We had to run an errand yesterday, and made a small detour to Stone Hut for lunch. We took Macca and Dolly for the ride. Amazingly, both of the other puppies have gone to new homes, so now there's only Dolly left. I'm glad that other families will get to enjoy Macca's lovely offspring, and Dolly is enjoying having her Dad to herself.

Who would have thought that dogs like Rock Cakes so much? They begged for every last bit, and hoovered up the crumbs. It's no secret how to get a Staffie's attention; food will do it every time.

Back at home after our little outing, I finished quilting this little quilt of Mereth's. I designed all the motifs and border just for this, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. I seldom get to quilt things for us anymore, too busy with all the rest of the computer work, so it was a pleasure to get this done. I only have about 20 more waiting in the wings.And in isolated moments when I'm sick of doing all the dutiful work I sew a few of these donation blocks. The fabric was a stack of red and black and white samples donated by Elaine in Jamestown, and the blocks are going together very quickly. Soon there will be another quilt to add to the pile of tops.

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Yesterday we went for a drive to the beach, as all of us had been cooped up in our respective houses for far too long. It was a lovely autumn day, slightly overcast and breezy; perfect beach weather. We went to Port Germein, about 35k away. It was once a significant town for shipping grain in the 1800s. The jetty was famous for being one of the longest in the southern hemisphere, 1.68km, or nearly a mile. It was storm damaged though, so it's only 1.5km now. It extended out to the deeper waters, because Port Germein is so flat there's hardly any water close to the shore.

We've been coming here for years, and walking along the jetty. It was very scary at one stage, as there was no railing, and the timbers were so rotted that you had to jump from one section to another. Luckily it's been renovated, and a guardrail erected along one side, so it's a lot safer now.
As I said to Matt, a parrot on the shoulder is more customary for any self-respecting pirate, but Jessie hated walking on the echoing boards, and insisted on being carried a good part of the way. What a life!

The dogs had a brilliant time as usual, splashing in the sea, investigating piles of seeweed and eating all the scraps from our picnic lunch. They enjoy themselves so much, it's a pleasure to watch them; they certainly know how to live in the moment and enjoy life as it comes.

When we pulled up we had managed to park right next to two of our cousins and their families; small world around these parts, and we manage to run into relatives all the time.

This is the storm damaged section of the jetty, out of bounds now. These piles were swaying in the tide, all those birds were being rocked to sleep on the deep. There's a weather station out on the final bit, recording any wild weather that comes through.

Because the beach is so flat there's no boat ramp; instead, certain enterprising fellows tow boats out to the deeper water. This tractor is the conventional choice; for the adventurous, there's this creation. I imagine that took quite a few beers and a lot of consultation with mates in the shed before the final version hit the sands. It looks like it's straight out of Mad Max. I'm sure someone is very proud of it.....

I finished 9 more Dear Jane blocks last night, most of them are straight-forward piecing or applique, and the fiddly one I had done most of already. I have 25 blocks now, nearly 2 rows worth, and it's still fun. Prepping the blocks is the worst bit, choosing which fabric and cutting strange little pieces, and realising that you've cut it all wrong and have to start again. Maybe I shouldn't work at night after a glass of wine.
No matter, I'm surging forward; on to Row 3 next.

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We were off at sunrise yesterday, for a quick trip to Adelaide. I won another Ebay auction, so we had to go and pick that up, and also go to Spotlight for some needed fabric. It was a gorgeous grey day, Autumn is here at last; I just love a sky full of grey clouds.The early light caused some fantastic effects, and we stopped to take photos of the windfarm; I love these huge blades turning in the wind, they look incredibly significant. Of course in twenty years time we'll have evidence that they are beaming information to aliens in outerspace, and all those nutjobs were right all along; until then, I'll enjoy them.We had to find an address in Port Adelaide, and at an intersection I realised that we were very close to a house my DBrother No1 had lived in about 8 years ago. I knew there was a church just down the road with cute stained glass windows, so we did a little detour to take some photos. It was a very busy street, so we had to be content with a couple of snaps from inside the car. Love the little crenellations on the entry of the church.

Across the road was this beautiful mansion, complete with widow's walk around the top. The beach runs parallel to this road, so there would be an amazing view of the sea from up there. It must be wonderful to live in a place like that.
And once we got back on track we stopped to take a photo of this glorious pile, the Largs Pier Hotel. It's the only grand building around; probably the builders expected Largs Bay to be hugely popular, and it never made it. It looks very out of place all on it's own.
In one of the shops in the shopping centre of Semaphore I photographed this tiled entryway. The grubby footprints made me want to grab a bucket and sponge and make those beautiful patterns gleam. These tiles always look wonderful when they're wet, so that must have been an incentive to clean them, surely...
And the reason we went in the first place? This little beauty, a John Martin's Busy Bee in cabinet. John Martins was a big department store in Adelaide, one of the places to visit on a trip to the city. The cabinet has a retro charm all it's own, as well as being so solidly built it's almost too much for us to move; the machine is a darling, and I've already sewn some blocks on it. The stitch quality is impeccable. I'm looking forward togetting to know her better.

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Here is Ms Millhouse, strapped into the back of the car for her journey to the city.

We had a busy weekend, spending time with Mereth's first-born and his partner, as well as meeting up with other Statler owners. Plus some shopping and socialising as well. I'm not used to so much activity, we lead a very quiet life here normally.

We had quite a few things on our list to do. Mereth's son Rob has always wanted my Camry, so I'm lending it to him for as long as he wants it. Does anyone else have a hard time letting go of their cars? I love my Cammy so much, I'd hate to sell her and never see her again. Anyway, she'd been in a neighbouring town for a week, for repairs, and on Friday we drove there in the Magna station wagon, then I drove Cammy to Adelaide and Mereth drove the other car. His name is Wilson; doesn't everyone name their cars?

We had to navigate our way to a Logistics depot in Port Adelaide and deliver Cammy, so she could be shipped over to Rob in Newcastle. I was so sad to let her go, but Rob will look after her.
Once that chore was off the list, and we were back in one car, we could go shopping!

Our camera batteries decided to die at the same time, so no photos of the second-hand shop we went to. It's called Hazel's, and is a shed just stuffed with things. I like ferreting through messy places, but it's almost toooo grubby. As soon as we leave we scrub our hands with the WetWipes in the car! This time I found an old plastic sewing box, but when I looked inside it was full of things from someone's medicine cabinet; squeezed out tubes of DencoRub and pill bottles and old combs and toothbrushes. Ugghhhh. I did find two needlework cushions that I rescued from the concrete floor; they should clean up nicely.

After that we stopped at Ikea of course, for a late, late lunch and lots of coffee. Yet again we ended up just leaving with practically nothing, too overwhelmed to choose what we wanted. One day we will have the time to stay there all day and actually decide on what to have. I adore that place, but it just defeats me.

Our other fun shopping experience was in the Chinese Supermarket on Grote Street, near the Central Markets. We wandered around marvelling at the different packages and strange items. I took a couple of photos, until Mereth told me it was rude and I shouldn't do it. So you can't see the packets of Pork Floss, or Ground Shrimp, or Dried Fish. Or the biggest tin of Curry Powder I've ever seen; you could have used it as a footstool!

I will be going back for some of this china, it was very nice, and not expensive.

Our Statler get together was fun, it's always good to see old mates and catch up with things. We were supposed to do a bit of training and learning, but it was much more pleasant to sit outside with wine and good food and good conversation.

Ms Millhouse had her spa treatment ( had her innards repacked with grease amongst other things) and suffered no ill effects from her little outing; she was back in the workroom stitching away today. She sounds different, a bit gruffer than before, and very no-nonsense. It's time to get stuck into that pile of tops that has accululated over the summer.
And in case you think that bright quilt of my daughter's has been on the frame all this time, we have zippered leaders; it's been unzipped and put aside while Mereth did several customer quilts. Today we zipped it back on and Mereth used the extra backing and batting to quilt another small top. I love our zippered leaders. Now to bind both of these and donate them.

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