Too Hard Today!!

Do you ever have those days where it's all just too hard? I think that's me today. A tummy bug managed to ambush me and I just feel ICK! I managed to drag myself off to work and am hoping I won't find too big a mess there tomorrow when I find that I made lots of stuff-ups while not completely compos mentis! :0)

I think my antedote to said icky tummy bug and a bad case of the "BLAH'S!" is going to be some toast and Vegemite for lunch and a bit of ...

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!

Be back when I'm feeling less "BLAH!" Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS
CHEERS!
KRIS

Virtual World Tour - Next Stop: Toowoomba!

Now some of you may be wondering what on EARTH is she going on about?!?! And, OK, it may not be the FIRST time you've thought that about me! :0) But ... there IS a perfectly good explanation for my title today. You see, back on THIS post, my blogging buddy Chookyblue, planned out her blogger's world tour that she would take when she wins the lottery. She listed some of her blogging buddies from all around the world that she could drop in to visit - what a WONDERFUL trip she planned! (although I got left off, cos I forgot to leave a comment on her original post! Oops!) But because she hasn't won lotto ... YET ... Chookyblue invited her blogging buddies to post some photos of their home-base so we could ALL take a little scenic tour around the world ... bloggy style! :0) I have to say, my Beloved Geek Boy and I have joked on occasion that now that I have blogging buddies all over the world, we sure could have a FABULOUS holiday visiting them all ... but we too have to wait to win the lotto! :0) (Note to self: it is more likely that you will win lotto if you actually buy a TICKET!!! Tee! Hee! Hee!)

Now ... in my last few posts, I've been telling you about our overcast, foggy, wet weather, which didn't really lend itself to photo shoots, but yesterday was a lovely warm sunny day, so after work, I grabbed my trusty point-and-shoot and off I toodled to take some scenic shots of Toowoomba for you all.

Toowoomba sits atop the Great Dividing Range, about an hour and a half drive from Brisbane, and was settled by pastoralists in the 1850's. Many of the original historic buildings make up the streetscape in older subburbs. It has a population of 121,000 in the city, with around 151,000 in the Regional City Council area. Canberra (Australia's national capital) is the only bigger inland city than Toowoomba. Here's a map to help you picture where we are ...

Toowoomba is known as "The Garden City" and some of you may remember I showed lots of photos of some of the spectacular gardens I took during last year's spring "Carnival of Flowers". As a result, Toowoomba has LOTS of wonderful parks that are great to enjoy a picnic, some serious play time for the kids, or just a quiet snooze under a tree on a weekend ... as long as those kids aren't indulging in their serious play anywhere near your tree! :0) One of the most spectacular parks to visit in Toowoomba is Picnic Point, so here are some of the views I took photos of for you ...

If you click on the photo, you might be able to pick out the main highway from Brisbane that winds up the range, which we affectionately refer to as our 'hill'. You can also see one of the lucky suburbs that enjoys range views. I found it was actually a bit tough to get any pics looking back over the city, because of all the lovely big trees. Still ... if you've seen one city ...! :0) Here're some more views

This is looking back down into the Lockyer Valley (which you drive through when you come from Brisbane) and that plateau is known as Tabletop Mountain. Lots of people hike up it ... I'm NOT one of them!! (I'm one of the ones who would NOT climb Mt Everest 'because it's there' ... I'd just say, "Yep, there's a REALLY big hill" as I looked out my comfy, heated ski-lodge window! Tee! Hee! Hee!) And occasionally, someone falls off it and has to be rescued by the local SES (State Emergency Service) volunteers. Personally, I'm happy to look at it from here! :0)

There we go ... I did manage to get a little bit of the city in this shot. Hmmm ... is that MY house?!?! Just kidding! :0) Picnic Point has long been a gathering spot for community events and there are still live concerts held in the rotunda ...

OK ... perhaps I could have planned this photo better!! That little shelter on the right is an information point ... the rotunda is in the background to the left ... behind the big trees. Hmmm ... are you starting to get the feeling that if you come and visit me in Toowoomba you're going to see a LOT of big trees!! Tee! Hee! Hee! You'd be right!! Picnic Point is also home to Australia's biggest flagpole and flag ...

Isn't that nice and patriotic! :0) You can see it was pretty windy up there yesterday, too. And to help you all work out how long it will take you to come and visit me, there is a direction sign to help you (you should have seen the funny look I got from a man walking past as I walked around the base of this sign to photograph all sides! Tee! Hee! Hee!...

Can you see your place listed there? If not, what about on THIS one ...

Still can't find your spot in the world? Try THIS one ...

And if you STILL can't find yourself on there ... you might just need to hop across to one of the places on the list before you start your trip to come and visit me! Tee! Hee! Hee! Picnic Point has lots of little pockets, vistas and 'garden rooms' to enjoy, but I think this is one of my favourites ...

Doesn't it just look like a tropical paradise down there?? (I took it from the top level to get the full effect of the lush leafy plants.) Hmmm ... OK, perhaps we'd need to clean up that water first - it's a bit muddy and stirred up from our recent rains. So, now we've seen Picnic Point, we could go to Queens Park for a little look ...

More gorgeous big trees and some playground equipment to keep the kids out of your hair ... er ... amused!! Queens Park was established in the 1860's and lots of the original trees are now HUGE!! The Botanic Gardens are also at Queens Park, but they're at their best in September when the Carnival of Flowers takes place. That's when you see gardens around town that look like this ...

And this ...

And this ...

OK ... enough gardens for now. I DID tell you there were some wonderful historic houses in Toowoomba, right? Like this one ...

Isn't it GORGEOUS!!! The owners have really done the garden nicely - that pot that you can just see to the left of the front gate has a fountain bubbling in it. Aaaaaaahhhhh .... how's that SERENITY!! As well as taking my blog world tour when I win lotto, I'm going to buy this house!! But for now, I'll just have to live in another historic building ...

OUR PLACE!!! :0) Which was built somewhere between 1910 and 1915. (OK, I realise some of you gals from overseas are thinking that a house that's less than 100 years old is NOT historic, but you have to remember, Australia's only been settled since 1770!!) Uh oh ... can you see the Triffods in the front yard that are plotting to take over the world?!?! Actually, they're Geisha Girls and whenever they're flowering, I just don't have the heart to cut them back!! Plus, the recent rain has curtailed outdoor activities for a few weeks ... I think this Saturday will be designated "Gardening Day" in our household ... unless it rains again! :0)

The other spot that is a MUST SEE when visiting Toowoomba, is actually about 20 minutes drive north, to Highfields. Let me show you the views from my workplace ...

The property the Retirement Village where I work is built on, is 120 acres of former dairy farm and although the top corner is now home to some very happy retirees living in lovely units, the rest is still used for grazing and our views look west towards the Bunya Mountains. Everything is so GREEN at the moment, that it just about hurts your eyes to look at it! Such a nice change from just a couple of months ago!!! I often joke that one day, someone is going to find me playing flat on my back, knocked out, in the middle of somewhere at work, cos I'll have been so busy enjoying the scenery that I'll have run into a post and knocked myself out! Tee! Hee! Hee! It really is a great spot to work!

You can just make out a couple of the outlying communities that have grown up around Toowoomba ... rural living that's handy to a major city! :0) And of course no visit to Toowoomba, Highfields or ME would be complete without visiting ...

My home-away-from-home, Quilters Angel!! I've now introduced a few blogging buddies to my H.A.F.H ... Lilly Linda, Chookyblue, Joy-Belle, Bluebird Lyn and Miriam from Bubba Chenille ... although I'm pretty sure Miriam had already discovered it, it was just a REALLY good excuse for us to meet up there for lunch and some retail therapy! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So there you are ... a bit of a look around the place I call home. Hope you enjoyed it! And of course, if you come to visit in person ...

... the spare bed is always made up ... you just have to share it with lots of dolls and bearbies! Tee! Hee! Hee! And even if you're just passing through the Garden City, drop me a line ... I'd love to meet up with you for a cuppa ... perhaps I can show you my H.A.F.H in person! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Thanks for starting the ball rolling with the Virtual World Blog Tour, Chookyblue! I had fun running around playing tourist to get the photos! :0) And now ... I'm off to another room in the house that I am NOT showing photos of cos it looks like the cupboards spat all of the contents onto the floor and other furniture ... the SEWING ROOM! :0) Hope you're having a fabulous week! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

It's Jeans Weather Today!

Actually, even though it's raining ... again ... still ... as the Lovely Lilly Linda says, 35 more days and we're going to need an Ark! :0) But that's beside the point, because the temperature, while cooler isn't REALLY cool enough to warrant jeans. Instead, I've been ensconced in my sewing room RECYCLING an old pair of jeans. The weather part of that comes in with the rain - if it was sunny, I'd feel obliged to go outside and pull some of the Triffod weeds out of my garden, but since it's raining, I stayed inside to recycle the jeans! :0)

So ... this little experiment started last weekend when Mum and I made a visit to an op shop being held in a little country community hall where you could take whatever you wanted for a donation. I spotted a pair of jeans that made me think they'd make a great bag and since I've been 'meaning to' have a go at chopping off some jeans to make a bag for quite a while now, I brought them home. Then I had a little dig in my stash to find something suitable to line the bag with. Here are my starting point items ...

Some stripey, out-of-date jeans and a couple of pretty pieces of fabric. Hmmmm ... After some measuring, chopping, pinning, swearing ... oops!! That was when I stuck myself rather hard with a pin and bled everywhere!!! BLUSH!! ... some stitching, some head-scratching, some faulty maths (oops!) and a little bit of 'fudging it', the result of my experiment was ...

Ta Da!! A groovy, roomy bag with LOTS of ready-made pockets! :0) Hmmm ... please don't look too closely at the profile, there, as it's NOT my most flattering angle, but there are apparently SOME things my Beloved Geek Boy won't do for me ... and that list includes modelling a handbag! Tee! Hee! Hee! So it had to be me who modelled it. I looks a little lumpy at the bottom there, (the bag, not me ... although ...!!), but it actually sits pretty well in reality. And what happened to the pretty red fabric, I hear you ask ...

It became the lining. It also caused some of the head-scratching and faulty maths, cos it was a fat quarter and not quite wide enough to fit the bag, so I had to pop a little bit of the green fabric into it to fit ... and decided to add a handy INSIDE pocket to house my Iphone to protect it a bit. I'm also hoping the fact that the phone pocket is a different colour to the rest of the lining will help me find my phone in a hurry ... but knowing the warped physics that seem to apply to the inside of handbags, I'm not counting on it. You know what I mean ... no matter which pocket you THINK you put your keys/wallet/phone in inside your bag, its moved when you go to get it and whatever object you're looking for is bound to be RIGHT at the BOTTOM of your bag ... even if it was the LAST thing to go into the bag, so it should be on TOP!! :0)

So there we go ... how to entertain yourself on a wet afternoon AND be environmentally responsible ... sort of! :0) And now ... I'm off to make myself a cup of lavender tea and have a little read  ... I might even treat myself to a white Tim Tam ... I think I've earned it! :0) Hope your weekend has been relaxing and enjoyable! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

A Homecoming!!

Yesterday, I felt a little bit like parents must feel when their children have been away from home and return ready with big hugs. Now you know I don't have CHILDREN, but I DO have ... BEARBIES! :0) And one of my bearbies returned home from an exciting trip yesterday and it was so lovely to greet her with a big bear hug ... once I managed to untangle her from the postal packaging! :0)

My bearbie's name is Annie-Rose and she has had a little holiday down with the team of "Handmade" magazine because she will be featured in an issue coming out at the end of this month - how EXCITING!! Now, because she's going to have her photo in the glossies (Tee! Hee! Hee!) I can't show you a full photo of Annie-Rose, but I thought it would be all right if I show you a little sneaky peek. Ready???

Awwwwww!! How's THAT for a cute furry face! Of course ... I may be just a LITTLE biased here! Tee! Hee! Hee! Even though you can't see all of her pretty outfit, you can see Annie-Rose is a bit of a 'girly' girl from her delicate lacy collar and pearl brooch. And what's that she's holding??

A special Mothers' Day message that we should remember all year round. Annie-Rose is named after one of our nieces who is definitely a 'girly' girl, but it also has a little bit of my Mum in there too, as her middle name is "Anne" and I surely do believe that my Mother is a precious gift!! :0) So keep an eye out for this little media star in "Handmade" issue 27-11 which comes out on March 31.

And now since it's an overcast, showery, foggy sort of day again (thick, thick fog til just a little while ago and still in some lower parts of town) I'm going to spend the afternoon doing some Secret Squirrel stitching. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend planned that includes some time just for you to read, stitch, watch a movie, have a cuppa with friends ... or just have a well-earned snooze! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

March OPAM Winners!!

Here I am, reporting from COLD, FOGGY, WET and WINDY Toowoomba! Yep, it's almost wintery weather here on top of our hill, and although the gale force winds just about turn you inside out each time you step out the door, the rain is WONDERFUL! We've already had over three and a half inches (92mm for those who work in metric!) and it's still raining heavily and steadily. Fingers crossed that this is going into our dams, cos this region's water storage levels are below 8% capacity. Keep that rain coming, I say! Not to mention that the cold, wet, overcast weather is just PERFECT for curling up with a cuppa and a good book! Tee! Hee! Hee!

However ... I've dragged myself away from my comfy little nest to let you know who the lucky winners of the end-of-month OPAM draw were for February. There were 579 finishes recorded for February - which I think is pretty impressive for the shortest month of the year - well done to you all! And from the emails some of you sent (thank you for that - it's a GREAT help!!) and from visiting blogs to check sidebar lists, I know some of you have been working on bigger projects that you've made good progress on, so well done to you, too. Let's face it, any time spent stitching is so worthwhile cos it feeds our souls even if it's a little while between finishes and even though some of us are better at STARTING projects than we are at FINISHING them! Tee! Hee! Hee! Thanks too, to my wonderful co-host Peg for her help in blog-hopping to collect finishes. It sure makes the job easier when we're both hopping around! :0)

OK ... drumroll please ... The winners of February's OPAM draw are:

Fiona

Wendy F

Susan In Texas

Congratulations, gals! Not only do you have the satisfaction of crossing some things off your "To Do" list, you will also have a little surprise coming to you once you email me with your snail mail addresses. I would show a photo of the prizes here, but the batteries in my camera have died! DOH!! Note to self ...!! And if you have a spare ten or fifteen minutes, why not make yourself a cuppa and hop around some of the OPAM blogs to see the GORGEOUS projects that peole are creating. It truly is inspirational and we all know how nice it is to have comments left by fellow bloggers when they visit! :0) One of the best parts if being involved in OPAM is that we each have a big, world-wide cheer squad encouragin us in our creative endeavours! :0)

And now ... I think I'm off to make myself a nice hot cup of lavender tea and curl up back in my little nest to read while I listen to the magical sound of rain falling on my roof.

Hope you're enjoying the first days of autumn ... or spring as the case may be! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS