the pattern.

I thought I had enough fabric in my stash for the first border but didn't realise it was the same fabric as one of the blocks at the top and it didn't look right....

So trying to find a lighter border with a little pattern so as to still highlight the scrappy crosses is proving a little bit of a challenge......

A lot of head scratching still happening.

I had a request last week from eldest Grandson to make a cat loving friend of his a cat themed birthday card....I made his Mum one with this new die and he thought it would be perfect.....so colour choice was made.....

And approval given......very easy.....a bonus for this very novice card maker.

Speaking of things feline.....Queen Athena's portrait that I showed you in an earlier post is finally finished and has been snaffled by youngest Granddaughter for her room.

This is my Daughter and Queen Athena...pleased with her portrait lol!

2 more pages in my little drawing note book....loved this scruffy bluefaced honeyeater. 

And the beautifully coloured Rainbow Bee-eater.....I love seeing them in the wild further north....they are like little flashes of neon lights.

Gifts from our kind children brightened our week.....as attending live music is not an option for us now....our Son and DIL bought us some merchandise from a show they recently attended of two of our favourites....T shirt for hubby and book for me!

Our Daughter had these sunshiney gerberas delivered when we arrived home from hospital treatment....so gorgeous! 

Our Granddaughter was wearing the best message of the week for Harmony Day.....shame it's not a sentiment shared by all in the world....but we must keep trying!

 Ok! Time to put the kettle on. Coffee and a Tim Tam for me. I am a little partial to the salty caramel variety these days.......Kooka is still looking out over the garden so I will leave him to it! Hoping you find some simple joy in your day today.

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx 

March Slow Stitching

 Hello friends. The March instalment for Tag Roulette has rolled around again and I had a very nice relaxing time completing this months tasks. The tag numbers to be highlighted were....

No. 3 - Scrappy.

I went with some pieces of selvages that I loved and saved. I have left them unadorned for now, hoping to add something later.

No. 18 - EPP I fancied a hexie flower with a bit of embellishment and couldn't resist an extra hexie with a busy bee. 

No. 33 - Flag I really just replicated the flag on the original tag.

I added some extra stitching by adding a sunflower (for Ukraine) and a stitched circle. 

It really is difficult to stop lol! Bring on April!

I am now up to the last applique block for Where We Love Is Home and am planning a picnic under a blossom tree!

My Daughter had a birthday and there was a reason she was born on International Womens Day because all bias aside....she's a wonderful woman. She organised cupcakes for her class to help her celebrate her 21st birthday *wink *wink because the littlies wanted to know how many candles was she?

Hubby and I got lucky with one to taste test.

I love this photo of my girl and I....a while ago now but special still!

Hubby has been a bit below par again so I have spent my time reading and drawing.

Loved this book shared by a friend....have read all Fiona's books and enjoyed each and every one! Thanks Bev xx

I  was gifted in a secret Santa years ago a tiny sketchbook. It is not very good quality paper but I hate to see things go to waste and so I am using it to do quick little drawing studies. I do get a little frustrated with the limits of the paper but at least it's got a purpose now. Here's a selection from my efforts so far.

Earlier in the week I was able to get to my art group after a really long absence. They have moved venues and I am now literally 5 minutes from home if hubby needs me.....so good! I am really happy to be amongst my arty mates once again!

I began a new project to work on there.....a big industrial rusty gate and locks with a little Willy wagtail checking it out.....maybe a bit kitch.....but this scribbler could care less....I love it so far! 

I  really love nice snail mail, don't you? I received a very sweet card from friend Sue last week.....with some favourite bees featured!

It's a very special card as it has seeds embedded within it. So if I can bear to bury it, when the weather calms down I shall see what pops up! Thank you Sue xxx

Ok I do try but it looks as if I have once again written a novella lol! Thanks for reading this far.

Take care all. My thoughts go out to all my fellow Aussies who have been devastated by the recent floods in my home State and southern neighbours.....horrible messy clean-ups  with so many homes lost. The tragedy for the poor souls in Ukraine is beyond heartbreaking.

Be kind people.

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx 

The Big Wet

 Hello friends. Well in my corner of the world we have been at the mercy of huge slow moving rain band for the last few days....it has caused major flooding and inundation for many poor folks! 

This is the road to my son's home as the river flooding affects all the local creeks....a major road in our area!

We live quite close to that large Swedish store and this flooding has impacted all around it! My family are all safe but even the magpies at my sons were fed up  with the continual drenching and took shelter under his carport on his ute lol!

Whenever we had heavy downpours in the past, hubby and I would go up to our favourite local  bushland walks to check out the little creeks begin to flow. It is quite safe to do this. As he couldn't do it this time,  I  did a bakery run on Sunday and as it's on the way past the park I called in so I could show him.....

The creeks were really full and flowing.....

I did say it was safe but at some stage one of the tall trees had fallen across the footbridge...

Needless to say thats as far as I ventured.....on to the bakery and yummy lunchtime treats!

It was the ideal sewing and reading weather in between many, many trips to drain water from our swimming pool.....night and day I might add! Sooo....I finished the "My Neighbourhood " block.

And finished off these cute elephants for Letter to My Daughter quilt. 

Before the weekend nice mail came...... some French General fabric always makes one feel decidedly cheerier...

And I finally got to spend my book voucher from my family during an online sale.....

A very happy bookworm! 

Today we got sunshine breaking through the clouds every now and then......

Whilst the worst of the weather has now moved away from our area sadly it is now affecting our southern neighbours in New South Wales coastal areas with devastating results. Here in South-east Queensland we are still awaiting the consequences of rivers reaching there flood peaks. A nervous wait for many!

As I type I can once again here rain on my roof....hopefully it stays only showery but that makes people's clean ups so much more difficult. 

My heart goes out to them all and also to all those poor souls suffering because of the cruelty of a wicked despot invading their homeland in Ukraine!

I shall say goodbye with a little monochromatic study I did of a little Grey Butcherbird. I love their beautiful song....for non Aussies google their song...its lovely!

Stay safe everyone. 

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx