Sneaking Away for the Weekend

Last weekend  we snuck away. 

Initially it was just going to be a day trip, but Mick had a great idea and it turned into an over night visit.

We don’t often get to Canberra as it is not on the direct route to anywhere we tend to go, so it was nice to visit our nation’s capital.

The reason for our visit was to attend the Quilt and Craft Show, somewhere we haven’t visited before.  We travelled down in convoy with some friends.

Just inside the door was a wonderful crochet collage celebrating “50 Years of Flower Power”.  This is only a small section of it. Very creative.

Another feature was a big collection of mini quilts commemorating the Centenary of ANZAC.

We had a wander around the stalls and a little few fabrics came home with me, however there wasn’t a great deal to catch my eye.  I had hoped to buy a certain ruler but there were none to be had.

The Canberra Modern Quilter Guild had a display of their works.  There are some rather clever ladies down that way.  Beautiful work.  Here are a few.  Yes, photos were allowed.

Firstly, “Orange Peels are the New Black” by Crystal McCann.  I think this was my favourite.

“Aneela Hoey Petals” by Liz Hoyland was the raffle quilt.  I’m still waiting for the phone call to send it to me…….Maybe someone else received that phone call.  It really is lovely.

This was Mick’s favourite.  “Displaced” by Tracey Oliver.

They had a collection of black, white and grey minis.  I thought they looked fabulous grouped together.

And finally, “Modern Medallion in Rainbow” by Amira Ameruddin.

There were also several more.  Lovely work to see.

Mick and one of his mates were real troupers, tagging along while us girls oohed and aahed at all the bits and pieces.

Mick and I were heading out at lunch time, thinking that there wasn’t as much to see as we thought there would be……… that’s when we noticed another door……….. and that’s where the quilt exhibition was.

So, we proceeded to spend a couple of more hours wandering around oohing and aahing at the incredible talent out there.  Unfortunately, no photos allowed to be shared on the blog.

There was a wall quilt challenge with the theme “True Blue”.  So many variations on the theme.  There was also the best of the best from around Australia.  Wow!  Particularly “Eleanor Jean”, a rather large quilt made from quarter inch hexies. Not to mention all the other works.  This made the trip worth while.

The reason Mick had the great idea to stay longer was to visit our niece who moved to Canberra a couple of years ago.

We went to a lovely restaurant on Saturday evening in the middle of a residential area.  We’d have never found it ourselves.  Lovely food and a great chance to catch up.

On Sunday morning we found a cafe just next to the Exhibition Centre on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.  This was the view from the deck.  It was a bit chilly to sit outside, being a rather frosty morning, but what a lovely day.

Finally, as we headed towards home the tower on Black Mountain was looking spectacular.

We had tons of time to get home, so broke the trip with a wander around Boorowa. 

There are some lovely old buildings in the town centre.

I love seeing old tiles on shops.

Once, years ago, I think in the late 80s, we went to Canberra for the weekend.  I remember calling into a newsagents at Boorowa in the building above and being blown away by the staircase and gallery upstairs.  It was rather run down then, and sadly is empty now.  At least it is still standing and not gutted.  I do hope something is done with it one day.

Over the road there were two antique stores.  This one has a gorgeous interior, being the old Guild Hall.  Both this one and the other store, next door, were a joy to visit.  Their wares were displayed beautifully.  They weren’t cluttered and everything was nice and clean.  They were a credit to the owners. We will definitely make a point of calling in again. Yes, a couple of little things came home. 

I know, we are supposed to be downsizing, but we are hopeless.

We had a bit of a “wobble tour” around the town on our way out and thought this bell tower at the church was rather unusual.

The scenery was lovely as we drove along.  Everything was so green, dams were full and lots of lambs along the way.

There were lots of interesting shearing sheds and stock yards but rather difficult to photograph while doing 100kmh.

Don’t you wonder where little dirt roads go off to?

We had a great weekend away and were spoilt with perfect weather.  It is so nice to be able to do this now we are in town, without feeling guilty about all the things that need doing.