won a prize!

 So I won a fabulous prize from the wonderful jodie of ricrac!

 I need to make something now!

 lots of detours in my life locally! All temporary and will eventually give us better roads to drive and ride on safely.

 Its Autumn now... soon the leg warmers will be pulled out from my drawers... Im wearing arm warmers and my vest has been out a few times now... long gloves will be making their appearance soon too.

 My hubby bought me a new phone as I was driving him nuts with my old phone not working properly.  The camera alone on this is superb.  I had a little photo shoot with this little poser.

I find myself on solo rides more often of late but I still stop for a coffee and to sit and reflect on my mornings adventure.  I hope all of your adventures are successful and fun.  Tomorrow Im off down along beach road where its pretty flat in comparison to my local rides... this one wont be a solo ride so im sure it will be full of laughs and of course coffee.

perth trip #2 with the hubby!

 Since my last post I also celebrated another birthday, the cup above was one of the lovely gifts I received... Ive just realised that my other really lovely gift which was an old biscuit tin that has been lined and up cycled for a sewing tin isn't in the photo.

 So the hubby/fisherman/mamil came with me to visit the froglet in Perth.  We surprised her, she had no idea we were coming.

 Our second day took us for a walk to her workplace for a decent coffee and I had this really yummy breakfast.  We took the cat bus into town to organise our hire bikes for a few days.

 As we were coming back to the froglets house I saw this amazing yarn bombing, I think its one of the biggest ones Ive ever seen!

 We took our own helmets and shoes with us to Perth and hired a couple of bikes from the same place i used last time. this time though we got road bikes, a couple of cannondales.  They did us well for the two days.

 We managed to find probably one of the steepest roads in the whole of Perth that took us up to a great look out in kings park.

 I managed to navigate our way all around the river this time without getting lost!  I had decided to go back to the park I had a coffee and muffin at last time as it was a good halfway spot.

 We actually went back again the next day.... We got slightly lost going to leederville... ended up in the next suburb but found our way back easily enough.  Even the mamil was impressed with the paths and the lack of traffic we encountered on our rides.

 Of course Bear was very excited to see me again and to meet his granddad hahahah.  He slept with us for the first 3 nights.... there wasn't much room in the bed.

 The weather was perfect for us for the week we were in Perth.  we visited the beaches and lazed around when we didn't ride.

 A bit of shell hunting happened after brunch at this beach.

 On our last day we went into Fremantle to the market again and a visit to the little creatures brewery.  we got a tasting plate for their beers and ciders.  I got the stuff they didn't like!

 Also in Freo is a maritime museum and they have a O class submarine there.  The mamil got pretty excited when he found out they did tours on them.  So we managed to get on the last tour of the day.  He was really pleased to show the froglet and her soldier boy what conditions he used to experience when he served in the RN Submarines.  The big difference was he was on bombers, which are nuclear submarines... the subs were very different but they got the general idea of what it was like in a sub.

 Someone was happy to have me home again and like all cats as soon as the bag was empty he filled it!

And finally on a quilty note, I have started my first paper piecing project. the cactus rose.  So its all prepped and ready to sew.... stay tuned!

Trip to Perth and new projects

 Introducing Bear!  he is the froglets puppy, he is a dachshund x boarder collie.  I kid you not!  Hes gorgeous and very cheeky.  I went to Perth where her man is currently posted to see where they are living and catch up with her, I managed to find 3 bike shops, 3 patchwork shops and a few good coffees.

 I hired a bike for 5 hours and got a nice 60km ride with Doris (you gotta name your bike!) We rode up and around the river, found a great coffee  of course.  The weather was amazing while I was there, didn't put the winter woolies on at all.

 I came home to slightly cooler conditions and had a few rides in the fog!  Its actually very peaceful when its foggy, but you have to be more cautious and we always have our lights on regardless of time of day or the conditions.

 My legs got a little dewy on this ride.  Like my socks?  they are called disco... and yes I wear odd socks :)

 On a quilting/stitching note, I have finished my bike stitchery, need to put it in something now....
So my next stitchery is this one..... I actually have enlarged it as it was a little tiny for me... I will turn this into a cushion.

 This is called cactus rose.  Its paper piecing of the extreme hahahha. I haven't done any paper piecing but one of my cycling buddies has, so she is going to torture me with this.  I guess its fair payback as I take her out for 'challenging' rides... shes getting stronger and fitter!

This isn't my quilt, I have bought some lovely fossil ferns in Perth and supplemented them with some other fabrics... I will take pictures for the next post.. promise.

No time to sew!

Tomorrow I will clock up 2000km on my bike for the year so far.  This was going to be my aim for the whole year.... that stuffed me up LOL





So now I am going to aim for 4000km for the year!

Some of my friends will relate to this picture below... and they  will possibly remember a retreat a few years ago when I think I might have had a few too many red lollies, coffees, and a V for breakfast with minimal hours of sleep.

I have also found a new challenge... its an obstacle course.... only 5km long..... challenge you are saying?  Well if you are being chased by zombies it makes it challenging!!  I also have the option of being the zombie.... gosh decisions, decisions!

giant hail and quilts

I bought myself some nice bike shoes to use with the beast. I have been practicing on the bikes in RPM class.... clicking in on the move isn't as easy as it looks!

On Christmas day we had very bizarre weather and the day finished up with a massive rainstorm with hail the size of large golf balls

It shredded my tomatoes that were doing really really well (shattered)

My poor lizard almost drowned!

This was out the front of the house, the hail stacked up against the wall and looked suspiciously like snow.

On a quilty note now.... here is a top I have made for a work colleagues granddaughter... now to baste.

this is the start of the next quilt I have to make for my cousins new baby

after I put it together I realised that I wasn't supposed to actually sew all the same coloured sections together! so a little frog stitching was done.

I selections of the fabrics that I am actually using for this quilt

All chopped up and ready to sew.

I'm now on 2 weeks annual leave whooo hooo! time to sew, exercise and drink coffee with my friends!

wordless wednesday.... me wordless??!!

Did I mention that I enjoy my coffee? and no this isn't cookie :)


who else has lettuce growing in their lawn??? I had lettuce in a pot last year that I let go to seed and I have now found where all those little seeds went!!

We planted a new clematis some months ago and I thought that it had died.

Thank goodness I was wrong!

further images of London

The fisherman used to be a milko when he was younger and used to drive one of these electric milk floats. One came into the street while we were sitting in my sister in laws house so we stalked the milko.

They still have the glass bottles and they also have juice in the bottles too.


Of course we found squirrels.... we had a close encounter with one in Hyde park just before we came home but will show you pics of that later.


It was mothers day the first weekend we were in London so I had an early gift from my girls. In the local shopping centre was these little fishies who love to eat the dead skin off your feet.... I got to play with them!!

The age of this city never ceases to amaze me.

Big Ben constantly pops up in my viewfinder.

And the coffee? pretty shite to tell you the truth!