The Fennel Jungle

........and other surprises.... as I take you on a walk through my garden

Although I had access to this house and yard prior to settlement, I really just spent time up on the riverbank, or watering and harvesting the vegetables the Executor of the property had kindly planted for me.

So it's been wonderful to discover pretty things popping up in the garden, this, my first spring  here. These orchids were a huge surprise, I knew there was a lot of greenery in the trees, but had no idea it was all going to burst into bloom, almost overnight. The plant circles the whole tree and is up high in the canopy as well.

Dendrobium orchid in a bottle brush tree

A close-up of that beautiful flower

Masses of rich red hippeastrums everywhere

Citrus trees full of blossoms, and an overpowering perfume, setting fruit for next year

 

A dozen or more heirloom roses, just starting to flower - the perfume is a delight

And my additions to the garden......

Violas

Poppies and cosmos

Pansies tucked in amongst rocket and coriander

 

Lola - hiding in the "jungle"

Stocks. - the lovely spicey smells wafts up to the veradah at night

 

More violas amongst the lettuce

 And that fennel jungle, here it is......taking over my vegetable patch.

 All mixed up with the Queen Anne's Lace I planted.  The fennel is self sown, and with the compost I added to the soil, some good rain a few weeks ago, plus hot sunny days, it's sprouted uninvited but is thriving.  It's pretty with it's feathery flowers and subtle, spicy  perfume, and I'll leave it now until it dies off, but I'll be keeping an eye on it next year and removing any plants I don't want.  Buried somewhere under those golden fronds are my silver beet, bok choi and more lettuce!

Just because she's so pretty !

***

To finish, the view from my new lounge room window,  looking across the river towards Mt Warning. I took this late in the afternoon, just before the sun disappeared behind the rim, from my sofa,  it's a calming and peaceful vista, and the perfect place to sit and relax with a cuppa. I cropped this a little, as the closer view including the yard was already dark, but from inside during the day I see a constant parade of birds, water dragons creeping out to sun themselves, and families of ducks wandering along the riverbank....lovely!

that's it, till next time.....

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

...but not rose red..........

which is the colour for September.  Although I do try to pop in to RSC to keep up with the colour of the month, and to have a browse around to see what others are making, I haven't joined in since January! when I made blue blocks.

So I made progress on the wonky stars and house I showed in my last post, and here's the final star block ...turqoise/teal

and the completed house block with borders added to bring it up to size.  I had thought I might add some embellishments or embroidered words, but decided at the end that a button door knob would be enough.

I forgot to say in my last post that this block is paper pieced, and I have Bonnie at fishsticksdesigns to thank for the pattern, although her tutorial is for freezer paper  piecing, whereas I just did the stitch and flip method.

So here's all the wonky stars laid out with the house block.  Now to get to and put it all together!  I'm hoping to give it to my friend before she heads off to the country to visit her mum and dad next week, but as I have a deadline on a couple of small charity baby quilts to finish as well, it might end up being a welcome back quilt for her.

 

And because I started these blocks as part of the rainbow scrap challenge.....even though so long ago.....I'm linking to  Angela for a late ScrapHappy Saturday.

till next time......

Jumping back in

..... to play ScrapHappy Scrappiness.

Kate and Gun  host this day on the 15th of each month so we can share any scrappy projects we've made.

Winter sky

In 2014 I joined  Andrea at So Scrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and each month made wonky star blocks with the colour of the month.  I think I got sidetracked a bit last year when I joined again, and made other rainbow blocks, as well as the odd wonky star.  It really got put on the back burner this year, what with moving and renovating, so I decided it was time to dig it out and finish it.

It was my friend Anne who prompted me.....she's been staying here for a bit, while she's been looking for a rental property.....reasonably priced houses that are clean and in good condition are pretty rare here, and everyone wants them.....and each time she saw the folded up stars sitting in my sewing room, she'd stroke them and mutter about "lovely stars".  So I thought what better home for them than as a housewarming gift for her, and to give her something to cheer her up.

Watching

I thought I had only one more to make, so decided instead of a star, I'd make a house block...a wonky house of course!  And a good use of scraps.  So here it is, personalised for Anne with her cat and dog peering from the windows.  I still need to do some finishing, a bit of embellishing and maybe some embroidered words, and it needs a border to bring it to the same size as the stars.

Wonky House

Here's the house set out with the stars, not a good pic and not the final layout, but you get the idea. I realised though that I still need one more star block.....maybe a teal, plenty of those scraps!.....so that's on the agenda for today.  These blocks are 15 " square, so not a lot needed for a good size lap quilt.

Go visit Kate and check out her scrappiness for this month, and while you're there, there's also a list of quilters who join in with their own projects.

Until next time......