Review of 2015 - Part 4 - October

OCTOBER

October was once again a really busy month. We seemed to be doing lots, but I didn't make one single blog post.  Very slack.

Firstly, on the long weekend Mick and I went for a drive to Canowindra to see the Airing of the Quilts.  They really look good down the main street.  It is unfortunate that there are no supporting activities, Hopefully it will grow in that respect in the future.

During the following week Bathurst came alive as people rolled in for the big race, the Bathurst 1000.  I snuck out for an early lunch on the Wednesday to see the Pantec Parade.  The parade is led by the car transporter trucks and is then followed by classic and sports cars carrying the drivers.  Finally there was the Police Aston Martin and McLaren.  Both rather tasty.

On the race weekend there was the final Bicentenary Street Party.  Unfortunately, we were unable to attend this time, but during the following week we went for a look see at the illuminations.  There was a race theme on the Court House.

The wall down Ribbon Gang Lane was once again rather psychedelic.

The final display about the future was designed by the local high school students.  They gave a really positive message.

We usually don't attend the race, but go to the Trunkey Creek Show.  This year was no exception.

We had a nice drive home, calling in at Grove Creek Falls.  The wildflowers were a picture.

There is nothing better than driving along the road less travelled.

Finally, we attended the Orange Field Days and on the way home called in to see Emmaville Cottage next to the Orange Botanic Gardens.  This cottage was moved to the site a few years ago.  It is possibly the birth place of Banjo Patterson, although that is being debated.  Anyway, the locals have done a great job restoring it authentically and creating a lovely colonial style garden.  It was featured on a television show during the year.  Well worth popping in to have a look at.

Review of 2015 - Part 3 - September

We will continue with our review of 2015.

SEPTEMBER

I did do a couple of posts in September, so here is a recap of those.

There was a blog meet at Perthville, which was fun to attend.  Everyone enjoyed doing some stitching.  We had a Swap.  I made a coathanger.  For fun little swaps, I made another butterfly and fabric tray.  Anni provided us all with a cute little kit.

Now that the weather was warming up more events were happening.  We travelled to Tottenham to the Far Cairn Rally.

Now for the stuff I didn't get to blog about.

We also attended the Sidecar Rally.  We had to travel all the way to O'Connell - about 20kms.  I was a bit off colour during the day so I drove out in the car - cheating.  Mick took "Snubby" the silver side car and camping trailer,  I was intrigued by the boat shaped version.  We had a nice warm fire in the evening.  The camping site was behind the historic O'Connell Hotel.  The old Bake House in the right hand photo was a craft shop in the 70s.  Mum was a member and I made four patch potholders and sold them.  That would have been my first patchwork, while I was still in primary school.  On the Sunday morning there was a car show as well, which was well attended.

Another Bicentenary event was "Bathex" Collectable Fair.  We went and had a bo peep.  Lots of interesting things.  Mick had to try out the rather unusual historic bicycle.  Sheep dip plungers was probably the most unusual collection.  I shouldn't laugh - we have one.

The garden started to come alive and Mick and Joey the cat looked rather settled on the lounge one day.

Spring is a truly lovely season in our district.

A major project for the  year was the Nature's Journey Stitch -a-long arranged by Chooky and assisted by Susan.  I surprised myself by actually keeping up to date and completing the top on time at the end of September.  I even had it quilted by October - no photos  taken as yet.  The plan was to have the quilt finished by the end of the year, but I have let the team down.  All I need to do is stitch the binding on.  That will be a priority for this year.

Review of 2015 - Part 2

Let's continue with my review of 2015.  I'm enjoying looking back at what we had done......and what I'd forgotten.

MAY

May was a really busy month, as Bathurst celebrated it's 200th birthday.  We visited quite a few events on the main weekend.

The party continued into the evening.

Some major sites were illuminated, which made quite a statement.  We did enjoy getting out and about and enjoying all that had been organised for the community.

As always, the Historic Car Club hosted its annual Car Rally. We were blessed with gorgeous weather.

In other doings, the Chook Shed had it's birthday party, so Mum came over to our place for a virtual tea party.  We visited the Fibre Festival and I bought some lovely coloured wool.  Also, my friend Anne came for a play date and we created little fabric trays.  I continued to make a Christmas decoration for the month.

JUNE

We had our first frost.

On the long weekend we went on a road trip and visited the Chook Shed in person.  We visited the rodeo, a quilt show, I stitched while Mick went for a bike ride and then we came home via Gulgong.  It was a lovely little getaway.

In other doings we visited the Art Gallery to see the Mandala being created by some Tibetan monks, I finished off a very old UFO, made yet another Christmas decoration, resurrected the quilt I gave to my Uncle some years ago and installed it our lounge, shared the gorgeous fabrics I received in a swap and shared my gorgeous maiden hair fern,,,,,,which is still doing well.

JULY

It snowed....lots.  We had the best snowfall for 40 years.

Bathurst continued its birthday celebrations with a Winter Festival.  It was such fun.  They hope to make it an annual event.

We attended the Macquarie Towns Classic Motorcycle Rally at Windsor.  We visited a lovely spot for morning tea.  It was nice to feel warm for a change.

I made a few little things.  The Christmas decoration ended up being gifted to my little next door neighbour who helped me make it, more bibs, I started knitting up my pretty wool and played with origami butterflies.

This is when I started to get a bit slack.  The next couple of things never made it to my blog.

We also visited the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days.  It was a bleak, wintery day.  The number plate on this car said it all.  One display has this intriguing quilt made from old linens.  Rather lovely.

I have coveted three old sewing machines - a Singer Featherweight, a Bluebird in a leadlight cabinet and an Elna Grasshopper.  I found a Featherweight a few years ago now, passed up a Bluebird in perfect condition many years and have never even seen a Grasshopper except in collections.........until we went to Windsor.  We were wandering through a rather cluttered vintage shop when Mick asked if I had seen the sewing machine.  No I hadn't.  It was on a high shelf and I would have totally missed it.  I nearly fell over when I saw a lovely little Grasshopper - so called because of their shape and colour.  They are the first Elna model, made during WWII, as Switzerland were neutral they stopped making arms and concentrated on other products, such as this.  They were also the first free arm machine.  I was so happy that it actually works and wasn't too expensive.  What a happy dance there was.

AUGUST

In August we had a weekend away to Canberra, visiting the Craft Fair and Quilt Show and spending time with our niece and her fiance.

We went for a ride on a Steam Train.

Just a couple of little makes. Fairy Girl joined me in making some more butterflies and I made some fridge magnets.

In the background:

We had some daffodils and polyanthus provide some colour in the garden, while inside I had some tulip bulbs provide colour in a pot.  It is always fun watching them progress from just poking out of the ground to beautiful blooms.

Not a lot of blogging took, place after this so I will flesh it out a bit more in my next post.

I hope you are enjoying my review as much as I am.

Review of 2015 Part 1

Happy New Year to everyone.  I'm really looking forward to 2016.  We have lots going on.

In the mean time, I'll reflect on the year that has just passed. It is only on reading over old blog posts that I realised just how much we did during the year.  I did get rather lax at blogging in the second half of the year, so I will do a quick catch up as well.  Let's face it, the reason I started this blog was to create a record of our goings on.

OK!  Lets get to it.

JANUARY

The main outing we joined in on was to Carcoar on Australia Day with the Historic Car Club,

I made a good start to the year with a couple of Christmas makes, a sew together bag and participated in the Australia Day Swap.

FEBRUARY

As usual, February started with the Swap Meet.  We took a bit of a back seat as far as organising, which was a nice change.

Next was our big adventure to New Zealand for my 50th birthday present.  We spent three wonderful weeks exploring the South Island and part of the North Island.  The highlight was catching up with Lou and Tony again, after they moved from the Isle of Man. Of course, there were lighthouse photos taken.

I did get a little sewing done.  All gifted.

MARCH

A highlight on the calendar for each March is Girls Day in the Country at Nundle.  This yea was no exception.  Mick tagged along too.

After Nundle we kept heading north, visiting family and friends along the way.  We also had  a couple of days by the water, which was lovely.  I seemed to be taking photos of clock towers instead of lighthouses.

APRIL

We had a cold snap right at the start of April, which was a shock, so we changed over quilt to a more Autumnal version.  I made another Christmas project and introduced you to my "What's Next" sign.

The Show came to town with all its colour and noise.  We love to attend each year.

Anzac Day was commemorated with so many knitted poppies.  They really were stunning.

We visited "Ironfest" at Lithgow.  It was a great day out.  So many people go to loads of trouble with their costumes.

Easter was busy, joining in on a rather wet Classic Bike Rally, a quick trip to Hill End and visiting the Panel Van Nationals show.

We also visited the Springwood Quilt Show and met Rachaeldaisy.

So the first four months were pretty busy.

We were also settling into life back in town, which was good.  It was easy to disappear without worrying too much about what was needing to be done back home.