Springwood Quilt Show 2015

On Anzac Day, after the Dawn Service, we decided to head off down the mountains and visit the Springwood Quilt Show.  I have visited twice previously (here and here), but Mick has never been before.

Mick is good company at a quilt show, as he really appreciates the work and designs involved.  When mates look at him a little oddly when he tells them he has been to  quilt show, she assures them it is just like visiting an art gallery, only the medium used is fabric. 

This is a collage of Mick’s photos.

Now onto mine.

As you can see, there was the usual huge variety of styles of quilts.  The ladies of the Blue Mountains certainly are certainly a creative bunch.

While wandering around, I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger, Blue Mountain Daisy.  She is just as delightful in person as in her blog.  Some of the most colourful quilts in the show were her creations.

In addition to the quilts there were some lovely stalls and a delicious lunch.

Yes, and here’s Mick, standing in the shade, waiting patiently for me to have my final look around.

It’s always a pleasure to visit this show and we will be back again in the future.

Anzac Day

Anzac Day has  been and gone again for another year.  This years was extra special, being the anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.

Like so many other centres, the ladies of Bathurst and surrounds made thousands of red knitted poppies.  Mum is responsible for a few of them. These were displayed on and around the War Memorial Carillon in Kings Parade. There was also a white cross for every man who enlisted in the district in WWI and didn’t return – over 400 them.  The made a stunning display.

The purple poppy is to remember the animals who served along side the men.

We attended the dawn service.  The first one we have been to since Dad passed away. (We have attended services at Coonabarabran and O’Connell for the last two years). Crowds were certainly up on normal. 

I was proud to wear Dad’s miniature medals and a poppy knitted by Mum.

Ironfest – A Great Day Out

Lithgow has hosted Ironfest for about fifteen years now and we have only been once before, probably about ten years ago.  It started out being mainly blacksmiths, some war stuff and jousting.

Since then it has expanded and there has been an added dimension, in the way of steam punk.  All the other features are still there as well. So we have medieval, middle ages, Napoleonic wars, World War Two, blacksmithing, gypsies, steam punk, music, food, you name it.  The main thing is that is that so many people dress up and take a lot of trouble over their outfits.  Half the fun is the people watching.

Saturday is the main day, but we were at the Bathurst Show, so attended on the Sunday, which was still fantastic.  Enjoy the colour of the day.

The Battle of Lithgow

  All styles of anvils

Blacksmiths hard at work.

WWII

All sorts of characters.

Victorian Steam Punk

What a way to travel.

How do kids “torcha” a hardened medieval hangman?  “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”  Works every time. 

The butterfly wings were handcrafted by the Victorian gentleman.  They even open and close using the butterfly shaped key. Check out the workmanship in the leather arm brace. Clever, clever, clever.

Even robots were featured.

We had never heard a hurdy-gurdy played before and the lady playing it was so very informative about the instrument and the music they played.

Let’s go shopping.

Watch out for those knights.  There was even a tower in the background.

Give a kid a sword and they will have great fun.

Wandering entertainers kept us all amused.

Medieval crafts were interesting.

More colourful characters.

There were even autumn leaves to kick.

The weather had been delightful all day and we just arrived home in time to get the washing off the line before the rain started.

If ever you get the chance to visit Ironfest, do so.  There is just so much to see and who doesn’t love a fancy dress party.

Busy Bathurst – Bathurst Show

Autumn is always such a busy time of year with events taking place in our area.  Over the last few weeks we have been out and about each weekend, taking advantage of all that has been on offer. 

Firstly, we visited the Bathurst Show back on the 18th April.  Last year’s show was wet and cold, which really affected the numbers attending.  This year was forecast to be somewhat similar.  Therefore, we arrived down at the showground at about 9.30am, with the plan to see as much as we could outside before it started raining, then look in the pavilions before going home.

It’s great to see our local show doing well again after a few years of turmoil.

We started off kicking tyres.  The show has traditionally been the place to have a look at the latest cars on offer.  They were absent for a few years, but most car yards are now back.

Of course, as you wander around you run into people you don’t see often and have a yarn.  People have time to yarn at the show, they aren’t in a hurry to be anywhere. 

We didn’t need a ride on mower now that we are back in town.

This year entertainment was provided by “The Crackup Sisters”.  They lived up to their names.  They were a crack up.

We wandered around  side show alley.

What a pity the sky wasn’t blue.

We nick named this one “The Vomitron”.

No show would be complete without the clowns.

We were entertained by local artists while we enjoyed our lunch.

And, of course Mick had to test out the Police Motorcycle.

We even had the chance to see our first ever flea circus.  The flea trainer was delightful.

Finally, we ventured into the pavilions.  It was now well after lunch, and still not raining, which was a bonus.  It was also quite warm.

The primary schools always enter some creative craftwork.  The fish out of patty cake cases were particularly colourful.

As usual, there wasn’t a lot of handiwork entered, but there was still some lovely work on display.  Quite a lot of the quilts were covered in plastic so too hard to photograph.

There were some pretty dahlias.

The backdrop of the Western Districts display from the Royal Easter Show is always put on display at Bathurst.  This year’s theme being ANZAC.

Next it was out to see the livestock.

This next one is for Tracy.

We watched the finals of the shearing competition.  Each shearer shore ten sheep in just on twelve minutes.  And they were cleanly shorn.  Rather impressive.  Mind you, one of the fellows is a world record holder.

I was impressed with the shearer’s boots.  They look rather comfortable.

The commentator remarked that he doesn’t see rouseabouts looking this good in the sheds as a rule.  The Miss Showgirl contestant obviously knows her way around a shearing shed.

We decided that we may as well stay for the evening’s program, so after grabbing some dinner we met up with some friends and found ourselves a strategic place on the Grandstand.  There is that special level where you are under cover, high enough to see all that is going on in the arena, but low enough to see the high fireworks. 

All was going well, we saw the daredevil utes and bikes, when suddenly, at about seven o’clock the heavens opened!!!  It was torrential and it was horizontal – straight into the front of the grandstand!!!  There was a mad dash by everyone to try and get under cover, but we all still got quite wet.  I felt for the stall holders who would have had no chance to cover anything and also those who were on rides.

We then decided that it was time to go home.  We had spent a much longer time at the show than we had expected but still hadn’t seen everything.  It really had been a great day.

So, we got home, got into some dry PJs, made a nice cup of coffee, and stood at our back door and watched the fire works.  Not a bad view and a great way to finish off the day.