Pincushion Swap for Nundle

By the time you read this our weekend at Nundle will be over and we will be on our way to Mildura for Mick’s share of our trip – the Ulysses AGM, where thousands of motorcyclists will be camping at a week long rally.

As we won’t be home before the end of the month I thought I’d better share the pincushion I made for the swap at Nundle so that it can be included in OPAM.

I haven’t done a great deal of English paper piecing and never diamonds, so I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out.

I used some nice fresh fabrics and had an attempt at fussy cutting.

I even found a button to match the unusual colours. 

Ta Da!

Rubbish photos unfortunately, as they were taken at night, as usual.

It was a good piece to play with.

Ta Da!! The Camper Trailer Quilt is Finished

Finally, I have finished a quilt.  Looking back, I think the last real quilt that I finished was in 2007.  That’s terrible.  Hopefully I’ll be a little more prolific in the future.

As I have shared, this quilt was started back in July 2010 and has languished until early this year, when I finally put on the borders and had my friend Val quilt it.  She did some lovely quilting and the design really suited the fabric.

We collected it from Val on Australia Day, and finally, 20 months after it was started, it is finished.

So…..Ta Da…….

It is really quite a simple quilt.  Just square in a square.

I added the spare blocks to the backing.

I just used a bamboo batting that came with a magazine subscription.  It has a very low loft, but we only want a light quilt in the camper trailer, nothing too bulky.  It will be interesting to see how it wears.

It will also make a nice picnic rug.

It isn’t to be a precious quilt, rather one that gets plenty of use.

It was fun taking photos in the evening light down on the old hay rake in the front yard.

The size is possibly a bit big for the camper, but we will have plenty of tuck in.  It actually fits on the top of our queen size bed.

As you may be able to tell, I’m a tad excited to actually finish something. 

Thanks for indulging me.  By the way, a big finish for OPAM.

A Glorious Sunday

What a difference a week makes.  Unlike a week ago, the weather has been glorious this weekend. 

Our long term plan for today was to have a stall at the Oberon Swap Meet to continue with our declutter.  However, Mick had to work yesterday so we didn’t get ourselves organised.  This morning we considered going out for a look, but as we didn’t want to bring any more “stuff” home, we just rolled over and had a sleep in instead.

When we did finally surface we enjoyed a yummy breakfast on the verandah.  It was our first chance to partake in this for some time.  It is something that we really enjoy and I probably put more thought into Sunday breakfast than any other meal of the week. (That’s not saying much for my culinary skills.) We can’t be bothered to go into town for a nice breakfast, so it is much better to just make our own. As usual, I forgot to take photos.

After breakfast I finally started the hand stitching of the binding of our camper trailer quilt.  I must be a little odd, as I really enjoy hand stitching the binding onto a quilt.  I can turn the brain off and day dream while stitching away.

It was so peaceful.  I think all the birds were also glad to see the sun out and enjoy the lovely weather.  There seemed to be an incredible variety on show today and the birdsong  was just delightful.  It was what I call a gentle day, a pleasant temperature with a very slight breeze.  Perfect autumn weather. 

While I was stitching away, Mick was doing the crosswords and then did some weeding, while the ground is soft. 

So yes, the camper trailer quilt is finished, but I will give it it’s own' “Ta Da” post.

Now I just have to finish my pincushion swap and name tag for Nundle in….12 days time!!!

The pincushion is nearly done, and I can stitch it in my lunch breaks, but I haven’t started my name tag.  I’ve thought of a design and should have started it this afternoon, but I wanted to play with something else.

When we went to Braidwood in November I bought a Lil’ Twister Ruler and its big brother that suits layer cakes and I haven’t tried them out yet.

Finally, I had a little play this afternoon, making a mug rug with left overs from the quilt.

I used this tutorial that I found recently and there is a twister quilt along on the same blog.  I didn’t do a proper binding, instead I just turned it out and top stitched.

I made a little whoopsie.  See…..

In my haste, I ended up sewing the backing on inside out.    Oh well, it can just stay that way, as I had clipped the corners before I realised what I had done.  It is only the back anyway.  The main purpose of the exercise was to see how easy the ruler is to use and I was very pleased with it.  Now I will have to make a little quilt using a charm pack, and a big one with a layer cake.  Mick likes windmills, so I might just have to make a quilt for him using this method.

Big Wet Update

Things are much calmer here now with the river having peaked last night with no major dramas.  However, the old goldmining village of Sofala, which is on the banks of the Turon River, had 6 houses evacuated.

I went into town late this morning and the Campbells River, which I showed you yesterday had dropped from its peak and when I came home at about 4.30 this afternoon it had dropped much further.  The strange thing was that the way I came home yesterday was closed this morning.  I’m not sure where the flooding was, but I had to go down another dirt road to get into town.  We are so lucky to have a few options.

While I was in town, Mick went for a ride on his dirt bike.  Here are a few of his photos.  Firstly, this is one of the causeways we have to cross going to town.  The water had been much higher yesterday morning.

Then he went out to Chifley dam to see the water flowing over the spillway.  Once again, this is after the levels have dropped considerably.

 

When I am driving to town I can glimpse the Dam at one spot. Yesterday and today you could see all the spray in the distance looking like smoke coming off the water.  Mick took a little video and you should hear the roar of the water.

He also had a look at the Fish River, which is quite close to us as well and it is also way up.  Fortunately, the rain has eased today and you can even see the odd star out there now.

I know that it is best to stay off the roads in this weather, but I had to get to town to see the Quilt Show held in the Anglican Cathedral.  This is the first time I have been and it was lovely.

There were about 100 quilts on display.

It was nice to see some of the ecclesiastical embroidery on display as well.

Now for the quilts.

I’m itching to make one of these L’il Twister quilts with my ruler….just a few other things to do first.

There are some rather talented ladies in our local area.

Look at the detail on this one.  Each tile segment is individually needle turn appliquéd on.  Just beautiful.

This lovely soft quilt was beautifully enhanced by the quilting detail.

Isn’t the border quilting gorgeous.

Do you get the impression that I was drawn to the traditional medallion quilts?

The rest of these quilts were all made by the one lady.   I think she started quilting in the early 2000’s and since retiring has been rather prolific.  She may have made some of the others on display as well.  Her work is just stunning.

I think a hand quilted whole cloth quilt is about as stunning as you can get.  This one was also HUGE. Yes, this is by the same lady as well.

Beautiful, tiny, even stitches.  A masterpiece in my books.

It was disappointing for the organisers to have such rotten weather and people unable to get in to visit the display, but it was really lovely with the Cathedral as the backdrop.  The next display is in two years time and I’ll definitely be visiting again.

Squelch!

It’s a little damp here, mind you, not as damp as some places.

We have been just on the northern edge of all the rain, only getting light showers……… that is, until last night.  This morning there was water right through our shed.  When we get very heavy rain it comes down the hill behind us and flows through the shed.  Fortunately, nothing of importance or electrical was in its path.

I didn’t get any photos on the way to work, but had the camera out on the way home.

We can go to town two different ways, both about the same distance. One way has two causeways and comes out on the Sydney side of the Macquarie River.  Both these causeways were under water this morning, with the road surface damaged on one and a big tree across the other.  I didn’t go that way, so haven’t actually seen it.

The other way is usually OK, so I travelled that way today.

This is the Campbells River this afternoon, downstream from our local water supply, Chifley Dam.  The dam is overflowing and the water levels here this afternoon are much higher than when I went to work.

Now for a bit of Geography…..

Chifley Dam is on the Campbells River and has a wonderful catchment area from right up behind Oberon.  As a result Bathurst usually has no water problems during a drought.

Bathurst is on the Macquarie River, which is created from the convergence of the Campbells River and the Fish River, just south of town.  The Fish River also comes from the Oberon area.  Add to that the Vale Creek, also from the south of town and when you get a lot of rain in that area we get a nice big flood.  Of course, that is where all the rain has been this time.

It has been a bit crazy in town today, everyone seemed to need to get to the opposite side of the river.  There are two crossings, one has a low level bridge, which has been under water all day and the main highway floods next to the sporting fields due to a little local creek.  Schools were closed and everyone was trying to get home before they were stranded.

The river is expected to peak tonight at about 9.00pm.   Don’t you hate it when these things happen at night and  progress can’t be monitored easily.  The last big flood was in 1998.  I don’t know if this one is expected to be as big, I don’t think it is.  There have been lots of levies built since the last flood and it will be interesting to see how they go.  It will be their first test.

And guess what…… it is still raining……with lots more predicted for tonight and tomorrow.

Anyway, back to my trip home.  Unfortunately, wherever I could get a good view of all the water I would have a car sitting right behind me, so couldn’t stop for a photo.  This is a bit closer to home.

See this little trickle beside the road…

It flows into this dam…..

Then out of the dam….

Then back along the road…. (sorry for the spotty photos, but it was still raining.)

Then under the culvert where we turn onto our little dirt road….

Early this morning it was up over the bitumen.  The first time that has happened since we’ve been out here (16 years).

About 500m further along another little creek crosses under the road to join this one and they then flow to the left of the photo and create “King Georges Gully” which flows through our place.  It is normally just a trickle in the bottom of a gully.  From the house we can now hear it roaring.  We might have to get out the gum boots and go for a walk in the morning if it stops raining.  Our big dam is full, which is always good.

Our little road had turned into a creek….

The Council only graded this road about a week ago.  So much for all their work.

And our communal driveway will need a bit of work too….

Our last big wet was in December 2010 and you can read about it here and here and here.

Obviously, we have only been slightly inconvenienced by the weather, with a bit of road damage and dampness and the phone being out.

I grew up in a flood prone street and am fully aware of the anxiety that lots of rain causes and the horrible, slimy, smelly mess that needs to be cleaned up.  Fortunately, my parents were able to move to higher ground when I was in my early teens.  I do feel so much for the people who are badly effected in these events.  Let’s hope this rain stops soon without too many more people needing to be evacuated from their homes.