Back to Brisbane

The last time I posted on Bits 'n Bobs was last month (May) when I met up with my quilty friend, Helen D, in Hobart. I had such a fab day browsing the quilt shops with her and made some purchases. When we said goodbye I promised her that I was ready to get back to sewing again......and, really, I was!.....but before I could get myself organised, my Farmer offered to fly me up to Queensland to see my kiddos and catch up with a few good friends.

My flight was booked for the first day of Winter and here in the valley, it didn't delay in arriving. We woke up on the 1 June to see a good dose of snow on our mountain. A bit worrying as it can herald road closures and I had a flight to catch.

We left a little earlier than planned but even though there was plenty of evidence of snow along the way, they were just light falls and the road was clear.

So off to QLD I flew, about 3 hours flying time which is not long at all, landed and picked up my hire car and THEN it took me two hours to get to my son's house (peak hour traffic.....I had forgotten all about that!)  I had a half hour or so with Miss M before she returned to her studies and Ted came over for some hugs and a chat. I also got hugs with miss Clover!

Tuesday: I woke early and drove over to Clayfield to Apatchy Quilting.  Kaye was the only one there who knew I was coming so it was nice to walk in and surprise them all.  I did bring some stitching but ended up just looking at everyone elses work and chatting to them about my new life. They were all terribly kind and let me win the lucky door prize.....haha! I picked out two pieces of Japanese Koi fabric and also made some purchases.  Kaye had some packaged wool felt that was really gorgeous and at a very reasonable price. I ended up buying 3 "Curlers" packs as well as some blue & brown fabric that was 30% off.  I slipped a pair of "penguin" scissors into my trolley as well but they are not pictured here.

After a lovely morning spent with these ladies, I raced over to Chermside to pick up my bestie, Helen W, and we drove up to Mango Hill to meet another friend, Rhonda for lunch at the Tavern.  Can you believe lunch extended from 1pm till 6pm.  We had so much to catch up on that we were still there when the evening diners started to arrive.  My son, Red, was home by now but he was asleep when I got there so I had a chat to miss M and watched some tv before I went to sleep.

Wednesday: Red was already up when I awoke on Wednesday and after I showered and dressed he took me for a delicious breakfast out at Samford. Later I went to do some shopping over at Brookside Shopping centre. On the way I called into The Quilters Corner at Grovely "just for a look" and ended up buying a fox quilt kit with pattern, another quilt pattern which took my fancy, and 60cm of an interesting "blue" striped fabric.  I thought it was blue but when the fabric was opened up, there were also purple coloured stripes which were not obvious before........what a surprise! Just as my purchases were being added up, I also spotted a lovely alphabet panel which I snapped up too.

 I headed back "home" to spend the afternoon hanging out with Red and doing a little stitching, cooking and cleaning. While I was out I bought the ingredients to make a Rosemary Chicken Risotto to keep feeding the kids through the week. Around 6pm, I headed out again.  This time to meet my bestie, Helen, and my circle of friends from my days at DJs for their once a month dinner date.  Helen kept this a big secret so there were lots of laughing at the surprised faces when they realised I was sitting at the table. I love this group of women and as always enjoyed their company and the good food.

Thursday: Gosh the week was racing by quickly.  I was off to my quilting group at Quiltessentials today.  Claudia knew I was dropping by and told everyone that someone was coming to visit but not who........and then Michelle turned up and gave the game away by asking if I (by name) had arrived yet! In her defence, Michelle is a friend on my personal fb page so she knew about my visit too. I did get big, big hugs from my dearest Marilyn, Zita and Lorraine and again from Helen D, when she arrived. How lovely it was to meet up with them all and I actually did manage some stitches, once I dashed across the car park to buy a pair of spare spectacles from the chemist! I spent up at Claudia's too.   A kit containing the Forest Friends range which I have craved for ages and a couple of cute bird fabrics......see photo below. Marilyn, Zita, Lorraine, Helen D and I extended the time together by heading to lunch afterwards. My day wasn't over because I had a very special date that very afternoon.  I was heading over to my old street for afternoon tea with my neighbours.  More hugs, this time from the little peeps......gosh, they have grown too and they had lots of questions for me.  I took some apple chips just for the littlies and some of my jam for mum and dad. It is such a sureal feeling heading to your old address.  The drive there seemed very familiar as if I had done it just the day before but driving past our house and seeing the odd cars in the drive way made it clear that I no longer lived there.  That evening I had a dinner date with my boy Ted and we had had some good food and good conversation.

Friday: I was really pooped by Friday but I headed over to see my gorgeous hairdresser, Bree, for a haircut and I made sure the hire car was refuelled before heading back for another day around the house with Red.

Saturday: The uni week was over so miss M and I drove to the West End Markets early. I really wished I had taken my camera as there were some lovely farmers markets there but I had left it at home......oh well, those piles of rhubarb and crates of pineapple would have to remain a memory. We were just planning on finding a place for coffee when miss M got a phone call and she was needed back at uni. Poor girl had to drive me all the way home before turning around and driving back.  She was out all day but Ted came around for another visit. Eventually she came home and we decided to go out to Grill'd for burgers.  I had no idea Chermside was so busy on a Saturday night but after a good long wait we got our burgers.  We made the decision to take them home with us and picked up some Cold Rock icecream as well.  Maybe not the best idea but it was good to spend some quality time with my girl.

Sunday: Time to fly home and I was really looking forward to getting back to my valley, my farmer and my puppy girls.  Landing in Hobart was a bit hairy with winds reaching 40knots but at least it wasn't the next day........we had 100knot winds then!

Don't my girls look smart in their new winter coats?