Preparing for Scrub Stitchin’

It is getting to be the time to prepare all my bits and bobs to take to Scrub Stitchin’.  I have a big long list that I follow each year, which includes “Clean Sewing Machine, Change Sewing Machine Needle and Put Fresh Blades in Rotary Cutters”.  Well my rotary cutters are running quite nicely at the moment, so I’ll leave them be and just take some spare blades in case.

As for my sewing machine, the bottom tension has been a bit strange on my last couple of projects.  I do clean my machine regularly, like each month, so why not have a go at giving it a full service and see if that helps.  What could go wrong?  Hopefully nothing, as I want to use my machine lots while away.

First, find a YouTube tutorial.  Surely there will be one.  There seems to be one on just about everything.  Tick.  Show it to Mick, so he can save me when everything goes pear shaped.  Tick.  Go and buy some high quality grease.  Tick.  Let’s get set up on the dining table.

My machine is a bit over twenty years old and has only had a few services, the most recent about three or four years ago.  

As we started to take the covers off, we propped her up on some books to protect the back.

Once the workings were exposed, I was surprised at how clean she was inside.  There was some old grease that had to be wiped off and lots of tiny bits of fluff that were hiding in various nooks and crannies.  Cotton buds worked well to get into those hard to access spots.

Mick did come and give me a hand, particularly in doing the greasing, as he is much more familiar with what is required, seeing as that was part of his trade.  He also did most of the oiling.  Secretly, I think he was happy to be playing along.

That looks  a lot better.

All went back together nicely and it was time to see how she sewed, using an old rag.  Eeek!  Why is the bottom liked this?  OK, the first thing is always to rethread.  Oh, the bobbin was upside down!  That would do it.  Doh!

OK, let’s have another go at this with the machine threaded correctly.  Ahh, that is so much better and the tension is beautiful.  She always runs quietly, but she is lovely and super quiet now.  

I’m glad we had a go at giving her a thorough once over and now feel confident to do this rather than have to send her to a technician…..unless there is a problem.

Now she is raring and ready to go to Baradine.

Oh, and have we had a look at Monique’s issues yet?  Nope.  That will happen one day, but not today.

The Rest of August

 I still have a few things to share about the rest of August.  Looking at my non stitching goals, I wasn’t as successful as with my stitching.

I didn’t read a book and I have only written one post about our trip to the Isle of Man.  I must do something about that very soon.

Surprisingly, especially to me, I actually tried three new recipes this month.  The first two were only so so, but the third was a resounding success.

You see, we have a rather prolific rhubarb plant.

Therefore, when I saw a recipe called Rhubarb Pudding it had to be tried out.  It is quite a dense texture, using a lot of almond meal, but was delicious.  Next time we will add more rhubarb.  Yes, there will be a next time.

Of course, you have to add ice cream.

While on the food front, after attending the high tea, the following Saturday I attended an afternoon tea party for a sewing friend’s significant birthday.

Oh my!  It was as fancy as any high tea you would attend at a restaurant, and all home catered.  We drank from fine china, the food was presented on beautiful tablecloths and doilies.  There was a lovely selection of teas in beautiful pots and under cute cosies. And the food was to die for.  It was a very special afternoon.

Nice afternoon teas seem to have been a theme this month, as we then had a good friend visit us for afternoon tea.  It was a good excuse to bring out our nice china and was warm enough to sit outside on the verandah.

It was also a good excuse to bake a slice that we haven’t made for many years.  We should make it more often.

It was also a good excuse to pick some pretty little flowers.  When looking for a suitable vase, I spied this tiny jug.  Mum gave it to me when I was in primary school and this is the first time I have ever used it as a vase.  It normally just sits on my little shelf on display.  It’s only taken about fifty years.

The weather has been rather warm for this time of year over the last week or so.  The garden is rocketing away.  Our little plum trees are in flowers.  Let’s hope they do better than their predecessors, which did no good, which is surprising for what is normally a very easy tree to grow.

The warm weather has also come with some rain and even a storm or two.  The sky one evening was rather impressive.

The local swap meet was held a week ago.  We didn’t have a stall, just went along for a look see.  I was happy to find this Singer tin at a very reasonable price.  The tin was in excellent condition.  It is a Godzilla Tin.  They originally came with a nice selection of accessories and an instruction book.

While the tin itself was in great shape, the inside was not.  I have already thrown out an extremely rusty wide hemmer foot.  (I have another one.)  It will clean up enough for me, as let’s face it, the closed tin will just be on display on a shelf.

I didn’t buy the cute little Singer oil can for $75.  That’s for a serious collector, not me.

Finally, yesterday we went out to the tiny village of Burraga, in the Oberon area, to attend the Burraga Sheep Show.  This also doubles as their agricultural show, with pavilion exhibits.  

Sadly, this year the exhibits, both inside and outside, were way down on the last time we attended, which was quite a few years ago.  Also there were very few visitors.

As a consequence, we didn’t stay long and went into Oberon to have lunch at a nice cafe.  It was still a very pleasant drive, seeing all the countryside looking so very green and lots of wattle and blossom trees putting on a show.

And that about wraps up August and winter.  Where is the year going?  Now to look forward to September and spring.

The Rest of April

When I read back over my posts for April they really only cover the purchase of “Frank”, our little Fuso truck, and Scrub Stitchin’.  There was actually quite a bit else that went on as well.  Autumn and spring always seem to be our busiest times of the year.  

The colours of the trees are at their peak, so it has been the best time to be out and about, taking it all in.

We did have our first frost on the day after Anzac Day, which is to be expected.  The dahlias all got zapped so have now been cut back for the winter.

Firstly, in the week before we headed north, I assisted with the set up of the Royal Bathurst Show, in the needlework section.  It was a really interesting process to be involved with.  As we were heading off in the week before the show I was only able to assist with receiving and preparing the entries in readiness for judging.  I didn’t get to see the final display, but a couple of photos were forwarded to me. There were no entries from me this year, as the show was held while we were at Baradine.  I look forward to being involved again next year, and it won’t clash with Scrub Stitchin’, which is good.

In the preparation for Scrub Stitchin’, I cleaned my machine and wound a few bobbins.  I don’t know why I had never previously thought to use a pipe cleaner.  Boy, can you dig in and find some big dust bunnies.

I knew I would be doing a lot of appliqué at Scrub Stitchin' and I use an easy thread needle to weave in the thread ends.  Usually, the needle sits in a pincushion beside my machine.  I don’t know what made me think of it, but I have a cute little suction cap pincushion that I received as a gift, but have never used.  I popped in on my machine and it is the best thing ever.  Love it.  Why didn’t I do this before?

I had fun getting my batik fish ready to take to Baradine, not that I did any work on them.  Mick took this candid shot of me selecting the various threads for the appliqué.  Yep, I have quite a selection of threads to choose from.

We have had some roadworks out the side of our place.  The road has been full of pot holes for years, with just a shovel of tar added after rain.  It really needed doing.  They took just three days to completely rip up the road and then reseal it.  Let’s hope it lasts well.  The sealing took place on the day after we left for Baradine, so it was a nice thing to see it all finished once we returned home.

And the pretty sky on the morning we left for Baradine, showing where the road works were up to.

We have done quite a lot of miles since we returned from Baradine, but in the car, not Frank.  

Firstly, just a few days later, we headed down to Sydney to the Caravan and Camping Show.  It was such a pretty morning as we left town.  The only thing we bought were two more sensors to go on Frank’s dual back wheels.  They let you know if a tyre is going flat or if the wheel is overheating.  We are so glad we are not in the market for a caravan now, as there are just so many to see.  We think it would be rather overwhelming.  It was a nice day out.

I read a book.  It is one that I had picked up at an op shop or street library or somewhere.  A rather enjoyable, light read.

On Anzac Day, after we had attended the Dawn Service, we gave my brother a hand to get a load of firewood for his heater.  We went out to a property his mate owns that has lots of fallen timber from a wild storm a few years ago. My brother took his ute and trailer and we too Frank and our trailer.  It’s been years since we have been out wood carting. As a kid, they were always a fun day out in the bush.

Well, Frank proved that he isn’t a four wheel drive, which we were well aware of.  One incline on the property had really wet, slippery grass and despite several attempts, Frank would not go up, his wheels just spinning.  Let’s face it, he came with very basic road tyres.  

No worries, we just piled into my brother’s ute, filled his trailers and then the boys went back to Frank, swapped trailer and filled ours, before swapping trailers once again before heading home.  Problem solved.

While the boys were swapping trailers I had a nice little wander around.

The timber they were after was stringy bark.

So named for obvious reasons.

There were numerous wombat burrows in this section of scrub.  Mostly unused, as told by the leaf litter at the entrance.

Quite a few were under the roots of a fallen tree.  This one looked more recent. Any wombat in there would have been woken from its slumber with the cutting going on above.  I didn’t even realise this hole was there until they were well into cutting the timber.

The timber on this particular tree was still a little bit green, so they split the logs, ready to store till next year.  When one was split I noticed this little creature.

A witchetty grub.  I’m not sure if this is the ones the aborigines ate, but it looks like it.

Also, there were some interesting tiny fungi growing on the side of a part of the log. So delicate.

Just before we left, I found another wombat hole.  This one is the freshest we found and is obviously in current use.

We did bring home a little bit of wood.  Someone else had cut a couple of lengths of a hollow log and left them there.  We will pop them in the garden and plant something in them.

We did have two more big days out, both on the last weekend of the month, but they will have their own separate posts.

So, that did tick off most of my other goals for the month.  However, there was no new recipe tried, which was a bit slack.  Maybe this month.