Fungus Foray

After a training session on using the iNaturalist app, and particularly the Fungimap Australia project, lots of keen folk went in search of fungi:

From the teeny-tiny on the ground:

To the enormous up a gum tree:

Fungus growing on live trees:

Fungus growing on dead trees:

And even fungus that grows on animal dung!

It was a fun day among the fungi.

Heading

At Sit and Sew today I got the heading traced for my temperature quilt:

First letter stitched:

By the end of the day:

I think this will keep me busy for a few sit and sew days.

Productive Day

Inside I finished block 19 of Bloom:

Outside some gravel was spread:

This area at the bottom of the back garden has been a bit of a wasteland, but now it has a little retaining wall and gravel. The next step will be some large pots along the garden side, and something nice at the far end.

Dot checking out the new gravel:

Jack hiding in the undergrowth:

Agile Antechinus

Captured by the wildlife camera earlier this week:

It might look like a rodent, but it is actually a carnivorous marsupial. The agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis) eats insects and spiders. I've never actually seen one, so it is amazing to discover that we have them on our block.

You can see some daytime photos and read about them here.

Speedy Planting

How to plant 120 bulbs in under half an hour:

This "garden auger" drill bit was one of my birthday presents, along with a box of several hundred assorted spring bulbs. This afternoon we planted 120 daffodils and jonquils very quickly!

Willows Quilt Show

Took a drive to Melton, to visit the Willows Quilters exhibition.

The quilt show was small, and very few people had braved the cold at the time I was there.

The challenge pieces:

The theme was obviously something to do with the ocean, or marine life. But there wasn't a sign to say exactly what it was. The challenge is a joint exercise with a group in Switzerland, so half of these pieces had travelled a long way. Lovely work!

The last time I visited this group's exhibition, I bought plants from the Friends of the Melton Botanic Garden nursery, and they had a sale table at this show too. I didn't need plants this time, but it was nice to see them there. I did buy fabric this time, though. My first fabric purchase for the year - it was hard to resist $2 FQs.

A couple of quilts that caught my eye:

This very cute tiger was made by Diane Blenkiron for a lucky grandchild. The design was adapted from a colouring-book picture. I think it is adorable.

I liked all three of the quilts you can see at least part of in this photo:

The caravans to the left were cute. The quilt on the right was very nice embroidered scenes of shops. The one in the middle with the skilled curved piecing was made by Jeann Clark, who sometimes reads my blog. (Hello, Jeann, if you read this.) Jeann made the quilt after attending a Margaret McDonald workshop. My photo doesn't do justice to the lovely colours she used.

Another thing my photo doesn't do justice:

There was a fantastic rainbow right across the sky this evening. The camera can't see that it was actually a "supernumerary rainbow", with extra rainbows inside it.

Welcome to Winter

An interesting speaker:

Terrible photo, but this was my view of the Honourable Barry Jones at an interesting and entertaining event this afternoon. Barry spoke on Australia's Prime Ministers. Australia has had 30, Barry has met or known 20 of them. (The current PM is not among the 20.)

After the talk, and afternoon tea, we had a guided tour of the avenue of Prime Ministers in the Botanic Gardens.

Tribute to the recently departed:

Notice the beer amongst the flowers.

Swans enjoying the lush grass:

Our last stop was a tour of the Gatekeepers Cottage, recently moved and renovated as an education centre. I loved this cute bookshelf in the cottage: