An old photo...

Recently I was tagged on Facebook to join in with posting a black and white photo each day for a week. But you were not supposed to add any text to the post...so no mention of what, who, where or when? I didn't really like that condition but decided to play along. 
One day I posted a photo of me taken in 1953-4 most probably. My mother owned an old box brownie camera and she quite often took photos.

Luckily in the comments, a friend asked about the photo, otherwise no one would have had a clue about it. This is what I can remember my mum telling me. The scene is Sandgate, a beach suburb of Brisbane. ( it's in the north east part of the city) My dad worked weekends so his day off was Wednesday. On many of his days off, the three of us would travel by train to Sandgate and spend the day there. In recent years I've wondered what part of Sandgate this photo was taken in. I thought it might be Flinders Parade which runs parallel to the beach.
After I posted the photo for that B&W photo challenge, I thought that I would post it on a Facebook page called Old Brisbane Album. I wondered if other people could tell me where the old photo was taken.
Well my goodness...what a lot of excitement it promoted! Some people enthused about the advertisements on the shop; some people enthused about the 'cat hat' that my mother had knitted for me. People argued whether the shop was one between Third and Fourth Ave, which is now called 'Doug's Seafood'. Others seemed to hotly disagree, saying it was farther down Flinders Pde and was now a popular cafe, Fish on Flinders'. So it was inconclusive...about where it actually was but all agreed it was Flinders Pde.
Last Saturday, DH and I made a detour on the way home from the Sunshine Coast, to check out Flinders Pde, Sandgate.
It was a busy place last Saturday and rather difficult to get a parking space so I could wander down the street to take some photos.
So here's Doug's Seafood...

And here's Fish on Flinders...


It's probably one of these shops...but I honestly don't know which. 😕
And here's the lunch that DH and I had at Fish on Flinders...mine was the prawn and avocado sandwich...it was yummy!

Now way back when that black and white photo was taken, mum obviously took more photos...like this one with my dad...the beach is behind us and the tide is out. I wonder if he and I were checking out a shell...or maybe a little crab?

And mum and dad took other photos that day but they were not printed. It was only when I took a bundle of old negatives from the box brownie to a Kodak shop to have them scanned and put on a CD, that I discovered 2 other photos. They are very blurry...and not terribly flattering...but they are such fun!

Possibly  the house you can see in the next photo is still there on Flinders Pde. But what an exhibitionist I was! Lol

The Lead up to Christmas...

Readers who have been following the blog for a while would remember that each year about this time my thoughts turn to mini Christmas stockings. It would have been 2014 when I discovered that the founder of Knitting for Brisbane's Needy and her husband were spending hundreds of dollars of their own money on buying sweets to fill the mini stockings that the group members would make each year. Various community groups who work with the needy would distribute these little gifts; often to recipients who would get no other gifts except these humble offerings. What started out as a few hundred little stockings grew to a mind-blowing several thousand. Last year K4BN distributed 6500! 

So in 2014, I asked friends and relatives ( and other K4BN members) for help to provide the mountain of sweets needed to fill 3000 stockings. ( that number has certainly crept up over the ensuing years) The lovely Sunday Stitchers group continues to help each year without my even asking! 

These are some of the sweets donated by Sunday Stitchers this year...

Susan and Lynda also make stockings; the next photo shows the 50 felt stockings made by Susan this year. That is a lot of cutting out and stitching up there and it's really appreciated Susan.

As part of my plan for sourcing the best lollies' buys, I went to Costco that first year. My lovely sister and brother in law who are members, took me as their guest. 

The bucket on the left was a great buy that first year as it contained lollipops and wrapped sweets. 

The following year, that bucket of sweets was still available but these last 2 years it's not been at Costco. Each year, I check out and compare lolly prices at various 'bricks and mortar' shops, as well as online. Costco seems to be the best value for the lollipops. 

Last Tuesday, DsD2 who is a member of Costco took me and DsD3 there as her guests. I had been given money to help buy sweets for this year's stockings. In each stocking we place a lollipop and a few wrapped sweets. I planned to buy some of the packs of 100 chupa chups/lollipops...It would work out to be 19 cents per lolly. In shops the unit price of this popular brand is anything up to 50 per lollipop. 

But then I saw these! 

That's a tin of 1000 chupa chups...unit price 17 cents...but boy that tin was heavy!!!

DsD3 to the rescue!

So that was Tuesday night...next day there was a K4BN Knit and Natter...and knitting/crocheting was put aside as the ladies got to work packing stockings. 

We ran out of stockings before we ran out of lollies! We filled 267 stockings that morning. One member quipped that we just had another 6000+ ones to do by the beginning of December! 

Since last Wednesday I've been alternating between sewing stockings and knitting them. I had been working on stockings on and off for a few months but had only made a pitiful 12 which got filled at the Knit and Natter. 

Thankfully my output has increased! 

Another member dropped off 70 stockings last Friday...

Next Tuesday we have plans to fill more stockings...on a bit of a roll here! 

The Tale of Two Tablecloths!

DD1 decided that she would like to use the tablecloth that her late paternal grandmother had made for her, at her wedding.
One problem arose...it needed ironing and DD1 doesn't own an iron. 😳. So you can guess who did the ironing that was needed can't you?

And I had offered DD1 the tablecloth that this same wonderful lady had made me for my 40th birthday, to use as well. At the wedding the first cloth was used on the gift table and mine was used on the buffet table.
I was going to take a photo of my cloth but I had found an old photo taken of that cloth, not long after I received it. It was such a special and wonderful gift.

And here are some photos of DD1's cloth...

My mother in law had been crocheting since she was 6 years old but it was only when my much younger brother in law left home in the 1980s that Elsie started crocheting tablecloth edgings in fairly fine cotton...intricate patterns from books that had belonged to her mother. Up until then she had worked in mainly wool and thicker cotton to make garments and rugs. Each of her 3 daughters in law received a largish tablecloth with a magnificent deep edging. Elsie had 10 grandchildren but only 2 granddaughters so my 2 girls were each given a cloth in their teens.
I found a photo of my mother in law working on an edging.

And here's a photograph showing another cloth that Elsie made for me as an engagement gift, way back in 1970. The edging she had made many years before that and put it aside. When I came on the scene, she embroidered a cloth and sewed her edging on...I've always treasured it!

The Wedding...

It's nearly 2 weeks since DD1 got married, so regular readers might wonder whether there will ever be a post with some photos. Well the wait is over...
The wedding was in the lovely garden of my BiL and SiL...family helped set up on the Friday afternoon and the Saturday morning.

The time passed quickly with makeup and hair being done.

We had the bride all ready for the 2.30 ceremony...

A photo with little sister...

DD2 and I walked the bride to her waiting groom...


The celebrant was DH's cousin and DD1's godmother...


After the ceremony DsD2 was in charge of organising everyone for the photos that her sister wanted.

The group photo was done first...

As soon as I wasn't needed for any more photos, I headed inside to oversee the food. My friend who runs a cafe catered the event and the finger food was Italian themed as requested by the bride.

My sister in law is Italian as well and is famous in our family for her cannoli. And she made lots for us! And almond bread.

This was only part of the huge batch; there were enough inside for most guests to take a few each home...and they did!
My friend made the cake...very simply decorated at the request of the bride and it was checkerboard mudcake.

And somehow I got the job of cutting up the cake...

DH's favourite photo of the day was this...two little cousins! 
Today DH and I picked up the newly weds from the airport after their honeymoon in Victoria. They have had a wonderful time and were able to visit DD1's dad who hasn't been well but is hopefully on the mend.

Wool on Sunday

So what yarn related projects have I been up to this last month? 

Last month I posted photos of a WIP which was using up some expensive yarn that had just been taking up space for a number of years. Being a simple garter stitch and depending on the glitzy yarn to give the throw some pizzazz, I had predicted that the throw would be finished by the October Wool on Sunday, and it was.

I knitted the throw sideways and after every 5 balls of the Farfalle yarn, I knitted 6 rows using black Patons Loopy which is another discontinued yarn that I miss as its texture is lovely. I had 5 balls in the stash.
As the year rushes onward towards Christmas, thoughts turn to the thousands of mini stockings that K4BN members make and fill with lollies, as small gifts for the needy. On and off I've knitted a few but will soon start sewing some from Christmas fabrics as they are much quicker to make...


Looks like a few more mini stockings will be needed this year 😉


And of course there has been more joining squares for K4BN this last month, but I need to find more time to make blankets as the demand is still there despite the weather warming up.
Lovely donors have given me many bags of squares...

Two blankets made with donated squares are almost finished...

Looks like I need to really pull out all stops to turn those bags of squares into blankets!

And I've continued to work on the pinks, greys, white throw for my former colleague.

As usual I'm linking with Janine over at The Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday, here.https://rainbowhare.com/category/wool-on-sundays/