Four week countdown is on!

In just four weeks time we will be making our way to the UK for one final exciting time! So with only four weeks to go there is much to be done. We are going away for a few days next week where there will be no distractions to complete some more projects before our trip. I cannot believe it is a week since I posted those lovely Beatrix Potter films so obviously it has been a very busy week. I did manage to capture the changing season locally although it is still very, very cold and the temperature has hardly crept above 14C (57F) all week, but the blossom is evident by the river......

 Spring is just around the corner in the garden too......

 I've stitched the final bindings on three quilts this past week which was a good feeling.......

 But I must say I was really disappointed that some of my embroidery threads bled when I washed the quilt and even a gentle wash in the bath with a product to stop colour run in the water too.........

 I did manage to get that copy of our Woman's Weekly and found the article on the David Roche Museum where it was stated that it is the biggest collection of its type in the southern hemisphere and worth a whopping 80 million Australian dollars too!..........

 We had Beau and Maisie all day Monday and spent the day home doing lots of busy things apart from a quick trip to the shops for special treats.........

So today when we had their company once again we decided an excursion was in order. Beau arrived with a very special "person".....a doll from kindy that he has to take good care of all weekend and I must say he took his parenting role very seriously..........

 So today's excursion was a visit to the Maritime Museum. It was about a 45 minute drive and a place we have never been to before. The website states that it has the oldest nautical collection in Australia and Larry and I will definitely be returning on our own. There was an added bonus of some stunning sketches and drawings completed by Baudin's artists on his southern exploratory voyagers of 1800-1804 which were funded by Napoleon Bonaparte. The collection comes all the way from the Museum of Natural History in Le Havre, France so we will go back to study all of that more closely soon........

 There were some incredible figureheads and I had no idea so many ships came to our port all those years ago.........

 The conditions on those long voyages to our shores are beyond belief and many did not survive the journey.........

 And we know it is a long haul......it takes us 22 hours today to fly to the UK!.........

Maisie spied an antique doll on display.....

 A wonderful model of the Cutty Sark which now lives in London.......

 Beau spied an old photo and immediately saw a young boy that he thought looked just like him.........

 Port Adelaide has had major restoration over the years and we are so looking forward to exploring some more. As the sun was setting it was great to see the One and All and the Falie ships in dock undergoing maintenance before the sailing season starts once again........

 So finally tonight I take great pleasure in sharing these spectacular photos from Elena in Russia! Elena has emailed me a few times and with the aid of google translate we have managed to "talk" briefly to one another. Coincidentally I was recently interviewed for an article that appears in this month's New Zealand Quilter and one of the questions I was asked was where my blog audience comes from. So I searched for the statistics and since I started in 2008 was surprised to discover that Russia is third on the list of all visitors ahead of the UK, New Zealand and Canada. (And for the record US was first with Australia second). Elena's work is stunning and I adore the colours she has used (the cushions and quilt pattern are in my second book "More William Morris in Appliqué" which I see you can still purchase.....not sure who is getting royalties for it because it sure isn't me and I haven't for well over two years!)........anyway I am thrilled and thankyou so much Elena for your stunning photos complete with your beautiful dog!..........

Thanks for visiting x