Hobbies: When I was Younger

Hobby:  an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure

As a teenager

Reading – a wide variety of fiction books whenever I had a spare moment: borrowed books from the library at least every week and often every other day.

Knitting – I can’t remember what else I made, but I made a zipped Norwegian style cardigan with the yoke knitted on one long needle, in about three different blues and white.

Sewing – I started making my own clothes when we had to make a skirt and a blouse in Year 8 at High School.  Made lots of gathered skirts and also trousers and an anorak which I wore when we went skiing in Norway.   While I was at university I didn’t have a sewing machine with me but I still made a few dresses, hand-sewing them!

In my twenties

Sewing – in 1965 I made my wedding dress which also had a lace bolero.

 I can’t remember making any dresses when I was in Canberra, but I used to buy 2 cotton knitted tops and convert one to a skirt to give a sort of suit!  I also made a number of trousers and skirts.  In PNG I made quite a lot of A-line shifts which were great to wear in that climate.

In my thirties

Gardening – by the time we moved to Burwood in 1977 I was very interested in planting Australian native plants to encourage more birds into our garden.  We had a vegetable garden in Chadstone, and I planted a few bushes in the front garden there, but in Burwood I put in quite a selection of bushes in the front lawn area – mostly natives – to create a shrubbery which would also give some privacy for the front of the house.

Sewing – I can remember setting up my sewing machine in the air-conditioned lounge room at Burwood so I could make some more maternity tops when I was pregnant with Joe..… and in North Turramurra I had to make a second lot of tops with extra ‘give’ towards the end of my pregnancy  with Deb!

In my forties

Sewing – I did a Knitwit course which I thoroughly enjoyed – it was great to learn how quick and easy it was to use knitted material.  I made lots of trousers, shorts, skirts and tops for myself, and also the children – and for friends as well!

I think it was during this decade that I started patchwork and quilting – by doing the first of a number of courses at the Quilting Bee in Gordon. 

Gardening and garden design – I was very keen on gardening when we were living in North Turramurra and Wahroonga.  I spent hours going through gardening books and magazines looking for suitable plants for our climate and conditions, and I often visited the Australian Native Nursery out at Terrey Hills with lists looking for the plants I had chosen.  I did a course in garden design with Helen Adams at a garden in Lane Cove and redeveloped the back garden at Wahroonga after the micro-climate changed when all the gum trees came down in the storm of 1991.