Oh Dear, Where have I been the last 11 months?

As the title states, where have I been?
A combination of work commitments, family and just staying alive and well, has kept me from blogging. I do feel a bit sad that I can't seem to be a regular blogger like other well known bloggers.
I will do my best to be a bit more regular in my updates but I can't promise too much.
This post will be a brief snapshot of the last 9 months of life at Ivanhoe.

Spring in 2018 was a pleasant one for us . A bit of timely rain saw the orchard flourish and the paddocks turn green for a change. Since then we have limped along with a few very timely falls of rain with few major falls.

 My new Vacola Fruit Preserving Kit was used to bottle some of the excess nectarines that we managed to keep the birds from gorging themselves on.

Work has slowly progressed on the northern veranda side of the house. In a few weeks I hope to finish painting the 4th panel. Then we might invest in a blind for the first section to make it more windproof for winter.

 December saw us all off to Toowoomba to celebrate a family occasion where we witnessed a very special wedding. My three girls all glammed up for the occasion.

The last day of the year saw us at another family event, an oldies birthday celebration. This time the young ones enjoyed the run of the house. This is only 4 of them after half demolishing a lounge room. Good news, in October 2019 there will be a 6th grandchild, their Mum will certainly be busier then.

Back on the orchard front, when we grew grapes commercially in the 1980-1990's our favourite variety was Cardinal. Unfortunately they had seeds in them but they were hardy and tasted good. After our move to Proston, I struggled for a few years to get our grapes growing and I thought I had lost my Cardinal variety. I managed to procure a few extra cuttings this year and managed to get 2 to grow. I was very excitedly surprised to come home after work and discover some coloured grapes on this bush. It was a Cardinal and it was the first time a bunch was allowed to ripen. The birds, wallabies had always removed them before that happened. I will be taking some more cuttings this year. Very soon as it is pruning time again.

 February saw us as dog parents again. Scruff presented us with 8 pups. We have had a few adventures since, with 7 still accounted for. They are all working dogs in training but sometimes I think their handlers need to go to working dog school as well.

 The sewing front has just been slowly moving along. I kept up with the ready to wear fast for 2018 until December 31st. I have made a few articles since and only purchased some jeans and a coat so far for 2019.
I went to Fibre Arts Toowoomba in April and did Stitch Resist Shibori with Neha. She comes from India and was a delightful teacher. She taught us how to dye silk and use direct dyes for cotton. I need to shift stuff around downstairs so I can set up a dyeing studio. I can dream as I think I need a plumber first, we no longer have running hot water in our laundry!

 This is part of our class display at the end of the week.

 I have finished quilting this latest landscape quilt. I must take a better photo of it now that it is faced and finished.

 This is an obscure photo at first glance but it is our bedroom French door. I took it to show the rebate area I had to remove the paint from before I puttied in the pane of glass. We also had to replace the solid timber inset in the bottom panel. I have now finished sanding the whole door back and it is awaiting staining and varnishing.

 This is the third set of doors on the northern side which I have paint stripped, sanded, stained and varnished. This is after 1 coat of varnish, still needs about 4 more coats of the stuff. I am rather pleased with how they are turning out.

Well, the next few months are looking just as busy. Currently I have 3 small pieces of artwork hanging in the Kingaroy Art Gallery as part of the Tangled Threads Group and will be demonstrating stitch resist in the gallery on Tuesday July 23rd.
We have 4 weeks of babysitting the Cocker Spaniel during August to do. I think I will need to spend a fair amount of time entertaining him on the veranda. Would be good if he could use a paint brush. I have managed to use up some of my excess rec leave hours for the month so he is not a problem while the Ekka is on.
Then in September I am off to Java again for 2 weeks to explore batik fabric again. I will be better prepared this time I hope for the experiences.
October is the due month for the grandchild so hope all goes well, so far it has so here's hoping.
It is also the due month for the next instalment of work to be presented for Tangled Threads with the theme for  next year's exhibition "The Road Untravelled". Leaves it fairly open ended but as usual I have been slow to start.

Workwise, as well as my rec leave news, we are finally getting a building refurbished and expanded for us. 2 new analysers which also means a backup Haematology and Biochemistry analyser so when we have a breakdown we can still keep analysing blood. We also got a new transfusion analyser earlier this year which assists us in our blood bank work. I have been on nights shifts this week so have only had to listen to the jackhammers for an hour in the morning. Hopefully they start building next week.
I will try to be a better blogger but I think I also need a new camera instead of relying on my Ipad, and that has contributed to my lack of posts. Hopefully I can find the spare time and I will try to show more of my sewing, dyeing progress. Till next time and I hope it's not as long a gap.