Friday Fun Day and Saturday Slack Day

Yesterday, for our fun activity, we decided to visit the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.  We are not big art gallery goers, but now that we have the time we are trying to occasionally pop in and see the exhibitions.

I heard on the radio how they are currently starting to catalogue and digitise their entire permanent collection of about 2,000 items worth $11.5 million.  It is a huge undertaking that they were going to work on next year, but brought forward due to the closure of the gallery for COVID-19.

They are currently showing some of the collection and you can see the staff at work.  The exhibitions rotate every two weeks.

The main artists at the moment are husband and wife Jean Bellette and Paul Haefliger.  The painting on the right above, by Jean,  won the Bathurst Carillon Art Prize in 1955 and was the first aquisition by the gallery for its permanent collection.  They have quite a few of their paintings in the collection.  This couple, along with several other Australian artists, frequented the gold mining village of Hill End.  Their ongoing legacy was to donate the cottage they owned out there to be used as an artists retreat.  The Bathurst Gallery has an artists in residence program at it and a couple of other cottages in Hill End.

It was strange seeing the gallery in disarray.

There was another section of the gallery with works on display, but no notes on the pieces.  This one did have a little swing tag on it with the title "Farmer's Quilt".

After we left the gallery we popped into the nearby op shops on the endless quest to find a replica of Mick's chipped orange spotty mug.  Funnily enough, we ran into an acquaintance, who has joined in our quest, to be greeted with "I've just checked all the op shops today and I still haven't found your mug".  Another friend, who was nearby asked what we were looking for, so is now also enlisted in the quest.  We will find one eventually.

Even though we knew we wouldn't find the mug we still had a browse.  Mick had a score.  We have owned the squat blue money box for a few years now.  It was bought at the pottery gallery at Carcoar, the village we visited last weekend.  Mick spied the tall red one and we knew straight away that it was from the same potter.  The look rather good together.

Once we returned home we made the Caramel Walnut slice recipe that Mum had given me years ago.  It was a success and rather tasty.  Another recipe to add to the repertoire.  That's a goal for the month achieved.

Last night was Friday Night With Friends, hosted by Cheryll.

I didn't achieve a great deal, but made a start on Trail Mix.  I have a whole three blocks completed.

I also made some of the tiddly little components for some blocks. I was mainly figuring out what I could use from my very small scraps before cutting into larger pieces of fabric.  That is my next task.

Now, if you pop over to Maria's blog you can see that she achieved a lot more on her version of the quilt.  I know that I will be the last to finish, as the others joining are heaps more productive than me.

Today was forecast to be cold, so we decided that a day hunkered down at home would be in order.  However, I did have to pop into town, so Mick came along too.

While we were there, we popped into another op shop, over the road from the supermarket. Mick browsed the books for an author he is searching for, so I had a browse too.  Imagine how happy I was to find the Michell Hill book.  I love her patterns and had a couple in magazines.  But when I got ruthless and threw them all away, they went too.  Those patterns just happen to be in this book.  Then I saw "Book of Lost Threads".  Who could resist a book with such a pretty cover and with recommendations on the cover..........

We decided to drive the long way round on our way home and noticed a sign to a garage sale.  What the heck, we had nothing other important to do, so made the short detour. We came away with a couple of CDs and the farewell comment "You should go around to The Church for a coffee now".

That was a great suggestion.  The little church building in Eglinton had sat empty for many years, when a local lady we know, with a vision, bought it.  It took a while to get everything done, but has been open for quite a few months now.  We haven't been because it is in a area we rarely visit.

What a great little spot!  The old church is now used for yoga and rented out for events. The coffee shop is only small but has great coffee and delicious home made treats. The grounds have lovely gardens and Lisa, the owner, has a long arm quilting studio around the back.   For a cold winter's morning they were doing a roaring trade. Everyone was very good with social distancing.  It is starting to be the new etiquette. We were glad the lady at the garage sale made the throw away comment as we left.

Once we returned home I picked up the novel I bought this morning.  Can you see where this is going?  Yes, my goal of reading a book in July has been met.  Very slack of me, but an enjoyable way to spend a cold day.

I did pop into the sewing room and stitched my Drunkard Path blocks for Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Better than nothing

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So, we have had a very relaxed couple of days.  Tomorrow is forecast to be cold again, so another slow day is planned.  Just the way we like it.