Our time at Baradine was wonderful, as usual. We both really look forward to this trip.
We arrived on the Tuesday, well ahead of time and were joined by our friends from Queensland. Our first evening was spent at the Bowlo with the local ladies, playing bingo. We did no good, as expected.
Wednesday was a lazy day, wandering around town and generally just hanging out with our friends.
THURSDAY
Thursday was the day that things livened up. Chooky arrived in the morning. We quickly unpacked her very full car and she and I headed into Coonabarabran to do the final shopping and other bits and bobs that were required. Meanwhile Mick and Co played the tourist. More on their doings later.
A few of us early birds pitched in to get the hall set up for everyone’s arrival. We had 20 girls come along this time, with half of them arriving on Thursday. The room looked rather bare before we all set up our sewing stations.
Brenda made the dining table look good, as always.
We hung some quilts on the wall. The above two are mine.
The next two were Lianne’s.
This beauty was purchased by Miss Jules in a silent auction at a Macquarie Home Stay event.
Finally, Jenny’s Simply Serene top, showing how different the two quilts can look, just by fabric choice.
Everyone received a goodies bag. These pretty bags were a surprise find in Coonabarabran. Rather appropriate for the season. Di made our cute name badges.
Inside were four fat quarters, a fun mug and a couple of caramello koalas.
It didn’t take long to get myself all set up ready to get stitching the next day.
Thursday evening was spent at the Bowlo for Thai for dinner. This is a new menu since our last visit and was delicious.
FRIDAY
I didn’t take a lot of photos this time - falling down on the job.
Friday was the day that I started doing some stitching. I had prepped four projects to take with me, but only ended up working on two of them. That’s OK, as the other two are sitting there, ready to go whenever I feel like working on them.
The first one was made from a Jelly Roll that I had purchased at a charity stall. The quilt pattern was a good one, as it used the entire jelly roll with very little wastage.
Before I left home I sorted the strips into light and dark and then paired them up, ready to start stitching the strips sets.
I stitched like crazy on the Friday and had the quilt top put together within the day. It is now waiting patiently for me to find a suitable backing and get it quilted and bound.
The second project I prepped was from a pattern that I purchased for $1 from “The Sewing Basket” at the recent craft show at Darling Harbour. I figured that seeing as I bought it, I’d better make it. The prep took longer than expected, as I dilly dallied over fabrics, then had to trace all the applique blocks, ran out of applique paper, so had to go to the shop, then fused, cut out and adhered all the applique blocks ready for stitching, as well as cutting the remaining blocks. That took a couple of days.
I started stitching on the Friday, which gave me a good start.
As it was a lovely afternoon, a few of us went for a stroll around the grounds before dinner.
I forgot to take photos of the food, but Chooky’s catering was delicious. Nice, fresh and flavoursome meals every time.
SATURDAY
The Saturday is always the big day.
Firstly, I got stuck into stitching down the rest of the applique blocks on the Aeroplane Quilt. They always take longer than expected. However, the shapes were nice and easy to stitch.
After lunch it was Show and Tell, but that will have a separate post.
Back to the sewing machine and it was time to play with the surrounding blocks on the quilt and work out the final layout on the “Design Quilt”. The quilt blocks were put together before dinner. Yay! Just the border to add on the next day.
Later in the afternoon, it was time for our group photo. Lots of smiling happy faces.
As we are Sparkling Sisters, I took along some appropriately named bubbles from our recent trip to St George.
Dinner was delicious and followed by the three fat quarter swap. I received some lovely Tilda fabrics.
These are the ones that I took along.
SUNDAY
The wind down day.
I worked on prepping and adding the borders to my little quilt. I’m really happy with this one. It is such a cute design.
Then I made the two August blocks for Betty’s group quilt. So effective. Better late than never.
And that was it for me, as far as stitching was concerned.
As the morning and afternoon progressed, most of the girls started to make their way home. A few of us then packed everything up and put the hall back in order. It’s always sad to have the time come to an end.
We stayed over on Sunday night, as did a few others.
Thanks, as always, must go to Chooky for making these events possible. The time and effort she puts in is incredible, particularly as she is now chief caterer. We all appreciate what she does in bringing us all together. A time I really treasure. Only just over seven months until we will all be back. I can’t wait.
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