We Had a Day Out

For once, we had nothing in the calendar today, other than the groceries and a few other bits and bobs around town.  So, what to do for the rest of the day?  Why not go for a drive.  But where to?  Why not head to Lithgow and visit my friend at her farmer’s markets stall.  That sounded like a good plan.

It was nearly 11 o’clock before we were on our way and decided to take the scenic route, via Portland. We only ever seem to get there on the weekend or in the late afternoon for the bonfire night.

The weather was lovely and sunny here for the first part of the morning,  but was gradually clouding over from the east.  That didn’t bode well for where we were headed.  By the time we reached Yetholme the wipers were on and it was looking rather miserable.  Yetholme is about 15kms east of Bathurst and where the easterly weather seems to usually finish.  Not to worry, we would still have a good day out.

To our surprise, and somewhat relief, the drizzle stopped and the sun even tried, in vain, to shine when we reached Portland.  We just went for a wander up and down the street, enjoying the murals that are painted on the shops.  There are a few nice old buildings.  

We popped into Vinnies, where I found a little Quilt Journal that may be handy.

There are a group of people that visit most years and add more reproduction old advertising art to the buildings.

From there, we headed into Lithgow to discover the farmer’s markets weren’t on today, despite all the advertising saying the first and third Thursday.  This month it was changed to the second and fourth.  Not to worry, there will be another time.  

Fortunately, the rain was still holding off. It was only 7 degrees C, but no wind, so not too bad, as we were rugged up. 

By now it was lunch time and we knew just the place to go on a cold and bleak day for a nice meal.  The Tin Shed.  

We weren’t disappointed.  The food was delicious and the wood fired heater was keeping the place nice and toasty warm.

After lunch, we just wandered up and down Main Street.  That always brings back many memories for me, as we used to go shopping there when visiting Grandma.  

The businesses are very different now, but most of the buildings are still there and I remember the old shops and what we bought there over the years.  The newspaper building is now an op shop.

There are two old picture theatres in Lithgow.  One has been empty for some time, but the Union Theatre is still functioning with a keen little movie club.  The building is rather lovely and I have never noticed the details on the top of the facade before.  I wonder what they mean?

We popped into a few op shops.  The ones in Lithgow are on the whole pretty good and the prices reasonable.

Yes, a few treasures came home with me.  Mainly vintage linens.  The Queensland souvenir tablecloth will come with us in the caravan when we head to Queensland next time.

I noticed this cute little rabbit, made from a recycled woollen blanket and didn’t initially buy it, but when walking back past the shop on the way to the car I had a change of heart and brought her home.  She is so sweet, and I’m sure someone would have originally paid way more than the $5 I paid.  I now have to think of a name for her and decide where she will live.

Mick is on the hunt for one particular novel to complete a series he is reading.  He could, of course, buy it on line, but it is much more fun to look for it on our travels.  There are two second hand book stores in Lithgow, but neither had it.  However,  the second one had one of the Elm Creek series that I was looking for, so I was rather happy with that.

Once we left Lithgow, we took another detour on the way home, this time via Oberon.  We didn’t even take the most usual route, but took a more minor road, which we haven’t traveled on for many years.  Looking east to the Blue Mountains, the weather was still looking rather murky.  I tried to take a photo looking down a valley, but missed and ended up with this photo of some gates.  I rather like it, although it was by accident.

At Oberon, we popped into another op shop, but it had nothing of interest and was rather expensive.  We did however, pop into one of the two butcher shops that has a good reputation.  What to buy?  Ooh!  Look at that….kidneys.  You don’t see them very often these days.  

Therefore, we bought some stewing steak and kidneys and had a delicious steak and kidney potato pie for tea.  (We took the lazy option, rather than waiting for the meat to cool and topping it with pastry.)  I don’t know how long it is since I last made it, I’m guessing about 25 years or so.

So that topped off a lovely, random day out.  We should do it more often.

August Stitching Wishes

My plans for stitching have been somewhat curtailed, by me not being allowed to use a rotary cutter for the month.  However, as you can guess, I still have plenty of options to go on with.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour this month is AQUA.  The plan is to make two more split nine patch blocks, but they will have to wait until next month.  They won’t take long to catch up.

CHOOKSHED STITCHERS CHALLENGE 

The number selected by Deana this month is NUMBER 7.  Well, for me that was to stitch the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks into a quilt top.  I always knew that it would be shuffled around until the end of the year, when I had all the blocks made.  Therefore, for the second time, that project is being swapped.

As there are only three month’s worth of projects remaining, I had to swap it out with the only one that was mainly hand work.  That is the Natalie Bird Pincushion.  This was another stitchery that I traced to take to the Isle of Man last year.  

I stitched the wording, but it looked rather too chunky.  Once I looked at the pattern, when we returned home, I realised why, as I had stitched it with two strands rather than just one.  Therefore, I have to restitch the wording.  

There are four panels on the pincushion.  One consists of half inch hexies, which I have already stitched.  One is just a feature piece of fabric, and the final one is a tiny needle turned applique house with some embroidery.  That will be the fiddly part to make, as needle turned applique is not something I tend to do.  Wish me luck.  Overall, it shouldn’t be too large a job to get it done.  

I’m not allowed to iron either, so I will have to have Mick press any fabric I need.  That will be interesting, as he hasn’t done any ironing since I met him 40 years ago. Don’t judge, he does plenty of other things around the house.  I will do any cutting using scissors, as he reckons he is terrified of a rotary cutter.  This coming from a man that is a welder and works with hot and sharp metal, angle grinders and all other manner of what I consider to be dangerous equipment. Too funny.

So what else will I endeavour to work on?

I have my Corner to Corner crochet rug.  I will keep playing with it until it gets too large and unwieldy.

My slow stitching pouch is also something that will work well.

These will both be good to take along to my stitching days.

Waiting in the wings is my jumper with the lace yoke that I started last winter.  I still have ten rows of lace to knit before it starts to get a bit easier.  Now is a good time to sit quietly and get that section done.

Also waiting in the wings is the little granny square baby rug I started at the end of 2023.  I had the blocks crocheted together, but they weren’t sitting flat.  I unpicked the joins and they are currently sitting as a pile of squares.  Maybe, I can get them out and sew them together, rather than crochet them.  It sounds like slow work, which is why I haven’t done it.  Let’s see if this is the month.  It would be rather good to tick it off the list.

At the end of the month I will be once again travelling to Baradine for a mini retreat.  I have no idea what I will take to work on, but it will be hand stitching of some description.  I’m looking forward to it very much.

That little lot should keep me busy, but I will add my usual disclaimer that if I achieve half of what I want I will be doing well.

Of course, I may also go down another rabbit hole, remembering I seem to be a serial starter this year.

Winter in Bathurst

For the last ten years Bathurst has hosted the “Bathurst Winter Festival”. It first came into being as a part of the city’s bicentenary celebrations in 2015.  Like so many others, our local council is struggling financially and sadly, the Winter Festival was one thing to get cut from the budget.

Fortunately, the Bathurst Community Club, where Mick’s bowling club play out of, decided that they would hold a substitute event over the two weeks of the July school holidays.  

The main draw card each year is the ice skating rink.  This was able to be placed on one of the bowling greens that is no longer suitable to play bowls on.

On the first and the last weekends of the event, there was the Brew and Bite evening that has become synonymous with the festival.  We popped down briefly on the first night.

Quite a few local businesses came on board with sponsorship to help run the event.  There were special days for kids and a fully accessible day.  The dodgem cars and carousel were also popular.

The future of the event is currently uncertain.  Council may run it again next year, or maybe the whole thing needs a rethink, as since Bathurst started their Winter Festival, many other locations have started up something similar, so it is not the draw card that it originally was.  A case of watch this space.

Now for some wintery photos.

To start with, we had a sunrise that absolutely glowed one morning.  I’m so please that I caught it before it faded.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so bright.

Then, on another morning, when we were out and about in the car, the frost was right up in the trees.  So pretty……and so very cold.  We were please to be snug in the car.

The last week or so has been cold, damp and bleak.  Real winter weather.  It is forecast to continue for a few more days, after which we hope to have a bit warmer weather, as we approach the start of spring, which will be here before we know it.

And That’s the End of July

July has been a rather strange month for me.

Firstly, arranging Mum’s funeral and then, two weeks ago, undergoing surgery. Nothing serious, but it will keep me quiet for a quite a few weeks. 

Surprisingly, I did get two projects finished, as well as my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.

I was amazed to finally embroider the small eyes on the tiddly tropical fish for my fishy quilt.  There was no way they could be appliqued.  Just some satin stitch for the black, with white chain stitch around the middle sized fish and back stitch around the tiny ones. Such a big job, not. Now, the bright fish blocks are finally finished and the next task is to cut the joining blocks and borders and piece the tops.  That will have to wait for month or so.

My slow stitching pouch panel has advanced slightly.  Before we headed on our trip in June I pinned the rest of the fabrics to the batting, ready to stitch.  I’m slowly getting there.  No rush for this one, but it will be good to take to my stitching days for the next little while. It is rather relaxing to work on, the last time while on a Chookshed Stitchers Zoom morning.

In addition to those, I have made a start on yet another project.  This year I seem to be a serial starter.  About half have been finished, which is something I suppose.

Anyway, the local Wrap With Love group hold a knitting day each year and I was able to go along for the first time this year.  They had just over 100 rugs ready to send off to be donated.  This is just a small portion of them.

While there, I started another Corner to Corner crochet rug.  The one I made in shades of grey that Mick claimed was initially to be donated to this cause.  So, now I am making one that will be donated.  Yes, I know this isn’t knitting, but that didn’t matter.

This version is in the Wisteria colour way of the Jumbo Muffin self striping yarn.  It should be pretty.  The local discount store is now stocking them again at a very good price.  There is no rush to get it finished, but I would like to have it done before the end of the year.

And that is all I have achieved.  There has been plenty of opportunity to do more, but I just couldn’t be bothered.  Hopefully, that will change soon.  However, it will all be handwork for the next little while.  No using the rotary cutter.

15 MINUTES A DAY

My stats are getting worse by the month.

July = 18/31

Year to date = 157/212  which is 74.06%.

Not that it matters. This year has been rather chaotic on several fronts and it is all a bit of fun, not a chore. 

In other happenings, I have read a few books in the last couple of months.  I didn’t do an update in June, so will include both months here.

Firstly, we like to listen to an audio book as we travel the large distances on our trips.  This time it was “Murder Most Antique”.  It is the sequel to one we listened to last year.  The narration is excellent, but at times we wanted the book to progress a little quicker.  It was a nice light hearted mystery to enjoy.

While having lunch in Nyngan, we picked up “The Busy Body” from the street library.  It didn’t take long for me to read, as it was another light hearted mystery.  It was then left at another street library.

That’s all that was read or listened to while we were away.

In July I read two books.  The first was “A Death in Cornwall”.  We have read a few books by Daniel Silva and they are always fast paced and a good read.  There are more on the shelf here for me to read.

The second one was “A Single Thread”.  It is written by the same lady as The Girl With the Pearl Earring.  I’ve had this sitting beside my chair for a few months.  I can’t remember where I picked it up from, a street library or op shop, or somewhere similar.  Anyway, it is about a lady in her mid 30s during the early 1930s.  She is one of the many that are destined to stay single after so many men were lost during World War One.  It is set in Winchester and based around the true story of the making of several hundred embroidered kneelers and cushions for the cathedral.  It has mixed reviews, but I really loved it.  I suppose having an interest in hand work makes a bit of a difference.  Also, we have visited that cathedral while visiting England one time, so I can picture the area.

I then listened to Richard Osman’s latest release “We Solve Murders”.  He is the author of the Thursday Murder Club series.  This is the first in a new series.  It seemed a little slow to start with, as you tried to work out who the characters were and how everything was going to fit together, but ended up being a very enjoyable listen.  Yes, another light hearted mystery.  I opted for the audio book for this one, as I had really enjoyed listening to Thursday Murder Club series and thought this would be of a similar vein.  It was narrated by Nicola Walker and she did a great job.  Having a good narrator makes all the difference.

Now to decide what to work on in August and what to read.