summer is my least favourite season.......officially!

I am not a very good Queenslander am I? I can officially say that I hate summer! Even here on the mountain we get some days of heat and humidity and it's more than I can bear. For several hours this afternoon I lay on the couch in front of the only window a/c unit in the whole house and listened to an audio book. I actually dozed! It was just too hot in any of the other rooms to do anything constructive. It is almost 9 oclock in the evening and we have just eaten a light supper, the air is still thick and still. Back in Queensland the summers are so much hotter and humid, how on earth did I survive? I must be well and truly acclimated now!

We have another horse and he is a 4 yrold gelding who we have named Banjo. He is also a thoroughbred and comes from the same stable as Matilda. We could tell that they remembered each other and are now happy companians. It is hard to say what the pecking order is as it seems to change daily. Maybe they are equals? Can that be? Banjo actually trained to race but broke down with a bowed tendon so now he will live a pampered life in our pasture with Matilda to keep him company. We have almost finished building them a shelter for the winter. This project has been a lot of fun for John and I but our bodies have certainly felt the effects!!

I have almost finished the dino quilt that is going to Romania. If you want to know more about this wonderful cause, check out the Hands2Help link over there >>> on my page. I will post a photo of the quilt at the weekend.

Shower time for me....good night :)

Will Google ever get it right?

I get so frustrated with blogging. I love to visit other blogs and catch up with what friends are up to but google is making it near impossible to leave a comment. Not nice GOOGLE! It is so time consuming! This has been going on for so long now.....sigh.

Meet Matilda!

This is Matilda our beautiful horse. She came home to us at the beginning of May and we love her to bits! She is the sweetest girl and loves to be petted and loved on. Next project on the agenda is a stable/shelter for her. This Sunday we are going to meet another horse who may become her pasture companion. Stay tuned on that one!
It has been a busy time for me with gardening, quilting and sewing. Not a lot of time for blogging.

Easter, Anzac Day and Birthdays..

It was a very quiet Easter for us this year. We did not go to church but opted to stay at home and quietly reflect and then celebrate the meaning of the crucifiction and resurrection. Later in the morning we did drive down the hill to fetch John's brother David who now lives in a group home. We three enjoyed a late lunch and had a fun couple of hours being with this gentle man who had shared our home for a good seven years before gaining his independence last year.

Later in the afternoon I finished some blocks for an spring album swap I am in with a group of online chat friends. I chose to do a Hunter Star block. Those will be mailed out today. Nothing better than to be sewing on a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon.

Today is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand. It is also my oldest son, Joe's birthday. Happy Birthday Joe! He is still living and working in Liberia, Africa.

Joe and Ruth

Forgot to mention that I received my fabric for the Hands2Help project that I am taking part in. Check out the link on my page. My swap partner, Mary, sent me the most awesome fabrics for the making of a very fun quilt! Dinodaurs, dinosaur eggs, dinosaur foot prints! This is going to be so much fun!

John has left for New Jersey and won't be back till Wednesday evening. So it is just me and the crazy dogs left to our own devices! The weather is going to be nice tomorrow and Wednesday so I hope to be able to take them on a few long walks. Fingers crossed! Do you know we had snow on our deck on Saturday morning? hmmmmm.
Firstly though, I have 2 customer quilts to trim and bind and package up and then down to UPS. That will take up my morning.
So many projects to start, which one will be next?

uncle Jimmy and my dad Tom, twin brothers in wartime









Thanks to all of the soldiers who have laid their lives on the line for us and for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. And here I would like to share an Anzac Day lament.

The Ode

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we forget..

ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I have been meaning to post the pics of the finished quilt. I ended up quilting it in a beautiful gold Glide thread. Really happy with the end result.
Today we are going to a John Deere event in Oneonta, (whoopee) The consolation prize is 2 quilt shops in the vicinity. (joy)
I feel a catch up blog coming up this weekend. So much happening in my world both here and back in Australia!
Check out the link to Hands2Help on my page, I have joined this very worthy project.

Retreat Project almost done!

The winter has been a long one, lots of snow, lots of grey days and lots of days stuck indoors. I certainly do have cabin fever in a big way! The retreat was a lovely winter interlude though, a bright gem at a dull time of year. I met lots of lovely ladies, mostly from Long Island and a few from Queens, some new quilters and some experienced. As well as being a social time it was also a spiritual time. Pastor Brenda was delightful.
Today I am going to quilt the retreat quilt. I finally finished piecing it this weekend, I hadn't worked on it since that weekend at Koinonia.
This is the quilt before the quilting stage..

Life throws us a curve ball!

Last month we were driving home from the city along the interstate. It was an extremely windy day with 60 mph gusts but a fine, sunny day otherwise. There was still deep snow in most areas. Coming through a hilly section of the interstate we noticed a cop pulled over on the left side with his lights flashing. This was not unusual to us and John went to the middle lane of the three lane h'way. There are often cops sitting like this with lights flashing, finishing off their paperwork after pulling a speeder etc. We were not alarmed and thought nothing of it. Further up the road we noticed that there was a white out from snow being blown across the road by a wind gust. John slowed to 60 on the 65 mph road and then we were in the white out and it was blinding, he immediately braked and we could see that there were at least 3 wrecked cars in the whiteout, a troopers car and a parked tow truck. The section of the road was covered in an ice/snow mix from the blowing wind and we immediately slid wildly from one side of the three land road to the other before doing a 360 and slamming side on into the tow truck!!!!! I saw my life flash before me in a matter of seconds and then we came to a halt miraculously between the troopers car and another wrecked car (hitting neither of them). I couldn't believe that I was alive and nothing seemed to hurt very much! I looked across at John and he was unconsious!! Ahhhh!!!
A month later, we are both ok now, the truck is being repaired to the tune of over $10,000 and our life is resuming some normality. We learned a valuable lesson about driving in winter and that nothing is ever what it seems to be - out there on the roads. I thank God and our lucky stars that we lived to tell this story.