Please remember that any photos, images or text on this blog remain my property, but if you wish to use any that you see, feel free to contact me for permission. Thank you for respecting my request and enjoy your visit.......Joy

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Stage 1 - Starting the garden

Remember when I first moved and the lovely blank canvas I had for my garden.  Well I have cleaned it up, removed the mulch and dug it all over.  Added some compost that came with me from my worm farm. Sadly the worm farm has now found a new home.

First things first - I planted out the herbs that I bought with me, my quite large Rosemary (which by the way has been trimmed);  my oregano, just in front of the Rosemary, that is just starting to show new growth;  chives on the right - they transplant well; lemon thyme, left of the oregano (I prefer this to ordinary garden thyme).  This one has really pretty little flowers when blooming.

Lastly my perpetual Basil, behind the oregano an thyme..  The Bay Tree stays in the large tub (not shown here).

You can also see the small lime tree and in front of it sitting on the small wooden block is my sun dial and in the second photo it is showing the correct time (that is the time I took the photo last week.... You find where direct north is on a map of your street (Google is great for this) face the dial directly north. Then on the first day that sunlight is shining, at exactly 12.00 noon you adjust the arrow so there is NO shadow.  If you go out earlier or later and do your adjustments, the time will always be out by that 1/2 hr or so.  When I took this photo it was 11.35am.

Of course the time is only correct when the sun is out - no shadows and you can't tell the correct time.

Ah, I hear what you're saying - what happens when Daylight Savings begins or ends.....when you change your clocks inside the house you change the dial outside - at the first day when the sun is shining at 12.00 noon.

Mr Garden Gnome is not forgotten - he is sitting on one of the round posts that are attached to the skirting board along the garden bed.  He loves it there - a bit of sun to keep warm and he is doing a marvellous job of looking after my plants.  And he has to take special care of my lemon tree.

Next is the planting out of some of the cuttings and pots I bought with me.  Still working on it.  Will post more photos when finished.


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Sewing with Friends...

...is always a lovely thing to do.  On the fourth Thursday of the month a small group of lovely ladies who belong to Scquilters (Southern Cross Quilters - an on-line group of Australian and ex-pats (ie Aussies who live overseas) that I belong to..) meet in the City (Melbourne) for a chat, lunch and a bit of sewing.

They are the 'CBD' group, and I am lucky to have been asked to join them.  There are a number of these small groups around Australia with members all belonging to Scquilters, who meet on a regular basis.  It's great to meet and put a face to a name that you usually only get to know on-line.

At a recent meeting my friend Jenni S showed her latest completed quilt.  Absolutely beautiful and she hand pieced and appliqued the entire quilt.  With her permission I can also show you :
Apologies for cutting a corner off but I only had my phone with me that day.  But I am sure you can see the amount of work that has gone into this quilt.  By the way - she also hand-quilted it!!