Adventures in Pemberton

Got a text from daughter no 2, her hubbie asks whether we would like to go away with them for the forthcoming long weekend.   It's a public holiday so he will book where he can she says.  The only place he could get all of us in together is Pemberton so Pemberton it is.  Anyway, we have always wanted to go there, it's on our bucket list.   In the meantime there are alarming noises coming from our car, not good news when we need it to tow Sheila to the campsite.  The garage tells us it is the differential bearing and we hope that it is covered by the extended warranty we purchased when we bought the car.  I've not got happy thoughts about this as there always seems to be plenty of wriggle room when it comes to claiming from insurance companies.  SIL offers to lend us his ute, so that's what we do.  We are rather advanced in years and single cab utes are generally the province of young chaps who like nothing better than a good burn up.  The resulting combo is rather successful and though we might have looked rather out of place, who cares.  It's the beginning of the holiday and the cops are out in force it seems.  A timely reminder to make sure that we stick rigidly to the speed limit.  We don't want a repeat of last year when we had a little conversation with the cops outside Balingup which resulted in a swingeing fine.  In Pemberton we drive down through the town looking for Pemberton Caravan Park.  This proves to be at the far end  in a wooded valley, so very picturesque.  We are directed to our pitch which is on the perimeter adjacent to a road.  We notice the water treatment works just the other side of the dividing road but think nothing of it, but more of that later.  I'm driving so it's left to me to back Sheila on to the pitch.  Anyone who knows us will realise that this is our camping bete noir.  Neither of us is much good at reversing a trailer and equally neither of us is much good at directing the driver of the reversing car.  Usually we indulge in some sotto voce harsh words (why is there always someone avidly watching I ask) and after a few goes can generally park in the allotted space, albeit often at a bit of a crazy angle.  Not so today, it's straight in the space.  All those internet lessons appear to have paid off.  We're all set up and sitting down with a cup of tea when the rest of the family appear so we are left to mind Maddie & George while the parents do the pitching. 


The waterworks!

This is the first time we have been away together and it's so good to have them with us.  To have company is lovely when we are generally on our own.  At 6am the following morning we discover the drawback of being pitched opposite the water works when a tanker draws up and spends some considerable time filling up with potable water.  Aside from this disruption, we loved this site.  Although it was quite full that wasn't the impression you got really. 

All set up

Addicted Candy Crushers at play



Lavender & Berry Farm

Dining Car window at Hidden River Winery

Lavender & Berry Farm

There's plenty to see and do in and around Pemberton with a couple of excellent wineries.  We loved Hidden River Winery http://www.hiddenriver.com.au/ and Salitage http://www.salitage.com.au/
in particular.  Pemberton is some way in land but there is a swimming opportunity at Big Brook Dam, a very lovely place indeed.  We were there to coincide with a cycling race, part of the route was immediately behind our camping pitch so we enjoyed watching the competitors racing past.  The lovely gardens at Lavender & Berry Farm http://www.lavenderandberryfarm.com.au/ are worth a visit.  We loved the café where we sat on the verandah and watched the birds visiting the surrounding shrubs.

Maddie & Grandad on the Pemberton Tramway

Downtown Pemberton

Pemberton Tramway Station

Big Brook Dam



Karri Forest

Grief

Our darling daughter has lost her longed for baby.  We cast our minds back a few months when she called us in great excitement to tell us that she was expecting her first child.  That excitement was to be all too short lived as it very quickly became apparent that her pregnancy was not going to plan.  The baby was failing to thrive and all sorts of tests were carried out to rule out genetic disorders.  It seemed that the placenta was flawed and although she made it to 26 weeks the baby was not growing so it was decided to induce her.  The baby died before she could be born.  The family are devastated, we are here in Australia and she is in England and never was the distance so great.  We are going back in May for a visit, planned to coincide with the baby's anticipated birth date and sadly just couldn't afford to go now too.  I want to rail at the injustice of it all.  RIP Matilda.

Adventures in Bunbury

Since my blog is rather grandly titled Cath's Australian Adventure, so far there has been little in the way of adventure going on here so to correct that omission, some tales of our latest forays further afield in this beautiful country are called for.  To celebrate our 45th wedding anniversay recently, sapphire for those who didn't know, we decided to take our camper to visit Bunbury.  It's about 2.5 hours south of Perth and is one of those towns that you tend to bypass on the way to somewhere else.  So after hitching up Sheila the camper (proudly Australian made) we headed for Koombana Bay Holiday Park.  We were impressed with this park, the only downside being its situation right alongside a fairly busy main road.  The powered sites run parallel to the fence on this road so the noise was a bothersome, particularly the boy racers in the middle of the night.  It's beautifully kept with a large 'village green' with trees and shrubs offering very welcome shade.  The Park is situated directly across the road from Koombana Bay, a perfect place for children and nervous swimmers alike.  For those who are not familiar with the beautiful Indian Ocean it needs to be treated with great respect.  Apart from the sharks which have visited these shores rather too many times this summer, there are the rips which can carry the unwary out to sea in a trice and the surf which can 'dump' the unsuspecting paddler in the most unpleasant way.  Having been a dumping victim I'm not keen to repeat the experience.  Koombana is a tranquil, wave free spot - just how I like it. 

Koombana Bay bathed in moonlight

To celebrate the big anniversary we booked a table at Vat2 which is situated further around Koombana Bay, by the marina.  It's an idyllic spot with lovely views over the marina particularly from the terrace tables.  It was a Sunday night and though the terrace was quite busy the restaurant itself was not so the ambience was a little lacking.  For anyone who has ever tried to get a meal beyond 8.30 in WA you will know that you are about as welcome as a slice of ham in a vegetarian sandwich.  I've experienced worse than this but our friendly waiter left after our first course and it wasn't quite the same afterwards.  (The dubious honour of the worst place was at a restaurant in Kalbarri where the service was painfully slow and despite a 7.00 pm booking at 8.30 we were still waiting for dessert.  This didn't deter the staff from stacking chairs on tables all around us and cleaning the floor!) The prices were pretty steep I felt, $52 for fish of the day which whilst quite nice, was a little dry and certainly not worth the price paid. 

Vat2 - view from the terrace

The anniversary boy

My fish dish

A little way from Bunbury is Australind, situated right next to the Leschenault estuary.  A tranquil oasis with lovely walks and pretty beaches.

Leschenault Estuary, Australind

Baby George's Quilt

Baby George is nearly 4 months old (where had that time gone) and is about ready to move from his moses basket to a big boy's cot.  With winter approaching I thought I would have a go at making him a quilt.  I've little or no experience in quilt making which is unfortunate given that many Australian ladies are so very talented.  I used a design I found in a favourite journal Innovative Machine Embroidery Textile Art Volume 17 No 11.  For the applique squares I used 6 animal designs from Designs by JuJu.  I didn't put a enough  thought into my fabric/applique selection as I chose a plain blue homespun and a very pretty circus print both from Spotlight.  If I had my wits about me I would have chosen some circus themed appliques but unfortunately I didn't think of this until I had finished my quilt.  Typical!  All went fairly well, apart that is, from my darling hubby deciding to switch the embroidery machine off mid design prior to going to bed.  As it's not calibrated too well I was unable to go back to where it left off so an hour's work was wasted.  The air was blue for a while I can tell you.  I'm not too good at the quilting business and I think I will have to go and have some lessons with Faye at Ocean Keys Sewing Centre.  She is such a mine of information and with amazing skills I know she can put me right. Anyway, I quilted it in the ditch and sewed the binding on by hand and here it is. 

Maddie's First Day

So here she is, all decked out in her new school uniform and ready for anything.  Her mummy took her into her new class where she joined her new classmates, some of whom were sobbing at the thought of going it alone.  Not so Maddie who wanted to know when mummy was leaving and rushed off to sit in front of her new teacher without a backward glance and certainly not a farewell kiss.  Juliet went to pick her up at the end of the day and introduced herself to the class teacher only to be told she had kept them on their toes.  Oh dear!

Off to School for Maddie

Miss Cuteness and her brand new baby brother

My youngest granddaughter, the lovely Maddie, starts school on Monday and she (and her Mummy) just can't wait.  Here in Australia each school has its own uniform and Maddie's is no exception.  She can choose to wear a little check dress or a polo shirt with the school logo worn over a skirt, shorts, skorts or trousers.  Bearing in mind the weather, a wide brimmed hat is a vital accessory.  I have already made her 3 pairs of skorts in the school colour which is a bottle green.  I used a pattern from McCalls M4762.  She's a really active child and likes easy wear clothes so I have made several pairs from this pattern already.  I have also made both versions of the top but if I make either again I will adjust the pattern to make them longer.

On the list of requirements was a book bag so I picked out a piece of burgundy fabric from my stash to run up this bag.  I used an applique from Designs by JuJu http://www.designsbyjuju.com/default.aspx for the front and her name is on the back.  I've already used several appliques from this company and would love to use plenty more.  This little sock monkey is just adorable.  I bought Maddie a couple of t-shirts and jazzed them up with an applique using fabric to match little items I had made previously.

Patchwork Mariko Sono Bag            

This is my latest Japanese bag project from a pattern by Patchwork Mariko http://marikojapan.ocnk.net/product/450.  I have made this particular pattern before, initially for myself from a complete kit that I picked up at a craft fair in Perth city and then for my daughters using my own choice of fabric.  I'm making this particular bag for my lovely sister Liz, who I left behind in the UK when I migrated to Australia, I miss her so very much.  It's not that we lived in each other's pockets and we didn't always see each other often but she was never too far away and generally in the same time zone.  As I said before, I have made a few of these bags already, I love Japanese fabrics so I get great pleasure from choosing the pieces to use.  Liz is a gal who loves bright colours, she's a nature lover too.  So I sort of broke my unwritten rule when choosing fabrics to have at least one similar colour in each individual fabric.  All bar one does have a hint of gold however.  Ideally I would have liked to find a peacock fabric for the 'hero' piece in the centre, but I love these cranes too.  I chose 6 Japanese or Japanese inspired fabrics from my stash.  Pic one shows three pieces ready to be cut out on a lovely fan print fabric from Spotlight.

Pic 2 and all the pieces have been cut for one side of the bag, they are just laid out on the bag template.

Pic 3 shows a piece of iron on Vilene wadding ready to place the cut fabric.

Pic 4 transferring the fabric pieces from the template to the Vilene

 Pic 5 and all the pieces are in place

Pic 6 shows how care is needed to ensure that each fabric piece is positioned correctly so that the curves are smooth.  I had to trim a couple of pieces where my seam allowance was a little too wide.  Ready now to be carefully pressed.

 Pic 7 placing the binding to cover the fabric joins.  If you haven't used this stuff before it's an excellent product.  It has a paper backing which you peel off as you iron it in place.

Pic 8 it's so important to take care placing and ironing the binding to the bag.  The top edge of the binding should exactly match the edge of the fabric beneath it.  The danger is if you don't capture enough, constant use of the bag could cause the fabric to fray.

 

Pic 9 I cut a piece of interfacing to size prior to machining the binding.

Pic 9 I used a 40mm twin needle to sew the binding down, if you remember, it works best if you sew in the same direction you pressed the binding.   This twin needle is a perfect size but doesn't leave any room for error.

 Pic 10 Not quite stitching in the ditch, it's a challenge to keep it neat.

Pic 11 This is a view of the bag on the reverse when all the stitching has been completed.

Pic 11 here's my lining.  A lovely piece from Spotlight's remnant box (how I love that box, I'm not always lucky but have found some lovely pieces nevertheless).

Pic 12 I have added a small pocket on one side of the lining, ideal for a phone or in my case, my spare glasses!

Pic 13 & 14 Attach each piece of lining to the top edge of each bag side, do make sure that the pocket opening faces up!  Measure placement for each half of the magnetic closure.  I always strengthen the fabric with a piece of scrap under the back of the fastener.

Pic 15 Pin both sides of the bag together making sure that the back and front bag/lining seams are accurately pinned. Sew around all sides of the bag and the lining, leaving a sufficient gap in a side lining seam to turn the bag right side out.

Pic 16 Sew across the corners of both the bag and the lining and pull the bag through the gap in the lining, sew across the gap to complete.

Pic 17/18 Top stitch around the opening edge of the bag. 

Well that's about it.  Finished at last.  I made my own handles as opposed to a purchased pair as I've not been able to find the right item other than on line.  They are quite expensive to buy too.  I made these using a Spotlight remnant of black linen with some stiffening I found in Textile Traders.  I was really pleased with the result.  It was 37 degrees here in Perth as I completed sewing my bag, thats nearly 99 Fahrenheit in old money!  I think it was hotter in my sewing room.  I hope you like my bag and more to the point, I hope my dear Lizzie loves it too.   Each version I have made has been much admired, daughter Georgie was approached by a lady at the airport in Dubai who wanted to know all about it, her work colleagues wanted one too.  So thank you Patchwork Mariko for a lovely product, I'm just sorry I will miss this year's Perth Exhibition Centre Craft Fair, I should be back in the UK visiting my daughter and the rest of my UK family we left behind.

First Post & Current Projects

My first post and I feel it should be enthralling and grip the reader but fear I will fail miserably on both fronts.  Never mind, I have to begin somewhere and this is it.  I can only get better can't I?  Today is hot, again, and I'm thinking of my poor daughter Georgie, back in snowy UK where she is feeling the cold; her home heating is just not up to the job.  Which is worse, too hot or too cold?  I can't decide, an excess of either is decidedly uncomfortable, I think I lean towards the cold! 

I'm working on a couple of Japanese bags.  After making one for myself from a kit supplied by Patchwork Mariko I was inundated with requests from the girls for one of their own so have made a couple more since.  They are quite enjoyable to make but I don't think I will do too many more, you can have too much of a good thing!  If I can figure out how to do it I will post piccies of work in progress up to the completed item.