Ring Out The Old!

Well … it has been quite a long time between posts! Life sure has a way of getting in the way of the best intentions, doesn’t it?! 😜 There has been so much going on here with grown up work, family commitments, end of year gatherings & Christmas stuff that I’m not even going to try to catch up. I’ll just say that GB & I are very much enjoying this week between Christmas & New Year at home … apart from a few family gatherings & emergency-work-call-outs. 🙄 GB has been brave & decided it’s time to tackle tidying our sleepout … it’s where everything without a proper place languishes before being sent to the tip. 😜 And I’ve picked up my designing pencil & paper for the first time in months. 😁 Not a bad way to see out what has been a challenging year. Here’s hoping it’s a sign of what will happen in 2023. 😉

For now, though, it’s time to give OPAMers their last ever reminder to update your sidebar lists & email me your December tallies. I’ll be doing three random prize draws for October, November & December to catch up. For now, it’s time for me to sign off for the last time in 2022 & make myself a cup of tea … you shouldn’t really be surprised that that’s my ptrferred New Year’s Eve tipple! Tee! Hee! Hee! Thanks for hanging in with my erratic posting … I’ll try to get back into a more regular routine next year. Wishing you all a safe & peaceful start to 2023. Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

(Temporary Backup) Tea Anyone?

Hello! Hello! How are all of my bloggy buddies doing this week? I hope you’re keeping well & achieving more in your sewing room than I have been. 😜 It seems we’ve reached the social craziness part of our year with lots of outings, catch-ups & events happening or about to happen. This makes for lots of fun, but boy is it exhausting! 🤣

One of the recent social outings was a Girls Night In (though it was held during the day) as part of the October fundraising campaign for the Cancer Council . This lovely girly gathering was hosted by Miss Wendy, who is one of our Friday night stitching gals. There were lots of yummy things to eat & pretty china from which to eat them …

And lovely ladies to share it with …

… Including the GAWJUS Gail. Gail is another of our Friday night stitchers, who moved towns last year, but came back for the weekend.

It might surprise you to hear that we often end up on the Naughty Table together … we’re partners in mischief! Tee! Hee! Hee! Thanks to Wendy for being the hostess with the mostest! Donations for the fundraiser totalled $913 - WOW! About half the amount was raised through donations at the high tea, with the remainder being proceeds from a raffle. The raffle prize was an ex-sample quilt donated by Marion & Steph of the Quilters Angel. 🥰

Two of the upcoming events on my calendar are also high teas, that I will be hosting, so I’ve been …

… spring cleaning & washing my pretty china, as well as …

… using it as an excuse to gather MORE pretties from Marketplace! 🤣


I’ve also done some procrasti-baking. 😜 You know … when you have things you should be doing but bake instead! 😂 These coconut raspberry slices & a few other sweetie-treaties are now tucked away in the freezer so I’m not in a complete state of chaos when the high teas roll round … just a moderate state of chaos! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Now … even though my sewing has been gathering dust, I’m sure many of you have been creating up a storm, so don’t forget to update your sidebar lists & email your OPAM tallies to me … I’ll be updating the spreadsheet in the next few days.

And that’s it from me for today. I’m off to find a lunch-snack … we’re out to dinner with friends tonight so don’t want to have too much for lunch. 😜 Take care, stay safe & keep smiling! 😊 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Putting Things Off!

Hello lovely blogging buddies! I hope you’re all keeping well. You’ve probably forgotten who I am, I’ve been absent for so long. 😜 Do you find that when you put a task off for a day because you don’t have the energy to tackle it, that somehow, you seem to have less & less energy to tackle it the longer you put it off?? I confess to feeling like this about blogging at the moment. 😯 There are a few reasons for this … one reason is that I’m finding less people popping in for blog visits, which makes it less enjoyable to blog. But the main reason is … I just haven’t been sewing very much! I know that’s a bit shocking, but there it is. There’s been some design work & instruction writing, but no sewing or stitching. I’m out of my groove & haven’t found a way to get back into it … yet. I’ll get there, I’m sure! … in the meantime I don’t have anything to share with you all, so nothing to blog about. 🙃

One of the other blogging motivations in the last few years has been keeping up with OPAM … & with fewer people joining in each year & only three or four people regularly remembering to email me their monthly finishes, this too has drained my blogging motivation. And it’s also led me to the tough decision to not run OPAM next year. I hope my sewing mojo will come home & when it does I’ll continue to share pics & updates here … & I hope you’ll all continue to share your creative endeavours with me, but I think OPAM has run it’s course.

And speaking of OPAM … zombie flu, grown up job busy-ness, our road trip, lack of sewing mojo & my slackness means I’m a few random draws behind. So … the random draw winners for July, August & September are:

FIONA

JEANETTE 

MARIA

Congrats, gals! 😁 If you’d like to drop me an email I’ll send you a PDF pattern prize to play with. And that’s it from me for today  … I don’t even have a photo to show. 🙄 I hope you’re feeling more motivated & productive than I am & hope the rest of your week is fabulous. 😘 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 11 & 12!

Day 11 & 12 of The Western Adventures Of The Meandering Meares’. Day 11 was pretty quiet, consisting of a few hours’ drive to Charters Towers, followed by an afternoon kindy-kip for the designated driver, GB, while I curled up with my kindle for a quiet read. When we holiday we try to balance up seeing as much as we can with having a break/rest, hence a few quiet arvos in the schedule. 😉

Day 12 was a fun one. Imagine my delight when we called into the local tourist info centre (usually one of our first stops when we hit town) to see brochures telling me that there were three historic homes open to the public that day! WOO! HOO! We spent the morning admiring high ceilings, original timber floorboards, GORGEOUS aqua window glass & fabulous vintage treasures & decorating. Alrighty, then … brace yourself for some heritage building spam. 🤣

Our first stop was once a church manse & this gorgeous chapel was next door. It’s not often these days you find bell towers with their bell intact. No pics of the manse as the rooms were a bit too dark & crowded with other visitors to get good pics.


House two was lighter & airier, so got a couple of snaps. I fell in love with the aqua windows! 🥰😍

This is the first time I’ve seen aqua windows, I have to confess. I now have window-envy! TEE! HEE! HEE!

House number three was a showstopper! I could definitely see myself moving in here. In fact … some of the rooms were decorated very similarly to our home … clearly it’s been decorated by someone with exquisite taste! 🤣 Actually, I had a nice chat with the lady responsible for the decorating choices & she said when she & her hubby bought the house, it was the first time it had been sold since the 1920’s … & she reckoned nothing had been updated or renovated in between sales! 🤣 Eight years of hard work, finance-juggling, wrangling tradies, sourcing vintage goodies & cleaning, cleaning, cleaning led to the state we were able to enjoy.

I was going to run off with the half-tester valance, as I’ve been hunting for one for about five years now for the brass bed in my sewing room. GB refused to cause a diversion for me! Selfish! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Each of the vintage brass beds was adorned in a beautiful quilt, as well as several luscious crazy-patch/embroidered quilts being displayed. 

The dining/lounge room was divided by the fabulous archway. If you click on the pic & enlarge it, you’ll see the ’crackle’ finish to the paint that looks like a special paint effect. In fact, it’s caused by paint layers & time. Apparently the timber tongue-&-groove walls were given a clear varnish finish when the house was built, then at a later time, this was painted over. Through decades of the timber expanding & contracting with different temperatures & air moisture levels, the outer paint developed its crackle look & the owners decided to leave it.


Bit harder to get a good pic of the main bedroom due to the door blocking the view into the room as it opened inwards. Still pretty special … & a similar colour to our guest room. 😜

After wiping the envious drool off our chins, it was time to explore the town … next instalment pending. 😜 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 10 - Part 2!

Day 10 of The Western Adventures Of The Meandering Meares’ … part 2. After a tasty lunch at the local bakery, 

… where our little feathered friend & his mate hopped around our feet, we popped into the tourist info centre to check out the dinosaur display & say g‘day to Mutt, the Muttaburrasauris … pictured with GB …

This is a replica of the fossil critter found at nearby Muttaburra … hence its name. 😜



We mosied amongst the fossil collection, greeted Mutt, chatted to the friendly & helpful tourist officer & then decided we were all tourist-ed out for the day. 😜 I tell ya, if anyone is putting together a pub quiz team & needs people who know about the shearer’s strike of ‘91 or dinosaurs … we’re your bunnies! 🤣😂 Moving day tomorrow … stay tuned for more adventures. 😉 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 10!

I hope you’re all enjoying catching up with our road trip adventures. I have to say, after being back to our regularly scheduled irregularity for two weeks already, I’m enjoying revisiting our holiday … & already planning the next one! 🤣 OK … on with the adventures …

Day 10 of The Western Adventures Of The Meandering Meares’ part 1 … Porcupine Gorge. 

About an hour from Hughenden the “Grand Canyon of Australia” was a pretty speccie way to start the day.

Here’s GB channeling his inner tourist. 🤣 I think we were seeing the gorge at its best with flowing water & lots of greenery around. The second stop in this impressive national park was Pyramid Rock …

Can you see the pyramid? We also enjoyed wildflower spotting, thanks to good rain falling in the region in the months leading up to our visit … some of which fell again during our visit to the gorge … the rain-bringing legend grows! 🤣 

I don’t know what this flower is … it could be a noxious weed for all I know, but it sure was pretty. 😁

And a few bovine beasties decided they didn’t want to get their hooves muddy, so were congregating on the bitumen. A nice way to spend the morning before heading back into town … part 2 coming soon. (My blogging ap objects if I include too many pics in a post, hence my’episodic’ reporting. 😜) 

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 9!

Day 9 of The Western Adventures Of The Meandering Meares’ was a travel day, moving north from Longreach to Hughenden. Due to the rain &  road closures, we thought we might have to take the long way (8 hours) but thankfully, the shorter route (4 hours) dried out enough to be open to 4WD. So we arrived in Hughenden in time to make the climb up Mt Walker to take in the afternoon views. Oh … the climb was up a steep road by vehicle, NOT on foot … we left that to the crazy locals who tackle the Mt Walker Fun Run each year… which is an oxymoron if you ask me! 🤣😂

GB spent a couple of years in Hughenden about 30 years ago & he says it’s currently MUCH greener & wetter than he ever saw it.

Somewhere out there is the township of Hughenden … hence the name of the lookout! 😂🤣

… a different point of view, but still pretty.

And that was Day 9 of our road trip done & dusted. More Hughenden adventures coming next. 😉 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 8 - Part Two!

Day 8 - part 2. Hopefully this will help my blogging ap cope with photo uploading.

After two rain-related cancellations, we finally managed to go for our paddleboat cruise on the Thomson River .

 Lots of water in the river at the moment & lush riverbanks. 

We chatted to other travelers from all over Australia & watched the sun sink below the tree line …

… before returning to base camp for a camp oven dinner, some bush poetry recitations & a light & sound presentation on the riverbank of the story of Captain Starlight the bush ranger. 

Enjoyable night, the highlight of which was Steven our bus driver’s running commentary … especially his opinions of the ‘logic’ of the local council … we could relate!! 🤣😂

And that was our jam-packed Day 8 over. Next stop … Hughenden. Stay tuned. 😁 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 8!

Sorry for the posting intermission … I didn’t fall off the edge of the world, just ran into some tech issues & then got caught up in the post-holiday catch-ups at my grown up job. So even though our road trip is over, I’ll post the daily travelogues here in the next few days for you to enjoy. So … where were we?? 🤔

Day 8 -  Wet weather stopped us getting to the Lark Quarry dinosaur stampede site, but we got a great dinosaur fix at the Age Of Dinosaurs experience. (Near Winton). 

SOOOO much to see! There was a relocated focalised dino trackway …

… a reproduction of a boneyard, 

… life size statues of fossil critters found in the Winton area …

… including the first meat-o-saurus discovered in the area … Banjo … pictured with GB. 😜

There was also a tour of the fossil processing areas … very interesting.

Highly recommend a visit if you pass through Winton, but allow a minimum of four hours to enjoy it. We were chasing the clock to return to Longreach for another adventure … separate post coming. 😁

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 7!

Today was Day 7 of The Western Adventures Of The Meandering Meares’ & after listening to the rain on the roof all night, we decided we needed an indoor option for our day’s exploring, so we hit the road to Winton to visit the Waltzing Matilda centre. 

Everyone knows Australia’s unofficial national anthem, “Waltzing Matilda”. The words were written by Australian bush poet A. B. “Banjo” Paterson … who happens to be my favourite poet. 

Banjo was on hand to welcome us. 😜 But did you know, he wrote the famous poem whilst visiting a property near Winton …

A copy of the original handwritten lyrics … his handwriting was almost as bad as mine! 🤣 We discovered during our visit that more people/bands have recorded a version of Waltzing Matilda than “Knocking On Heaven’s Door”! 😜 (totally guessing that, but it wouldn’t surprise me! 🤣) And on our return drive to Longreach (no accom available in Winton so we’re ’commuting’ the two hours back & forth from Longreach to see the sights. 😜) the sun had finally come out from behind the clouds & showed up huge swathes of wildflowers. There were oceans of white flowers, scatterings of yellow, but my favourite was the clumps of purple brush-like flowers …

GB is responsible for the two shots here … he’s a much more creative photographer than me. 😜 More adventures tomorrow, which means it’s now time for a cup of tea before shower & bed. This tourist-ing gig is exhausting! 🤣😉 

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

 (P.S. I couldn’t resist sharing this pic of a fine example of outback parking! 🤣😂)

Western Adventures Day 5 & 6!

Hello all! Hope you’re enjoying your week so far. GB & I are still on the road out west & I thought I’d catch up a bit with a two-in-one post. So, we had a couple of days at Barcaldine, or Barcy as it’s referred to by locals. It was a bit quiet because we were there over the weekend when most things are closed, but we managed to amuse ourselves. 😜

I finally got a daytime pic of the Tree Of Knowledge …

Each of those timber poles is suspended from cables & moves in the wind to replicate leaves … standing under it was like standing under a giant wind chime. 😜 We also spent a couple of hours at the Australian Workers Heritage Centre …

Lots of interesting displays …

A display that was established to celebrate the centenary of Australia’s Labor movement. It was a travelling display that found its forever home in Barcy, where the movement began.

Labor House displays highlighted more of the Labor party’s history including some vintage election campaign posters … they were much classier than modern political propaganda. 😜


And the starting point for it all … the shearer’s union. There were lots more displays, I just didn’t take more pics. 😜

Today we left Barcaldine to head for Longreach only to find that our reputation for attracting rain whenever we’re on holiday was intact …

Ah … the best laid plans of mice & men. 🤣 As a result of the weather, the river cruise we were booked on for tonight was canceled … we’ll try again tomorrow … weather dependent. 😜 So we had a wander along the main street before settling into our cabin where we’ll be based for the next couple of days. We’re now tucked up listening to the rain on the roof. Nice! Despite it messing with our plans. 😜

And that’s me up-to-date now … you’ve caught up with our travels. 😜 I’ll be back soon to share some more. Oh … OPAMers … it’s time to email me your tally for August & update your sidebar lists. I’ll be doing a double random draw in the next week for July & August. In the meantime, though, it’s time for a cuppa. 😉 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS