Some time late last year Jo N promised me an Art Meme Swap..........this delightful little piece arrived in the last fortnight.
If you're aware of the TAST in which Jo and many other of my CQ contacts have involved themselves with,you'll probably agree with me that this landscape evolved from it.
Thanks Jo! 
It seems like an eternity since I had time and internet connections to Blog our doings---in reality it's only been two weeks!
We've made the move (lock,stock and barrel) and here are pics of how the cats were "imprisoned" whilst removalists and tradesmen breezed in and out of the house with deliveries.
Needless to say the three cats were less than impressed with their confinement,but they've settled down and the prison has been removed from the yard........
I hasten to add that Jesse,Possum and Cadbury were brought inside at night and if it rained.
I'm still deciding whether to add "tunnels" around the yard with direct house access for them;will revisit that after patios,rainwater tanks and revamping of garden occurs.
As for stitching.........what's that??
Must be nearly two months since I've done any,so I've been really happy receiving fabric postcards from my Art2MailGroup18 swap,and an Art Meme from NZJo and some gorgeous dyed fabrics from my dear friend Catherine.
I'm still "here"!
Just a case of real life interfering with cyber...................
This weekend,after 23 years in the one place,the stone has decided to roll and relocate the moss
Mr Blogger/Picasa will not co-operate and let me share pics of the disaster zone that used to be
KenMaursCorner (aren't you lucky)
I haven't put a needle and thread to fabric for about a month.......................it's a horrible feeling!
All I can access at the moment is tatting shuttle and thread...and they don't enthuse me!
Hopefully by Wednesday
(move over superwoman! )
LIFE might start regaining some balance.
Until then.........
Tschuss,Au Revoir; Auf Weidersen! Sayonara....................................................
or as Arnie so often says:
I'll be back!!
Friday's mail delivered the "Class & convention" program for the upcoming "Australasian Quilt Convention" Feb 22-25 in Melbourne.
And there on page 16 along with three others was my "Dying Forest Wetlands of Murray River" Journal Quilt.
From memory,35 members of the Australia_New Zealand_ArtQuilters online group
each submitted five A4 sized quilts/quiltlets for exhibition ,not only in Melbourne,but also at the Gold Coast and Townsville in March and April.
The above pics were scanned from the program:
The top quilt is mine;
followed by Jan Cotton's "Flanders Poppies"
Ros Ward "Great Divide"
Christine Goonrey "Dark Sacred Night"
Today's mail brought me these three cards,making it truly a red letter day!
First up,is the Paisley Posies from Mari P: It travelled "naked" and no damage was sustained by the free standing flower petals and leaf.
Doesn't the paisley fabric provide an excellent contrast to the solid colours of the petals?
The second card arrived from Leisa F ,in Utah,the "Beehive State".
The lower pic on the Bee card features the drones clustered around the Queen,and she tells me that the water colour of the bee (upper right corner) is used on the labels.
Finally,the refreshing "cuppa" comes from Jo Reid who invites me to join her in a cup!
(I'd love to Jo,especially as it's a black tea!)
I found the green background fabric,the corner of a lace d'oyley peeping from under the saucer and the spring flowers to make the invitation hard to resist.
Because she is addicted to pincushions,this is for Gerry (sewing-southpaw.blogspot.com/ )
You should visit her and read yesterday's posting.
I'm still trying to organize my sewing -----between sorting,discarding,resorting and packing,"things" are a little chaotic!
So here's two views of one chaotic MESS that is driving me to distraction.
from me and our regular visitors!
I could not let today,which we celebrate as our National Day slip past without reference:
And what better than true blue dinky-di Aussies to say "Gidday"!
Way back January 9th,this lovely bright "punkin" Pincushion arrived in the mail box from Gerry !
I KNOW I emailed Gerry to say that it had arrived after a visit to MaureenB,but in the kerfuffle of checking out the house we had signed a contract on,I forgot to post pictures and acknowledge Gerry's gift.
So,here you go..............Thanks Gerry!
">Link
It was so good today to receive an email from Gerry that the postcard I'd mailed to her as part of the Art Meme Swap actually got through!
So much of my international mail seems to go MIA these days,that I feel fortunate that a card I just popped in the local mailbox rather than at the PostOffice got through!
Meet Possum, an elderly (about 15 years) overweight,sweet natured puss.
Because Poss has a very thick fur coat,which appears to have outer and inner layers so thick you can never find her skin,she has an annual visit to Mandy of Doggie Hair Dooz to make life more bearable.
I do attempt to help Poss by using a stripping brush,but it's not enough.
These are "after " shots! Mandy leaves the face,tail and paws relatively untouched to preserve Possum's dignity.
With Poss being such a sweet natured puss (luckily) no tranquillisers are used;
There is no hissy fitting,no yowling no display of unsheathed claws...........how good is that!
And when today Mandy declared the cut to be complete,Possum ambled up to Mandy,nudged her on the chest and settled down leaning against her for a purr and a cuddle!
Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera with me,so no shot of that!
Would you believe!
I missed the second anniversary of KenMaursCorner...........January 7, 2005 .
"Life" has been so hectic with the upcoming move:
house-hunting;
soul searching over what to keep and what to discard-----
commencing packing the important things..........fabrics,fibres etc
Escorting Ken to his various medical appointments
and starting to plan how to decorate our new home---------
that January 7 slipped under the radar!
What have I accomplished in two years of blogging?
Firstly: the wonderful people I now have regular contact with! Thank you all for your friendship,help and encouragement.
Secondly: (red face time) I really dont think that my blogging skills have improved as much as I hoped they would.
(I'm definitely leaving the switch over to the newer blog format until after we have relocated,when just maybe I might be able to think more clearly.)
UFOs........more have been added to the pile instead of lessening!
Blame that on dabbling in Journal quilts and fabric postcards,
AND.......joining Fibre Art Traders ,
TextileChallenges
Needle felting and several other similar groups.
Still I did get five journal quilts completed and forwarded for inclusion in the Aus_NZ_Artquilters display that will be part of the AQC in Melbourne next month.
Enough already!
Happy anniversary to me and KenMaursCorner!
">Link If you also visit my http://kurliskottage.blogspot.com/ you'll know how much I love "cockies"/Sulphur-crested Cockatoos,
so when the following Link came to me via an Email,I just had to share............
This is a delightful story of a sulphur- crested cocky in Australia -- Amazing photos.
Don't forget to click on "Next Page" at the bottom of the page each time as there are several.
Click on the following link:
http://www.juliusbergh.com/cocky/
Today we drove down to Woody Point for an in depth look at what will be our new home come February10/12.
(For "in -depth" read "armed with tape measure & notebook" !)
On realizing that the kitchen did include a "you beaut" M/W oven,my comment was :
"My old M/W can go in the laundry......................."
Stunned expressions from current owner and the realtor.............
until I explained that I would be using laundry M/W for dyeing silk ribbons and fabrics in the laundry rather than in the kitchen.!!
MEN!!
Can't think outside the square can they!
Maybe I need tea bags & mugs in the broom cupboard VBG!
Every time I visit Nellie's Needles blog
http://nelliedurand.blogspot.com/index.html
and drool over her fabulous shoes,
I think of Catherine http://calidoresgardener.blogspot.com/
when some twelve months ago when she was making embellished shoe bags for her daughter's teacher.
I have been fascinated as much by the research on the various shoe designers that Nellie writes of as I have been by the descriptions of HOW she fashioned them.
It reminds me of my own love affair with shoes when I was young and silly.
Thank you Nellie for stirring up memories of the Winter Balls I enjoyed in Western Australia back in the 1950s.
Back in December I shared a pic of the Ring-tailed possum family about to play on our roof:
A short while ago,the birds were carrying on-----yet again!
This time their target was a young possum!
I don't know where Mum and the other young one are......hopefully hiding/snoozing in a nest of foliage.
This little guy is now snuggled into the canopy of the Mango tree, and
hopefully the birds will leave him alone to continue his snooze.
I'm beginning to think of renaming my blog "Hitchcock's Birds"........
Yesterday the birds were making a great commotion in the backyard ,and being rather busy at the time I didn't check it out.
Later,in the afternoon I was out the front,heard a rustling in the plants and saw Jesse chase "something "onto the front porch;I arrived in time to see a stripy tail slide between the glass doors and into the lounge room.........
This 18 inch Monitor lizard was inside and safe from cats/Jesse.
Now,I can tolerate the odd skink or gecko inside,but not a lizard this size,so my husband played the wild life warrior and caught it
Unfortunately when it was released outside ,it moved so quickly
(in some areas they are referred to as Racehorse goannas )
that I did not get a full length photo.........beautiful markings!
Again this morning,the birds were giving their alarm calls: he was back up a gum tree and the butcher birds,magpies and willy wag-tails were harassing him to leave "their" territory.
Some six or seven years ago when I first "met" Shay via a Yahoo CQ group, she gave me a recipe for "spiced Pecans".
A couple of days back I was surprised and delighted to receive a parcel from her containing not only a sampling of her spiced pecans, which had a hint of cloves I think.!
also some "to die for" Christmas cookies , so sweet and short,that I'm amazed they survived international mail handling,and Australian Customs!
and a real treasure: a chicken- scratched apron which belonged to her grandmother (Caroline Taunta Cann) some years back.
The needle woven picots in the central design are superb,and I sincerely thank Shay for giving me such a great gift.
