The May Blurb

I might change the title to "The May Blur" and the month of May isn't finished yet. Between work, the house repairing and some social activities, the month has been flying past me.
I spent Mothers Day at Monto to celebrate Danielle's first Mothers Day with her. She was helping to stage Monto's First Mothers Day Classic for Breast Cancer. We walked the 5 km fun run and thoroughly enjoyed it. I must admit the early morning start was a bit brisk and a sleep was necessary afterwards. I then stayed the night and caught up with the Mt Perry girls at patchwork the next day. I actually did get some sewing done. I am still working on my blocks ( up to number 5 of 15) I will take some photos when I have a few more finished. The new Pfaff and Glide threads are working well together.
A few days later I travelled to Cooroy for a High Tea Luncheon at High Tea Licious along with some of my old class mates from Mundubbera and Gayndah School Days.

 This is where we caught up on all the gossip from many years. It was amazing as it does not seem like 40 years since we last sat in a classroom struggling over some lessons together. The guest speaker was Elaine Mergard who was the Home Economics Teacher for our years 9 and 10 classes who has recently retired as a milliner and now runs the hatacademy website.She even made hats for our former Governor General Quentin Bryce. That's why some of us are wearing hats. The venue is owned by one of OUR class mates, Jackie, who has always loved cooking and sewing and more recently retailing. We had over 110 varieties of tea to select from and the china and table settings are first class. The noise in the room from about 40 of us who all had Mundubbera connections was amazing.
Back to reality, I then did my 5 shifts in a row at work, finishing with my 2 night shifts. Oh boy, if the new copayment for bulk billed doctor's visits comes in in July 2015, we are going to be so much busier ( providing that Pathology Queensland still does the service ) as more people will end up in DEM instead of their GP. I will not enjoy night shifts then if we get any busier. There is only so much one person can handle at a time and I was certainly busy last week.
Back to the Ivanhoe house. In this photo you can see the laundry building under the tanks at the back. I have started the paint removal on it.

 

 

 I decided to use a flap disc on the angle grinder and started 2 weeks ago doing a few boards at a time as my shoulders get a bit sore.I have loaned my ladder to our tenant so he can work on our Brigooda house so have only done halfway up the wall. I think we'll be replacing the end door and lower boards as they are all pretty bad.

 Some good news on the power inlet to the house. The maintainence crews were out and noticed the 2 bare wires that fed the power into the house. The second wire used to hook onto that L bracket.These were supposed to be replaced 2 years ago but the crew did not show up to turn the power off when the other crew were here to do it. When I contacted Ergon and asked "when is it being rescheduled?" I got the usual fob off from their operators and nothing more was done. Until the pole/line maintainence crew saw it and someone was back within 3 days and the 2 bare wires are now 1 rubber coated cable. I have since been told the previous setup is now illegal, so no wonder they moved fast, especially as they would have noticed the paint stripped boards underneath.
Back to quilting, I have successfully repaired the tiny hole I cut into a compass point, and am visiting Lisa of Quick Quilts soon to baste it on her A1 machine. We`are going to use Glide Water Soluble thread then I am going to quilt it on my Pfaff Grand Quilter.Am hoping to finish it for the Bundaberg Quilters Exhibition in August.

 No I haven't forgot the Nolting. I do turn it on and run it every few weeks. I have booked into the AMQF in October in the hope that I will be further inspired to learn how to use it better.

The other best event of May , so far, I now have my first grand niece or great  niece, either term will do. Annalise (already shortened to Anna) arrived 2 weeks early catching a few people by surprise. The family keeps growing. The other new arrivals are all doing well also. Nearly a year since the first one was born. Time certainly flies by.

Life on a Farm and the Ever After??

Living on a farm certainly presents some unique challenges at times. One of these is retirement and planning for it. I have been following the media lately about the upcoming budget. With the rumoured changes to the age pension eligibility to be hiked up to 70 years of age in 2029, I have calculated I will be in the group who will probably cop the phasing in of the new age requirements. We would probably not be eligible for it anyway. The question is what do we do with the farm? As part of the preparation for some big decisions ahead of us I have attended a Farm Succession Workshop with Isobel Knight from Proagtive  and she was extremely enlightening to workshop with. I have also listened to her DVD again and noted a few more things which I had forgotten about.
I have also done a free 4 week introductory unit with Open2study called Entrepeneurship and the Family Business which was quite good at explaining why only 30% of family businesses survive past 2 generations.
To see an example of that we have to look no further than ourselves where we were supposed to be part of a family business but in reality we weren't.My In laws wanted financial control to continue when they were no longer alive. My husband was promised a lot, experienced a lot, saw the goal posts continually shifted and encountered extremely poor communication skills coming from the older generation. He finally made a decision to leave when he realised the truth of what was happening.
 He has now become the entrepeneur and is quite good at it. Before that he was just an intrepeneur banging his head against the proverbial brick wall.
Succession planning is vitally important for farm families if there is someone wanting to take over the farm. I think farming families in Australia will struggle in the coming years if this issue, along with all the other profit eroding issues aren't addressed.
We are in the situation where we have a younger family member wanting to follow in our footsteps, and we certainly do not want them to suffer like we did.

On a different topic, the Sydney Royal Easter Show has finished and the woodchopping events finalised. Bryan once again placed second in the World Treefelling Championship on Good Friday, this year he was cheered on by Team Wagner.  They had an eventful day seeing the Royals whizz past in their car, and managed to do lots of touristy things in the few days they were in Sydney.
 
 

"The Trouts " amid the News

What kind of title is this? You're probably asking. Remember what the Ivanhoe House  looks like, I have estimated the age to be around 100 years. I have been trying to find out as much about its history as I can with only a small degree of success.

 Yesterday, I took the dogs into the vet for their annual injections and the Ivanhoe story took a complete change of track.

Here is the roofing iron on the Ivanhoe veranda. I have pointed out to you before that there is no Australia printed on it, making this iron made in England before Lysaght Australia was formed.

Old tin roof at Ivanhoe

 Here is the newer tin roof in the shed built with Australian Made Lysaght Orb roofing. This gives some clues as to how old the shed is, built in the early 1960's.

 Look closely and you can read the name N.N.Trout.
Well it just so happened that Mrs Trout was at the vets yesterday getting her pet dog pampered. They have moved back into the area after selling Ivanhoe 50 + years ago and moving to Central Queensland. Imagine my surprise when the lady who I was having a casual conversation about dogs with, turned out to be a previous owner of our house and property. I made sure I left with her phone number and actually met Mr Trout out in the car park. He is pretty frail and has dim memories of Ivanhoe. Mrs Trout has promised me some photos and I'm quite certain some good stories about the house when they come to visit after Easter.

 We had some timely rain 4 weeks ago now and this was the grass 5 days after the first total of 30 mls. Shows you how "dead " the grass was. 2 weeks after the first lot we got a second fall of 100mls so we may now have enough pasture growth to help the cattle through the next few  months.

The great grandchildren visited their favourite great grandma, and claimed their "gates". They sure do grow up fast. Their great aunt and uncle finally met Emmerson, and they themselves can hardly wait to be grandparents in June this year. Great excitement coming up again for the family.                                           

 

 

 

 

 I have actually been sewing a New York Beauty UFO from about 10 years ago. I have 36 blocks and still playing around with them. I have to actually sew the black corners on the blocks yet.

Not sure how they will finally get arranged yet, but this was 3 variations that I managed to photograph.
Hopefully I can find some spare time while the woodchoppers are away at Sydney Show to continue working on these UFO's. It is Bundaberg Quilt Exhibition year and I must get something finished for it.
I'm still excited though about meeting Mr and Mrs Trout. I wonder if they can tell me if dances were really held in our lounge room as current folklore says.Judging by the pitmarks in the floor boards I would say so.
Will keep you informed.

End of February Updates

Gatakers Bay, Qld.

I visited my old favourite holiday spot in mid February when babysitting our grandson, Parker.
We went for a drive from Maryborough to Hervey Bay for some quality sleep time in the car. When I was young we visited this spot for our daily swim sessions and quite often launched the fishing boat here.

Gatakers Bay, Qld

 After arriving back in Maryborough, Parker detested the noise of the shopping centre and we ventured to Queens Park for some peace and quiet only to discover this noisy machine. Parker thought this was a bit more entertaining than the shopping centre.

Queens Park Maryborough, Qld

Life has been pretty much the same, no rain, work commitments and the usual struggle of business responsibilities and driving from here to there and back again. I have progressed no further on my Inner City UFO.
I happily finished the baby Owl Quilt, and handed it to the expectant Mum one whole day before she became a Mum. They welcomed a Baby Boy 9 days early, so I hope he doesn't mind sleeping under a small amount of pink.
I have found another UFO started about 9 years ago so it is currently being worked on.
Getting a bit dry, weather wise here, as we are now officially drought declared. 80% of Queensland is now drought declared. So we have started the process of destocking. I have checked out possible available assistance but at this stage we do not really qualify for any yet.
 The house renovations have ceased temporarily as I have been "driving". I have done a road trip to Brisbane to catch up with 2 old friends and then went north to Rockhampton to visit the family along the way. Hopefully it rains soon but the long term forecasts don't appear to be very positive so this coming winter might be very difficult to get through. Wait and see I suppose.

February News

The proud aunty to a beautiful baby girl named Emmerson. She finally arrived 6 days past her due date, a bit bigger than the Doctor expected needing an emergency c-section. All is well now and the parents are thrilled to have her.

One very proud great grand mother finally meeting her first great grand daughter.

Its hard to believe that the young boy standing in this photo from 1996 is now a father himself. The baby in this photo is about to celebrate his 18th birthday and has been accepted into uni to study Bachelor of Theatre in Mackay. Danielle's little boy is 8 months old today and the girl at the back is also expanding the family in June. I am lucky that her mother makes many more quilts than me so I can find another gift for the baby other than a quilt.

I can proudly comment that I finished this one 27 hours before Emmerson arrived and Amanda is very happy with her choice of  fabrics I used.

 Back to the house restoration. I have been filling the cracks and topcoating where the walls were undercoated before Christmas. I went to Bunnings for more filler supplies and saw this scaffolding for sale. Craig had seen one before in use and we made numerous enquiries with no result so I was very pleased to see it available. After some discussions with the Bunning's staff, where I could not purchase one and collect a few days later as I did not think it would fit in my car, I left a bit disappointed. BUT out in the car park was a lady and a Bunnings man fitting one into her SUV. I looked at the size of her car, and thought it just might fit in my car, and in the end the Bunnings man went and got one, wheeled it out to my car and it fitted. I did have to have my driver's seat a bit forward but I could still drive, so I happily put up with the discomfort to get it home.It's box was 1.92m long by 78 cm wide and about 20cm deep.

 

It will also be ideal for washing our 11 foot ceilings.

 This was the last wall needing the first topcoat. I had to do a fair bit of sanding of the paint runs of undercoat as this was the last wall to be finished when the others did the undercoating for me.

 This is with one topcoat. Now I have to do it all again, then finish all the door frames, window frames and the roof beams.Then I have to finish the rails and the doors.

 Here is a test coat of Resene Gumboot on the window sill. I want to use this on the rails, stairs, sills and soffits in a cool colour paint ( reflects heat) but it is a bit dark for someone else. So back to Murgon I have to go to find another test colour. I have one selected that is slightly more blue. Soon I'll be able to paint the shed with the test pots. I also have to finish reputtying the top windows.
I have taken some time off from working on the house, and have been quilting this cot panel for another baby arriving in March.

 Our work roster has changed and I now end up with extra spare time between shifts in Bundaberg, so I have dug out a UFO to work on. This is an Inner City arrangement where I have placed the mediums on top. Not sure how it will finish up, but the camera is the best tool for looking at it with. I need a few more days of sewing on this one yet. I think I need to make a few more Y units.

I am also in the planning stage for finishing my large Sunshine and Roses quilt, the start date for that one was back in 2009. I hope to have it finished for August. Will keep you all posted on its progress.

Late December, great excitement here at Ivanhoe

 I scored my Christmas present a few days early this Christmas.  I had been "joking" that all I wanted for Christmas this year was a gift voucher from each of the kids to help me with 6 hrs of painting. I went to work as usual on Monday the 23rd of December ( albeit reluctantly as I had been on antibiotics for an infection) expecting the kids to all be home the next day for Christmas. Not knowing that they were already in the district and ready to start undercoating the Ivanhoe walls for me. Craig had purchased 20 litres of paint, 6 new paint brushes and they started 30 mins after I drove out to Bundaberg. First step they did was wash the walls, a break for morning tea, then they started.

Apparently Danielle's photography is better than her painting skills.

Craig was still complaining of "chroming" the next day after this effort in the corner. I still cannot understand why he had to wear a near new work shirt that day and left it on.

 This is the completed northern veranda side, the old white cupboard has also been removed, a storm blew a door off it ages ago. Belinda said quite a few workplace health and safety rules were broken with ladder placements.

This is how the house looked when I drove in at 830pm that night. In my headlights I could see the walls were all white. I did dream fleetingly that they were top coated as well but no such luck. I have even found paint on plates and cups and quite a bit on the old veranda floor.

 

 I have since continued painting over Christmas and New Year working on the rails. I have since painted these large beams supporting the veranda also and have finished 1 top coat on 4 veranda panels.

 

After recuperating from working night shift during the heat last weekend I have managed to start top coating the walls. I cant work on the railings as storms are about. Scored 22 mls rain on Monday afternoon  so the grass is green again. This is the southern side. The colour is Taubman's silver blaze half strength and looks white against grey but grey against white. I really like how it looks against the unlined roof. I have been using No More Gaps Weatherboard to fill in the cracks. It  is the most flexible of those fillers apparently so we are hoping it lasts and does not crack out too much.

We had an enjoyable Christmas after the painting day. We celebrated together on Christmas Eve as Belinda had to work dayshift in Rockhampton for Boxing Day so had to travel back Christmas Day. She scored lunch with her grandparents in Mundubbera though on her way back. For the first time ever we had turkey  and a glazed ham. Glad I didn't have to cook that for a lunch as it was  hot enough  cooking it for tea.
 Parker's first Christmas was very special and he scored lots of toys. I did make him a shirt and shorts out of monster truck material. Oops forgot to take a photo but I think they will be his PJ's next summer. No news yet on the next grandchild, will be induced 3 days after the due date if it does not arrive before then. I am off to finish quilting the quilt as my neck is too sore after 2 days of filling and painting.

Just too busy again, what's new???

 

Christmas is nearly here. Our patchwork group had an early start to the silly season. Even Belinda managed to attend, having an event to go to in Gin Gin the next day. This meant I managed to catch up with her 2 weekends in a row.

The following weekend was our Meyer/Meredith Family reunion event at the Mundubbera Bowls Club. Our crew travelled from Mackay, Rockhampton, Monto and Proston to attend. All of our Gayndah cousins had  a short trip up the road to attend.

The Mundubbera Bowling Club's rooftop was the only part visible in the floods in January and the volunteers have done a marvellous job restoring the building.

My grandfather Harry would have been so proud to see his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren playing bowls or just running amok on the greens.

 

 

Here is Belinda, her Uncle Greg and her father.

 Here is Danielle, Belinda and Parker, looks like Parker wanted to join the other kids.

 Here is me, actually bowling a bowl. The second time ever I have played. Sure did end up with some wonky bowls. The next day, my knee and thigh was a bit sore.

Here are my three girls. I still have not started quilting the baby quilt. I intend to start when I finish the current house goal.

Here is the second of the last three veranda panels to be sanded, primed and filled.

This is the view late Monday 9 December. I discovered it is not a good time to paint after about 9am in December. I started again at 5pm.

 

Tuesday 10th December saw me back out at 6am, to prime the second panel.

This is the next one, then the purchase of some trestles are in order to tackle the outside walls.

 

 

This is the last week I intend to work on the house until after Christmas and the New Year. Somewhere in this  I still have to work.

The baby quilt is beckoning. Will let you know when the baby arrives. Hope it's not too soon for my sake but I think Amanda is hoping sooner rather than later.