A new era for DH!

A few years ago DH scared everyone, including himself, by collapsing on the golf course. (his second home!) A similar incident had occurred a year or two before this,  but on the latter occasion while being taken to hospital his heart stopped twice!! Originally these passing out incidents were written off as 'sugar problems' as an angiogram showed no blockages, narrowing or damaged valves etc in the heart. But with the data collected by the paramedics in that ambulance it was soon ascertained that the 'electrics' of DH's heart were a bit bodgy to say the least. Suddenly all the fainting episodes over many years made sense. So now DH has a pacemaker and hasn't looked back healthwise since.

But the legacy of that day was that he became anxious about walking the 18 hole course, as he had done for the 40 or so years that he has played golf. He started hiring a golf cart for the 3-4 days of each week that he played but started making plans to buy his own. He had already put his name down for a spot in the big sheds at the course where people can rent a place for their cart to be stored. Actually buying the cart would wait until that spot in the shed was his! A few months ago DH's name came to the top of that list so immediately the search was on for a good quality refurbished cart for DH to buy.

Within 10 days, delivery day came.

The cart was driven to the golf course on a trailer of course. We watched as it was driven off the trailer...

 

DH was invited to drive his cart into the shed and I went along for the ride...I tell you what...that thing could really move and I found myself clinging on as we drove around a few corners, into the shed and then backed it into its spot!

 

The man from Yamaha took DH through all the basic things he needed to know, including checking the batteries regularly etc, and of course plugging it in to the power supply while it's in the shed to keep it charged up.

 

DH had asked me to take photos that he could send to all his friends and family. But I also took photos of the old buildings near the cart shed that were the remnants of the old farm on which the golf club was built...I love history!

 

It took a few weeks after delivery of his new buggy for DH to actually use his new toy. You see, our part of Queensland had days of heavy rain which turned the course into a quagmire...and electric/petrol etc buggies are banned in those circumstances until the ground dries out. But he's had plenty of use since then.

The Kindness of Others...Generous fellow Bloggers!

A while ago I wrote a post about the dolly  'blankets' that Miss A and I made out of cut up pieces of flannelette; no hemming, just raw edges. The 2 older granddaughters loved playing with the dolls and their 'blankets'.

Well within a very short time I received a parcel from Maria who writes the blog, 'Life on the Block'.
In that parcel were two beautifully made patchwork doll quilts. I was absolutely rapt!

Then a little later I got a message from Marilyn who writes the blog, Mardi Meanderings.  Marilyn offered me a doll bed which she would restore and make a mattress and pillows, to complete the transformation. It's no surprise then that I accepted Marilyn's generous offer!

But that wasn't all! When I went to the next Sunday Stitchers meet up, Susan who writes the 'Susan's Sewing Space 'blog', also had a patchwork doll blanket for the little girls in my life.

Every week the two older girls get so much pleasure from the thoughtfulness of these fellow bloggers. Thank you again Maria, Marilyn and Susan!

Wool on Sunday

Joining in with Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday. I had planned to write about other yarn related things that I've been doing this last month, but in the last day or so I've changed my mind. Instead I'm going to write about an incident in which my past caught up with me...in the nicest possible way.
It all started when I joined my Newmarket Mums group for our monthly coffee the Sunday before last. Pictured are some of the treats we bought 😉

. One of those friends said she had a message for me. Apparently she was having coffee at a local café when she was approached by a woman who asked her whether she had been a teacher at this particular school. When my friend said yes, the woman (Daphne) introduced herself as being a parent of children who attended the school in the 1970s-1980s. Coincidentally I had been a teacher at this same school at the same time and after some chit chat Daphne asked if my friend was still in touch with me and if so, could she please pass on a message to me.

So with all the Newmarket Mums listening intently, the message was passed on. Daphne  wanted to let me know how much she loved a crocheted rug which she had bought at a school fete. Then the memories came flooding back and I shared the story with my friends. I had made that rug!

Gradually the details came back. I had made 2 knee rugs and donated them for sale and both sold. Apparently Daphne missed out on buying one and possibly mentioned her disappointment to one of the organisers of the fete. This person asked me if I could possibly make another one and I agreed. I also remember that the rugs were sold for $10 each and the Parents and Citizens Association also got that 3rd $10 from the extra one I made.

Daphne's message also went on to say that the rug was in perfect condition and that she had told her children that they were not to throw it out when she died; one of them should take over looking after it. Well...to say I was chuffed was an understatement!

When I came home I decided that I wanted to personally thank Daphne for her lovely message. A search of White Pages didn't help find a phone number...but then I hatched a plan using Facebook. I'm a member of a FB group which has members who went to this same school. So I asked if anyone was still in touch with Daphne's family or even Daphne herself. Within an hour or so I had a reply from a former student of mine who said she was a FB friend of Daphne's older daughter. This daughter lives in the UK but my former student said she would message her. It wasn't long before the daughter and I 'spoke' on Messenger and I had a phone number.

Next day I rang Daphne and we had a lovely chat. She said that she had bought the rug as a gift for her mother. Her mum loved the rug and treasured it apparently. When her mother died, Daphne reclaimed the rug and she iterated her instructions to the children not to throw it out when she herself passed away. I had no idea of the year that I had made it but Daphne was able to tell me it was 39 years ago in 1979.

By coincidence her daughter from the UK is spending a week here  and J very kindly took a photo of the rug and the other day sent it to me. It was a shock to see it...I thought it was a granny square afghan...but it was a hexagon design! But I guess it is a while since I made it so not surprising I'd forgotten the actual design! lol

Wool on Sunday

Once again joining in with Janine over at the Rainbow Hare blog here to share what yarn related things I’ve been up to in the last month. Janine's post features a magnificent crocheted mat.

So a fair bit of progress on the mohair throw which is using up some hoarded yarn. I think this will be donated to the Karuna Hospice Christmas Market in late November.

More donated squares have been turned into a big blanket and a little baby blanket. My knitting group had just had a request for baby blankets from an organisation that helps young mothers who are doing it tough and on their own. And luckily one of the ladies who crochets squares for us had decided a little while ago to do some smaller squares in soft yarn...perfect!


The golden yellow yarn was donated by a friend who had the yarn for a while. Readers (of a certain age 😉) from SE Queensland  might recognise the brand of yarn. It’s Baroba which was the brand of a local department store called Barry and Roberts. B&R closed its doors when DD1 was little...about 36 years ago! So my friend had that yarn for a loooooong time, but it was in perfect condition.

I’ve also been working on mini Christmas stockings for K4BN. Each year the group makes these and fills them with sweets and these small gifts are distributed to the needy in the community. We’ve been giving away over 6000 per year.
Instead of showing my efforts I’m going to share a photo of some of the stockings made by an amazing member of K4BN. Rita has made 800 of these so far this year; her goal is to make 1000! 
Aren’t they fabulous and Rita is certainly inspiring.

Boomerang Bags

As more and more retailers no longer offer free single use plastic bags for carrying purchases, the result is a plethora of reusable bags being offered for sale. ( In my state, the government has legislated to ban the single use bags)
One example is the Boomerang bag which is made of cloth and mostly made by community minded groups and offered for sale at various outlets, including markets. The bags are very similar to the morsbags I saw in the U.K.when we were there in 2008. I'm thinking the name Boomerang reflects the fact that you can keep using these bags; as long as you remember to put them back in your car! Lol
It was decided in our parish that we would make Boomerang Bags for sale. Donations of fabric, including old curtains, sheets and doona covers were requested. So I took a hard look at my dressmaking fabrics and also my patchwork cottons and donated quite a bundle.
So then some pockets were screen printed...

A prototype was sewn, ready for the first sewing bee...

But progress was slow via the sewing bee method. I couldn't make it to the sewing session on that day and it was the same for others. So the organiser came up with the concept of 'outworkers' and the 'assembly line' concept. I put my hand up to help. I was given the task of sewing the handles. I was spoiled as the handles had been already cut out. So it was just a case of pressing, pinning and sewing.
I've done 2 lots so far...total of 39 handles. Maybe more to come.

My favourite sewing machine, my vintage Elna 'work horse' needs a service ( the needle is going up and down when the bobbin is being refilled 😕) so I need to get that done next week in case I get some more handles to sew...or use the newish Janome? 

The Art Show...

The parish art show this year was more low key than ever before but as if by magic,  ( or was it divine intervention? 😉) the money raised was almost as much as raised in other years.
The organisers decided to feature the works of indigenous artists and much effort was put into finding such artists to invite them to exhibit.
Our parish priest opening the show. Father B is himself an aboriginal.




After the show when I checked my photos I realised I'd missed taking photos of some really large works...that were very traditional and eyecatching.
The next photo was an exhibit put in the show by the teenage granddaughter of our parish priest. These pieces were part of an assessment for her art studies at high school. They were eyecatching and attracted a lot of interest...

A close up of that dress made of Coca Cola cans...

The young artist joked that it wouldn't be the most comfortable dress to wear! I agree! 😂
I knitted 2 throws to donate to the show...
The chevron garter stitch one sold on opening night. The buyer planned to use it as a wall hanging as she said that way her teenage children couldn't 'wreck it'. I didn't really mind that she wasn't going to drape it over her sofa and snuggle under it when the weather was chilly...the main thing was that it sold...which meant money in the parish 'kitty'! 😉

The inset photo in the previous photo shows both the chevron throw and also another indigenous throw that was not for sale. It just was on display as it had been made for K4BN.
The other donated throw...

The mohair one in indigenous colours sold on the Saturday. An aboriginal elder woman bought it saying that she would auction it to raise funds. She was confident she could raise a fair amount that way. ( I did hear later though that she loved it so much she was thinking of keeping it)
This year the craft stall holders were in the hall. Other years they have been in the church and the paintings were in the hall.

And I fell in love with a painting and ended up buying it. It was painted by a young indigenous artist who had entered 6 pieces of his work. There was a luminescence about the painting that I just loved!

The artist described his painting as being 2 traditional young indigenous men sitting at night thinking of their plans for hunting the next day. DsD1 said it reminded her of the Lost Boys characters in Peter Pan. And I found that it reminded me of the Kindle icon on my iPad. Lol! Different interpretations to different people.

And that was the 2018 Art Show. 

Wool on Sunday

Confession time...I tend to procrastinate when it's time to start a new project. Especially this is so when it's a knitted throw and the thought of casting on 200 or so stitches and then those first few rows where the pattern is being set...I dither/put it off! Lol.
After the 'knitting marathon' to finish 2 throws for the Parish Art Show in late July, I decided to just focus on starting some projects ready for the future. No new patterns, just old favourites that I can just pick up and work on when I decide I want to make a gift/Raffle prize or whatever. So...

I started 4 throws and popped 3 into bags and I've continued working on the 4th one.
Another garter stitch chevron one...

Yet another garter stitch chevron/ripple one!


A honeycomb pattern throw using as the main colour some remnant navy blue yarn from the Bendigo Woollen Mill bought on a holiday to Victoria a few years ago...or maybe it was a lot of years ago! 😂 lol

The other 'start' was a throw using a favourite slipstitch design and some gorgeous Jo Sharp yarn that I bought before I retired...I've been retired 7 years! I continued working on this as it is so light a project that it was perfect to take away last month when DH and I spent 6 days in Sydney. I think I have enough of this yarn to make another throw! Lol

One more photo that is yarn related. I kept some of the knitted items that my girls wore as babies. The reality is that today's babies rarely (if at all) wear the styles of the 1980s so instead of a granddaughter wearing this particular little top that I knitted in 1984 for DD2, Gerald Bear ( or should that be Geraldine Bear? 😉) is now wearing it while the weather is cold. The little girls love it!

Joining with Janine from the Rainbow Hare Blog for Wool on Sunday.