Tuesday 30 August 2022

The last few winter days

 Here in Australia Winter is coming to an end as Spring begins on the 1st September. It has been a cold winter not unlike those we shivered through back in the early 1970s when I first moved here and it was often miserably cold and wet. We have become used to the warmer winters since then but this year I made good use of my coat, jackets and scarves. 

Winter is normally a great time to be out in the garden as we usually have lovely sunny days after cool mornings and frosts but the overcast weather this year plus the bitterly cold wind at times made gardening a very unpleasant pastime.



'Our electricity bill reflected how many overcast days we had and the solar panels went on holiday. Normally we have a credit on our bill so hopefully we have some nice sunny days coming up. The solar panel cleaner even had to postpone coming this week due to the forecast. 




Recently we had our second last Simple Living Toowoomba workshop. The topic was recycling and one of our sewing presenters, Neralie, showed us how she made use of her fabric scraps of which there are many I am sure. There is a potholder in the above photo....




...another potholder...



...a tote bag embellished with dyed doileys...


...place mats...


...another placemat...


...and another tote bag made from scraps making use, once again, of a dyed doiley. Her sister, Valda, made bags from pillowcases which folded up into an attached small bag but I didn't take any photos unfortunately. Some of us in our group will continue to meet up every now and again so that we keep in contact and share ideas. 




Each year I treat myself to a Chrysanthemum around Mother's Day and an Osteospermum at this time of the year.  My new Osteospermum is called Pink Sun. I wonder if it will survive unlike the one I bought last year. The red one in the background is Flame which somehow has survived my TLC for a couple of years now. LOL!

The Carnival of Flowers starts on the 1st September and, if it isn't raining on Saturday, I hope to take some photos of Queens Park after visiting the Farmers' Market. However the weather forecast isn't looking too promising with 70% chance of rain. Hopefully the rain will clear for most of the month when the Carnival is on. I always love to visit Laurel Bank Park as the theme is always interesting and the gardens are quite quirky. If you feel like a coffee Urban Grounds is directly across the road from the park. 


                                                 Have a great week everyone!












10 comments:

  1. Wow Chel, without realising it, I wrote about my osteopermum collection recently too. They are such beautiful flowers. I always look forward to them putting on their best flush in spring. They remind me of mini sunflowers, the way they follow the sunlight.

    Now Valda and Nerali, are some of my all-time favourite seamstresses. What they can't do with a piece of fabric, simply can't be done, lol. Hoping to come to the last meet up for the group. Cheers.

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    1. Chris I hope you can come to our last workshop or to one of our meetups after the group closes down.

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  2. It sure has been a grey winter and they say the rain is going to continue ... how depressing. But at least your lovely flowers seem to be enjoying it.

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    1. Joan, I guess not that far down the track we will be wishing for rain once we go back into drought conditions. Everything in moderation I say ๐Ÿค”

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  3. It must be so lovely in September driving around with all the pretty Spring flowers around and I'm looking forward to seeing Queens Park too. Have a good week.

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    1. Yes the city is looking lovely especially with the recent rain. Enjoy your visit Kathy ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒบ๐Ÿ’๐ŸŒท

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  4. Those bags look beautiful. It's still cool here in South Australia. I have the heater on in the morning and before going to bed at night. Hope you are keeping well

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    1. Hi stranger. Good to hear from you. You should come and say hi to us on the forum.

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  5. It's just started warming up here and it is so lovely. My garden was a bit dire this winter. It was cold and the ground was wet and heavy from all the rain and nothing much grew at all. It's so encouraging to see things beginning to flower and shoot up finally!

    I hope you all have a wonderful time together as your simple living workshops come to a close. What a long time you have been running them for!

    xx

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  6. Your succulent collection looks so beautiful Mum, so many pretty colours. All those beautiful potholders and bags, so much talent and patience. ๐Ÿ˜ Your Osteospermum are so lovely, would love to grow them here in Mount Isa but they dont last long when summer hits. They are beautiful though, they remind me of Nanna's, the big bush next to the front steps, so lovely. Love you Mum ๐Ÿ’•

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