10,000km

It's a bloody long way to Darwin, yes that's why I have been missing for a month. Put our family in the basket labeled nutters and otherwise loopy people because yes we decided to drive to Darwin with a baby, 3 yr old and three bigger ones just for fun! Well it was fun, lots of it, and parts were quite amazing, awe inspiring and by driving you really get the picture about just how BIG this country is. So now I will bombard you with photos and bore you to tears and whinge about how warm it is up there and how we all want to go back right now!!!! OK I'll try not too but it was soooo warm it was lovely. We saw many amazing places Devil's Marbles was one of my favourites.

Litchfield, Kakadu, all just as spectacular as the brochures say, Darwin is a lovely place, very easy to get around. We enjoyed Katherine, Edith falls is a beautiful place to swim and Katherine Gorge is spectacular, even with the crocodiles, freshwater only please!

 A night at the Daly Waters pub has to go on the list for entertainment! Batchelor is the prettiest town, fish feeding in Darwin was fun, the list will go on but for the moment that's all I have time for , the washing must go on and there's all the unpacking!!!!!

Just one last photo to remind myself just how warm it was!

Winding Ways

I was working over at Mrs Martins today and met lots of ladies out doing the winding ways shop hop. Two were buying supplies to head off to a quilting retreat in New Zealand, there was also some heading to Rawson with the Pakenham patchwork group and some just out for a good time and a nice lunch. It was a beautiful day to be out in the hills, brilliant sunshine even if it was a bit nippy!

That was on the car thermometer on the way to Karen's this morning!
This was the view

Frosty and no I wasn't driving and taking photos, Meg took these for me, it was too cold to stop!
I bought a few things to play with, I've spent too much time on pinterest lately and too many things I want to try, but I thought I'd start with these.

Some BIG hexies, diamonds and vliesofix, no they are not all for the same project, why limit the UFO's.
While I'm downloading photos I can't resist a pic of my little man having his first haircut last night.

Before with big brother

And after

 

What a hansom chickie, of course I may be a bit biased!

Another run

This time 7km! it's our longest run so far and although we were limiting our runs to 5km there just wasn't any around. So we jumped in and had a go, it was a beautiful day, sun was shinning and the start time was a very reasonable 9am. We did the run and were greeted on our return with a free massage and morning tea! A very pleasant morning indeed and many thanks to the Coburg Harriers Athletics club for running the event.

I even got and action shot!
When I got home I found the two girls busy with a sewing project, here's their efforts, Meg's sewing skills and Tulley's instructions.

and one happy little sister!

A good weekend all round.

Brrr

Cold grey and rainy days, which is nice really because we need the rain and a good excuse to sit in front of the fire and sew. But today has been an exception 16 degrees and sunny with a light breeze, so all the washing is on the line drying and I have been sitting in the sun reading the last couple of chapters of my Miss Fisher's  Murder  Mysteries book while cuddling Lewis, he's getting three top teeth and is not a happy chappy. He's a bit squirmy to sew with on my knee so I'm enjoying the book and really glad I picked up the next one as well. In the meantime I have got a little sewing done. Here's a peek at a new quilt, it has some piecing and some small felt applique too.

Biggest morning tea

I dropped into the Warburton Quilters and Stitchers biggest morning tea, which was really in the afternoon and in Yarra Junction not Warburton, but apart from those finer details it was a lovely afternoon of chatting and cakes and nice to catch up with a lot of people and what they have been sewing. I forgot to take photos too busy eating and catching up and they meet in the fire station so we had to check out the trucks too. Mum is a member of the group and one day when I don't have little ones to tag along I might get to join and sew myself.....one day.

Squishy Mail!

From Wendy in New Zealand, a lovely gift for our Mother's Day gift fairy swap. Fabric and matching threads, with some cute tape measure trim and the sweetest little pin cushion with the tiniest cross stitches ever.

You really know you're a mother when...

You spend 4 hours on Mothers Day sitting in the medical centre with a sick three year old. Glad to say she's much better today. But all was not lost, I did get some spoiling, Phill cooked everyone egg and bacon for breaky and some special squishy mail arrived, for a man who will not shop he cuts up a storm on the internet! Then my Mum cooked me a lovely roast dinner for tea, still can't do without my Mum! Hope you all had a happy Mother's Day.