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A lovely update, Sally! Enjoy your time in Melbourne!

Thank you for the beautiful update, Sally. Knowing Merejka not by hearsay, I am well aware how much work and effort those squirrells already cost you.

Enjoy your week in Melbourne and have a happy anf safe journey back.

Nice work. Such a cute chart.

Hi from finally sunny and warming up a smidgen in Melbourne. I have the mornining at 'home' today after a crazy 4 days out and about. Out agaiN soon and again tomorrow morning. I fly home early Saturday for r&r.

Sounds like you are having a lovely busy time. When you need R&R after a vacation, you need it’s been a good one!

Carole

Good to see you on here again, Sally.
Enjoy your last day in Melbourne. Looking forward to hearing about any stitchy shopping you did while there...

poppy wrote:Good to see you on here again, Sally.
Enjoy your last day in Melbourne. Looking forward to hearing about any stitchy shopping you did while there...

My thoughts exactly!!!

Hi Dear Friends, The body is home, not sure if the rest of me has caught up or not. I have had several bits of semi urgent lifestyle things to sort out which always drives me nuttier than usual but it is done - now I can start and catch up with what has been happening.

It has been wonderful if freezing down in Mooroolbark, in the outer east of the great city of Melbourne. I love it down there and just may head back that way in the future - time will tell.
It is very similar to Christchurch (NZ) where I come from and I really enjoyed all my outings with eldest son seeing all the lovely autumn colours just breaking out down there - we don't grow those trees up here - too hot for them. We made a visit to a long time friend who has just moved into a secure until in a retirement village and so great to catch up with her briefly and see her new abode. Very tempting - maybe I had better buy a lottery ticket or two to finance that.
The next day I met up with another friend who drove me to a wonderful fabric shop where I had a ball choosing cot sized cover patterns to be quilted and sent on their journey to needy families. Can't wait to get started in a couple of them at least. (sorry no photos yet they will happen sometime) I also picked up needed sewing and quilting needles and other bits and bobs.
Wednesday Kevin & I went on a long drive - considerably longer than bargained for due to Road CLosures - dratted nuisance. We eventually arrived at our destination - the small Town of Marysville. 10 yrs ago it was all but wiped out by bush fire so I was keen to see it again. The quilting/sewing/knitting group I went to every week used to have a year gathering up there so it was sad to see it not long after the fire with barely a structure standing.
Slowly it is rebuilding but there are still many empty sections ("lots" I think some people call them). A row of new shops has replaced the preious ones, but alas no quilting/embroidery shop at all. We had a fabulous lunch at a café they knew from before the fire, it is brick exterior so was still standing. It is a "Home Bakery" so a yummy lunch and rest then we set off for home. Again "road closed" signs in our face (same road but other end of it) so off Kevin went on an unpaved road. WOW hillside after hillside of skeleton trees. Everything grey and bare. They were mainly the Blue gum trees which grow to 30/40 ++++ height and all that is left is the bare trunks with the branches near the tops, no green although apparently many are regrowing from the roots up. Mind boggling for sure.

I did do my shopping in my favourite village, went to my favourite picture framers and gave him GS 21st birthday gift which the family will pick up next week. Then into the wool shop. Didn't find all I wanted but saw some awesome wool I almost bought but managed to keep my purse closed.
On the knitting front it was lovely on an evening to sit in the most comfortable chair in the house (courtesy of DIL) and Keren and I sat and knitted happily. I almost finished a baby bolero which has been sitting around most of the summer.
All in all a wonderful week away and so glad I chose to come home on the Saturday. It was 5c and pouring down rain when Kevin & I left the house at 6.45am for the airport. Apparently it "staggered" to 11c before heading back down again. Too cold for me after the 30 ++++ temps we have here. Arrived home to 31c and 83% humidity - yuk.

So I am back and catching up slowly.

Welcome home! Sounds like you had a lovely and incredibly busy week with family and shopping and visiting favorite places. It always takes me a few days to rest and reacclimate after vacation. And it also sounds like you replenished a lot of craft supplies. Glad to have you back again!

Carole

Sounds like a great trip overall!!
So nice to see you back!!

What a wonderful week, Sally. You managed to get some stitching goodies and to see your friends as well as spending time with family.
Hopefully, Marysville will rebuild itself like the tall blue gum trees, from the roots up.
Thank you for your post.
You deserve a good, stitching rest now

Welcome back after an incredibly busy time! Will you have a little time to relax and recover from all that enjoyable but tiring activity?

Helene - Marysville is rebuilding very slowly which is always good to see.

Mabel. A sort of rest - catching up on my stitching quietly. I have caught up on my emails, and my various other little jobs so now it is to relax with stitching, maybe even on the balcony if the cold southerly wind stays away.

Firstly thank you for letting me ramble about my week away, it was a benchmark time for sure. Now here is the long awaited update which
includes THE KETTLE now finished. I will go back a bit now and do the contents of the gift basket between the Squirrels and The Kettle.
says she hopefully

Yay, now we can have a cuppa !

Whew! I was gasping!!

for all ! I love this design and think you are making lovely progress!

Carole

You made great progress with it, Sally. I love all the rich colours and your stitching is perfect.
I will have one too!

You're making great progress on this. You've been busy, both with stitching and real life stuff.

Welcome back Sally!! So glad you had a great time and so very happy to see you back!! Fantastic update on your beautiful project!!