Scrub Stitchin’ - Part 2 - Wednesday

Wednesday is the official first day of Scrub Stitchin’, so there was lots of catching up with friends we haven’t seen for twelve months or more.

The very long dining table was looking a treat with its floral arrangements.  There were 35 in attendance, so it needed to be long.

Sandy had her pop up shop seat up int he corner.  It was looking so good and rather tempting.

Around the room there were some quilts hung.  The theme this time was books, so we had three bookshelf quilts on display.  This one by Jo. Sadly, I forgot to take photos of the other two.

Jo also contributed this one, which was made as part of a book quilt challenge with her local group.  It is “There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly”.  All the things she swallowed are attached to the ribbon.  The tummy has a zip, so they can all fit inside.

This quilt was made by Robyn from Picton Patchwork.  It is rather striking. A couple of the girls now have the kit to make their own version.

Our goody bags were ready to go, with this lovely selection of items.  The little purse was contributed by Jo, the yellow packet contained coconut ice from Brenda and I made the little butterfly fridge magnets.

This little pile had us intrigued.  All was to be revealed later on.

Here I am, set up ready to start stitching.  Charley Bilby was there to keep an eye on what I was up to.  As you can see, the first project I worked on was the applique for the remaining Batik Fish blocks.

We weren’t terribly productive, what with all the catching up and chatting.  A special treat this year was the return of Deana from Utah, who brought along three of her friends.  It was so nice to meet them.

Our first dinner, catered by Chooky was delicious.  Everyone approved.  Mick and Jo’s Tony, the only hubbies in attendance this year, joined us for dinner.

After dinner, it was back to the sewing machines. Karen was the high achiever with the first finished quilt top.

It wasn’t long before Kylie was also showing off her beauty.

And that was Wednesday.

Scrub Stitchin’ - Part 1 - The Lead Up

Although the retreat didn’t start until Wednesday, we headed off with our van on the Sunday.  What could be travelled in about five hours, was going to take the best part of two days.  We were on holidays, so what’s the rush?  

We enjoyed seeing the trees in all their autumn glory as we headed off.

First stop, Wellington for morning tea.  We like to stop at a nice cafe come homewares shop when we travel this way. I love how they use vintage silverware.

While wandering around the store, I noticed a crochet rug draped over the back of a chair.  It wasn’t for sale. It is so simple, but light.  I think I want to make one.  

We’ll see, at least I have a photo.  I may have to venture into Mum’s yarn scraps.

We did notice that the roads were much quieter than normal, particularly the number of caravans.

Our destination for the day was Gilgandra, where we free camped at the Bowling Club.  This area has previously been full, but there were only two vans on the night we were there.  We filled up the truck with fuel and discovered the price was quite a bit cheaper than home, at $3.09/l, which was surprising.

Once we were parked up, Mick went over to the club to see if he could have a roll up.  It turned out that they were just about to start their social bowls, so he was invited to join in.  He had a lovely afternoon.  It is a wonderful way to get to meet the locals.

Meanwhile, I did some of my crochet.

The following morning, while in Gilgandra, a fellow commented that there was a horrible noise coming from one of the van wheels.  Mick had checked them before we left home and there had been a slight issue with one that he thought was fixed.  He had, as a precaution, bought another wheel hub and carried it as a spare.  Fortunately, we were where he could change it over.  Phew!  If the fellow hadn’t commented, Mick reckons the wheel would have literally fallen off very soon.  Before we left town we found a business where he could buy another spare, but all went well from then on.

This did, however, take us to a different part of town to what we normally see and we saw a beautiful old chimney beside the railway line.

From Gilgandra, we took a different route to Baradine, as recommended by the fellows at the bowling club.  Rather than travel through Coonabarabran, where the road is rather hilly, drive to Coonamble and across.  It is 30kms further, but flat, so a much easier drive when towing the van.  The landscape had now changed to the flat country of wide open spaces.  We were noticing that the area was definitely in the grips of a nasty drought.

We topped up with a splash of fuel in Coonamble, with the price being $3.35/l.  Ouch.

The road from Coonamble to Baradine is one that I haven’t travelled before.  We do like going on different roads.  It was a nice drive, so this will be our main way of travelling to Baradine from now on.

We were all set up at Camp Cypress by mid afternoon.

Time for me to bring out my baby Stella and do some last minute stitching that I needed to complete.

We were treated to a beautiful evening.

Chooky arrived in the evening and we spent some time emptying her very full car.  There was just room enough for her.

On Tuesday, the three of us went to Coonabarabran.  First stop was Picton Patchwork to pick up some supplies and maybe a little shopping.

Then into town to have lunch.  Chooky was doing the catering this year, so time to do a very large grocery shop, as well as pick up some click and collect groceries.  Once again, the car was very full.

Back at camp it was time to put all the food away and start setting up the room and goody bags. A few more turned up during the afternoon, so it was all hands on deck.  Before long, the room was all set up and looking calm.  No hint of the chaos that had reigned only a short while before.  Didn’t it look nice.

Dinner was at the Bowling Club, followed by some star gazing at Milroy Observatory.  No photos, as it was dark.  We were blessed with a beautiful, clear, moonless night and were treated to a great display.  What I enjoyed most was seeing the emu that appears in the sky that is well known to Aboriginal people.  It is huge, not what I imagined at all.

It was a very late night, so we slept well before the main event began.

The Aftermath

So much for a tidyish sewing room.  This is the current state it is in.   Quite a bit of sorting and putting away is required.

Scrub Stitchin’ for 2026 has been and gone.  What a wonderful time we had. We were away for just over a week, arriving back home last Monday.  We unpacked the necessary things and all the washing is done, except for the van linens. As you can see, the ironing has not been done.

Having arrived home on Monday, I started helping set up the Bathurst Show on Tuesday.  When you just attend a show you have no concept of the amount of work involved behind the scenes.  I know I certainly didn’t until I put my hand up a couple of years ago.  Although my main section is the Needlework, everyone pitches in on most of the pavilion section to get it done.  We are well and truly on track.

We had the day off yesterday for Anzac Day, but it was an early start to attend the dawn service at 4.30am.   A lazy day was had after that.  A bit of progress on my corner to corner rug was made.  The only crafting I have done since we returned home.

It was back to the show this morning to assist with more judging, then this afternoon we removed the remainder of my sewing stuff out of the van.  It was rather mind blowing how much I had packed.

I noticed this gorgeous row of trees as we drove to Bunnings today to buy some red onion and leek seedlings.  It was the perfect autumn day.

They will be the only veges planted this year as we will be away when most veges will be needing some TLC next summer.  They are all netted to stop the birds from digging them up.

While we were in the garden, we noticed that the first feijoas have dropped, so enjoyed one each at lunch.  Yummo.  There aren’t a great many this year, but we will enjoy what we have.

Mick is having a lovely time this afternoon, supervising some corned silverside cooking in the  camp oven.

Tomorrow it is back to the show.  It is a big day, with the judging of the Needlework and getting it all displayed.  Being a public holiday has been a great bonus, as there will be quite a few more helpers.  With a bit of luck, I will then not have to go back in until Thursday afternoon for the final tidy up and check that everything is ready to go on Friday.

Hopefully, on Tuesday, I will get a chance to start loading posts about our wonderful week away at Baradine.

The Start of April

The start of this month has been rather uneventful, with Mick doing all his favourite things at the bowling club and in his shed and me playing in the sewing room, as per my previous post.  This post is just the little extras.

We had a lovely day on Easter Sunday, visiting special friends for lunch.

The day started with an Easter egg hunt in an area on their property, not far from their house, that they have named “The Enchanted Forest”.  

Everyone had to join in the fun, including us, although we left the majority of the eggs for the littlies present.

I was amazed at this ancient old cypress tree.  How old must it be with the thickness of the base of the trunk?  And look how it had fallen over and then continued to grow further upright trunks.

Inside there was a gorgeous centrepiece on the table, which had apparently been well picked over even before we arrived.

Back home, I gave Mick an Easter Bilby.  Having visited the Save the Bilby Centre at Charleville last year, I had to buy one of these.  Now to see how long until he gets around to eating it.  Let’s hope it is before it starts to get too stale.

Now that Easter has passed, it was time to yet again change up my little kitchen shelf for autumn.  I can’t believe we are already over a month into the season.  Where is this year going?

I have picked some of our dahlias to add a pop of colour to the house.  With temperatures getting down to close to freezing forecast for early next week, we are making the most of them before they are finished.

Speaking of weather, our street tree has really coloured up and some of the trees down the road have already started to lose their leaves.

It is only less than a week until we head off with the caravan to Baradine, so much of this week will be getting things packed and trying to remember all the bits and bobs and show and tell that I need to take.  Just as well we have a truck.

My April Wishes

Better late than never, here are my wishes for the month of April.

April will definitely not be as productive as March, as we will be away at Baradine, and once we return home I will be assisting with the set up of the pavilion exhibits for the Bathurst Show, to be held on the first weekend of May.  Therefore, after Baradine, I won’t get a lot done.

Firstly, my stitching wishes.  Most of this is for Scrub Stitchin’ at Baradine.  You will see I am being over ambitious, but what if I ran out of projects?!  As if. LOL

MY MAIN MONTHLY GOAL

This month my main goal is to have all the batik fish appliqué stitched down on the final ten blocks.  This should be doable at Scrub Stitchin’.  It would be nice to have the quilt top complete, but that is not terribly likely.  We’ll see.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour this month is pink.  I already have my pink crumb blocks completed from a couple of years ago.  However, I have now prepped the shadow section of the blocks and hope to have them attached to the completed crumb blocks at Baradine and then keep up to date with them each month going forward.

The potato chip block and cross blocks are packed to take to Baradine.  They will be good leader and enders.

SCRUB STITCHIN’ PREP

There are a few other projects prepped to take to Baradine.

Firstly, the solid fat quarter quilt.

And, as of a couple of days ago, Chooky announced a stitch along, if we wish to join in.  Of course I do.

The quilt is Simply Serene.  

I will be making mine a bit smaller than the pattern, as a donation quilt for a male.  You don’t seem to get as many masculine quilts, so this should fit the bill.

I also have some hexies packed, but I doubt I will get to them, given all of the above projects.

There are a few Bonnie Lass pairs for leader and enders, but I think that my other projects will already be quite enough.  Once again, I’d hate to run out.

ELLY MAY

Elly May needs to be cleaned and put to bed after completing the last quilt.  I don’t think she will get a run this month…..but you never know what may happen.

KNITTING AND CROCHET

I have my Corner to Corner crochet rug on the go, which is an easy one to pick up.

And…. now I am ready to start my new knitting project.  It is a the Long Paddock Jumper.  

The yarn I am going to use is a baby alpaca that I bought at the Nundle Woollen Mill.  The yarn is from Peru and they dye it at Nundle.

I’ve just done a tension swatch at this stage.  I had to go up a needle size to get the correct tension and it is lovely and soft to work with.  Once again, I don’t expect to get much, if any done this month, but it is ready to go.

STITCHING DAYS

As I will only be able to attend a couple this month I don’t think I’ll get much done.  We’ll just go with the flow.

15 MINUTES A DAY

I will still try to keep getting a little done each day.  It all adds up.

NON STITCHING WISHES

1.     Try a new recipe.  We still have to eat, so I will see what I can do.

2.    Read a book.  We’ll see.  If so, it will probably be an audio book.

3.    Help set up at the show.  I am a steward in the Needlework section.  I think I will be buzzing around for most of the lead up, helping wherever needed.

It will be interesting to pop back at the end of the month and see how it all went.