India,adventures and travel

Off we set on our India adventure on the 28th October, we were advised to fly Singapore airlines due to India air not having good reviews, it was a nice 71/2hr flight to Singapore with a 3 1/2hr stop over in Singapore and then a 5 1/2hr flight to Delhi. Needless to say after leaving home at 0500hrs in am and arriving in Delhi at 0400hrs, we were pretty exhausted.

We arrived in Delhi at 8pm at night, so straight to bed for a good nights rest to get up and explore Delhi.

We are fortunate to be in India at Diwali time, the Festival of Lights 

A lot of celebrating is enjoyed by all, with millions of firecrackers being being let of, as this is not bad enough to add to the dense pollution already in Dehli.

Delhi has 25,000,000 people, traffic noise and pollution does not make for an enjoyable time.

Amazing to watch bumper to bumper traffic with horn blowing, cars, buses tuttut's making their own lanes.

On our first day we hired a taxi for 4 hours to take us to Dilli Haat which was a recommended craft, textile market, my very special finds and purchases on the first day, set me up for what could be some unique little finds.

DIlli Haat

My first purchases, a Kantha quilt and some vintage trim off saris.

Our 2nd day in Delhi was the commencement of our tour, we visited the Red Fort, went for a rickshaw ride around Old Delhi.

Entry to the Red Fort.

Elephant statue in Red Fort 

Our rickshaw ride, one of many.

Street scenes of Old Delhi.

To be continued!

Retirement continued !

Father's Day celebrations commenced with breakfast at home with the family, three generations were at the table, our little grandson is the apple of Poppy's eye!

After working as a nurse for 42 years, I decided in July to retire, I worked for NETS as a retrieval nurse and clinical coordinator for 18years. Leaving a career that I absolutely loved was a very hard decision, but after losing a couple of close friends who were only in their late fifties in a matter of a few weeks apart, I felt that there was more to life then work.

I had a wonderful afternoon tea with my sister present, many friends and colleagues.

My gift was a gold watch for my years of service, very touched by this sentiment.

August I attended the Hunters Hill quilt show which is held biannually.

In September I went down to Melbourne to have a sister and niece weekend, lovely sister time except for the vomiting from a gastric flu, which DH decieded to share with me.

We visited some fun stores, but did not go to the quilt show and we were right there, but not feeling well, I made the decision not to attend, maybe not the right decision, apparently it was amazing.

In September our daughter in law graduated with her PHD and now has the title of Doctor to her name.

Our little grandson had his naming day and first birthday

I will sign of with another quilt completed, Chris Jurd's,snowball quilt. This quilt is another large one, it is done with a lot of Tula Pink's fabrics, aptly named "Tula Snowballed"

Next post will be from India.

Retirement and OH my what a busy year.

Oh my! where has the year disappeared to!. I have not posted since my quilting retreat and Mothers Day.  I have been so caught up in what's been happening on the home and work front, time has got away from me.

Sometime balancing work, home and what life throws at you, can at times be overwhelming and it can be hard, to get an even balance in life.

As usual I have been very busy creating my own little masterpieces and finishing off a few hand sewn quilts as well as a few little projects along the way.

2016 has been a year of finishing off quilts that were started by hand the previous year.

My 365 challenge has been put on hold, it has been very hard to catch up after being on 7 weeks holidays. I will complete this quilt but not in 2016.

My version of Lorene Uriate, Opal Essence, is completed, I called my quilt, "Tumbles" all paper pieced, took 18months to finish and will be a Xmas gift to my son and his partner.

I also made myself a jacket from my leftover Frida fabrics.

DH requested a Doctor Who quilt for his birthday, so this is what I came up within a week, now quilted bound, and being used, I must say hubby was thrilled with it completion.

My first whole cloth quilt, fully appilqued and hand stitched, custom quilted by Rigebell Quilting and a Lynne Alchin design. This quilt was a small one for me, very pleased with the result.

My version of Kathy Dougherty's Garden Party, I have called this quilt "Blooms and as you can see it is another large quilt. Hand and machined pieced. I commenced this quilt in 2015, doing all the background, then putting it away for a number of months, then slowly worked on hand piecing the dresdens, wheels and star flowers. My design evolved with adding birds and critters to my design,  this is the end result.

Onto making more lace journal covers, a great use of doilies and lace.

I made a variety of items to take in August to a camp in Lake Burrendong at Ridgecrest Christian centre, a fun time had by all.

A new group of friends made and fun had by all. The camp was in August and very cold.

My project commenced was a stacked log cabin, still not completed.

I als commenced my La Passcaglia quilt this year, my progress so far, I just love fussy cutting fabric and getting some wonderful designs from my fabric selection.

Mothers Day and quilting Retreat

On arrival home after holidays, another Mother's Day dawned, the children had arranged for me to see Fiddler on the Roof at the Capitol theatre, an amazing performance, then a week later Cara and I saw Georgie Girl, all about The Seekers, another great show. Jetlag persisted for a couple of weeks, so pleased to have some R &R at home.

So pleased to be home and enjoy this little charmer, my grandson Logan

I made a recipe folder for my son's partner, Sarah for her first Mother's Day with enclosed family recipes.

Time to get back into my 365 challenge, being 6 weeks behind, need to catch up.

Half way through the year and finishing off three quilts.

I am calling this one "Blooms"

"Frida" which I have hand quilted using pearl thread and I loved doing this, this quilt is not as large as I usually make them, so easy to mange.

"Eden"

We all had fun at the our quilting retreat in Ferndale, I felt very decandent eat, sleep and quilt, very impressed with two older ladies and the quilting they do.

Isobel Lancaster and Alma, gorgeous souls and great quilters.

A big thank you to Lynne Alchin, a great person and teacher, who we all had the pleasure to have her  company on our retreat.

Ferndale a great spot for a quite getaway. I commenced this post a few months ago, but forgot to post, have been very busy with life, so will post very soon, what I have been up to, until next time.

Chicago and that's a wrap.

After 5 fabulous day in Paducah, we caught our flight back to Chicago. The flight was only 1 hour from Paducah to Chicago. Monday we booked the river architectural tour, which departs at 12md and usually lasts for 90 mins. It was a glorious day, 85 Fahrenheit. A pity as I did not dress for the weather and was very hot. The cruise was interesting and until you do this cruise, you do not notice the differences in the designs of the buildings which are not evident until it is pointed out. 

The docent was very informative.

Our ferry.

The Michigan Mile, looks lovely with all the tulips in bloom.

The gates to the bridge, on the Michigan Mile.

We walked the mile, did not do any shopping, as my bags were already overweight.

The modern, Trump Tower.

The Art Deco buildings, This was the Nathan Hale building.

The echo deco, this building was apparently made famous by The Blues Brother film,

Great skyline.

After our cruise we walked down to the navy pier, lots of entertainment for children and numerous eating places, you certainly would not starve in Chicago, it is inundated with places to eat.

The next couple of days in Chicago was quite cold, 40 Fahrenheit, so out with the winter woollies.

The cloud gate, aptly,  nicknamed the bean is located in the Millenium park.

We walked around the park, visited the art gallery and also the Crown Fountain, which only operates in summer, as a fountain, the faces still change, but no water spurts from the mouth.

This whole area is usually under water in the summer.

We visited the war memorial we visited on Anzac Day 

Robert Morris, George Washinton and Hahm Solomon.

Maybe Chicago Fire, I did not see Kelly or Jessie, LOL

Chicago Bulls !

Is this the biggest Golden Arches you have ever seen.!

When we were sightseeing in Chicago we came upon a funny sight, is this what you call bumper to bumper parking LOL.

That ends our tour of Chicago, a very active 5 days. It is now time to go home to the land of Oz. 

We did manage to try Chicagos famous pie pizza as well as some whoopie pies, until next time, USA

Flight home was 19hrs flying time, 4 1/2 hrs from Chicago to San Francisco, then 14 1/2 hrs from San Francisco to Sydney. 

Time for some R & R before our next adventure.