Our family group has getting smaller each year......so it is very important for us to get together.....and as there are 5 birthdays in September it is a good time to celebrate.....we had a great time just sitting, chatting, playing cards, great food, drinking cups of tea, the odd beer or two and some bubbles to celebrate the house warming of my niece and her partner moving into their new home........and going out for lunch 

and having fish and chips at the beach.....and going to the beachside markets.....

We went for a drive to Proserpine to the Information Center and Museum where there was a quilt display.... all the quilts were made by a local patchwork group....and have all been donated to the local hospital .......I was too busy looking at the quilts and forgot to take photos.....

Love this Camel

We also wondered around and found some very interesting shop.....a great children's clothing shop....dress shops and a awesome gift store call Colour me Crazy......OMG it's like an Aladdin's cave.....

I had to go there twice.....and bought stuff both times..... 

The next 2 photos are from the Vinnies store.....always have to visit these stores...you never know what you will see or find.......

They have a great display of Australian antique homeware's...... that are not for sale......it is nice to see that not everything that is donated is not sold off.....

Have you ever wondered what they do with all of the teddy bears that are donated........I think they have made there way here....... Bear cave.......love the framework of door way.....there must be over a 1000 bears in here....all different sizes and colours.......

We all had a great time.......unfortunately the weather was against us...it was drizzly....overcast and 30 - 40 knot winds so there was no island hopping......but the guys went to the Proserpine river on the boat and saw some huge crocodiles laying on the bank basking......not my idea of fun........hope to get some photos from hubby to show you the croc's in the next post......

so until then.........

Enjoy your week....Cathy

I don't know where the month has gone since I have last posted.......between working, sewing and gardening the days just so busy....

News from the garden we had a tree from the neighbours yard fall onto a large Stringy Paperbark in our backyard.....and it has snapped about 1m from the base but never fell over.....so we got Jamie the Tree Man to come around and cut it down for us.......

 Jamie said that the vine had undermined the tree and it could fall at any time.....

You can see the dead tree from over the fence

 Here is the first branch down...Jamie and his buddy had to be careful that the branches didn't hit the Studio or the garden beds.....

The rest of the tree....it looks really serious as it fell over the large garden area.....
 

it is amazing watching these guys at work......they did a great job......

The other reason we got Jamie to cut down the tree was because Jens and I were going  on a little road trip for 10 days and didn't want to risk the tree coming down if there were and storms while we were away......


We headed up north for a family get together......this time we drove up and collected Mum along the way....
we left at 5am only stopped for fuel and had a break for lunch and arrived at our destination at 4.30pm.....
such a long day...but so pleased to get there........

before Rockhampton

Lunch at Yaamba..... were there is a pub and service station and a park and that's the town

The Marlborough stretch

Cane trains ready to unload at the Proserpine mill

Our destination Airlie Beach......

I will post some photos tomorrow of what we got up to........Cathy

It was such an unusual  week for me last week......I travel back and forth to Brisbane everyday to do a DAFNE Course......at the Royal Womens Hospital.....with 6 other people.....the course was all about learning how to adjust my daily insulin requirements.....that sounds easy but it was quite involved.......I have never been to anything like this before.......I grew up knowing about diabetes as my sister Christine was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when she was 5 years old.......and then me been diagnosed at 16 and another sister at 38......all those years ago there was very little support or Educators and we did what the Doctors told us.....I went to my first Specialist about 20yrs ago and he was a Diabetic himself........which was good as he understood what we (as Type 1 diabetics) go through.......and then he retired......it took a while to find another good specialist.......which I did through a friend and having been seeing him now for about 5yrs........I have never had the best of control nor have my sisters.......so I was encouraged by my Doctor to do this course.....and from just a one week course I think (know) it will change my life.......it started right from the beginning learning about what our organs do and how our body works.....what happens to our organs.....it was a whole new way of  looking at how the insulin works...counting carb's.....which is something I have never done before.......setting goals to get our blood sugar levels under control......my head is so full of information......it will take a bit to put it all into practice as there is so much to remember....but we were given information sheets to have on our fridge to refer to.......it has been one of  the most important weeks of my life.....and we have follow up visits in 6 weeks...6 months and 12 months......it should be a course that every newly diagnosed diabetic does.........

The other thing about being a that hospital was....it was were Dad and I would visit my sister Christine....and as neither of them are with us now......the first couple of days it was a little emotional......

After a week at the hospital I need to get into the garden.....play in the dirt and smell the roses....and the wattle

...I find it so calming and peaceful........it has been very warm and sunny with cold mornings such beautiful winter days at the moment.....I moved the orchids around...

picked some vegetables......

and tidied up the garden beds....

I never got the chance to cut the grapevine back we got carried away building a new garden.....will have to tackle that another day.......I took some photos of the beautiful flowering natives in front of our house .....and they make a great display for inside...... 

and Matilda is always with me in the garden to lend a paw at digging the soil .......

I hope you all have a good day.....Cathy

I hope you have enjoyed seeing photos of the quilts....this is the last of them 

A reminder not to touch the quilts.....

they are serious...

Here is Joan and Margaret at the Sale's Table 

Photo bomb from Michelle...http://kielmtcolours.blogspot.com.au/

Here is Jenny.... http://sewsocrazy.blogspot.com.au/....giving me the thumbs up for my quilt

Here I am standing beside one of my other quilt.....it's call Blue Sunflowers....

This week has been a productive week with the Studio getting a big tidy up and I quilted a charity quilt and basted a quilt for a friend and both of my machines have been serviced.....I need to spend a bit of time in the garden this weekend....those weeds have gotten out of hand with such a warm winter.....they just love all the rain and sunshine.....I'm cutting down the grape vine and digging it out this year...as it is getting too dangerous trimming it back every year with my knees.....they are not copeing with getting up and down the ladder....some of the canes are growing over 5m long...it will be a shame as it has been just a productive plant.......but I am going to turn it into a shade house for raising seedling and somewhere to keep the orchids.....

Anyway....I hope you all have a great weekend........

Cathy   

It was lovely to see all this beautiful work resulting from classes that my friend Jenny taught last year at Caloundra......

Here is Jenny talking to Deb about the beautiful embroidery and accessories used in the crazy patch

Don't forget ......Jenny ...http://sewsocrazy.blogspot.com.au/....has a book coming out soon with C&T Publishing