Can You Believe It - Another Finish

Chookyblue is having a Chookshed Birthday Party this coming weekend.  Of course I will have to join the virtual party.

I told Chooky what I intended to work on - binding a quilt.

On Sunday afternoon I decided to get a head start and attach the binding to the quilt by machine, ready to just do the hand stitching.

Then I decided I'd just make a bit of a start......and ended up stitching two sides of the quilt before my eyes decided they'd had enough and gave me a dizzy headache.

Now I started to think of another goal....

Yesterday I took the quilt to work and managed to stitch another side down during my lunch break.  You can see where this is going...... Today I stitched down the final side in my lunch break.

So.......Ta Da!

My Nature's Journey is finished.

I had the top finished in September, right on track.  My friend Val quilted it in October and it has taken me until now to finish it off.  I had cut out the binding from the same chocolate fabric as the inner border, but could only find half of it after our move.  I searched the stash and came up with a civil war reproduction brown and cream striped fabric, so decided to use it.  If anything it was a better fit for the border, the chocolate may have been too dark.....then of course I found the rest of the original fabric.  I'm glad I went with the stripe.  The only fabric I bought especially for this quilt was a wide back for the backing.  Everything else was from stash, and much was from scraps, not that it has made any impression in the mountain of fabric I have.

It is also my first finish for my new sewing room.  Got to be happy with that.

Now I will have to find something else to work on for the weekend.  I think there may be one or two projects lurking in there.

Finally a Finish

Since we moved to our new house any crafting has taken a back seat.  We were doing other things, or there was just no motivation.

Finally, I have finished something.  Mind you, this had become more of a UFO that a WIP.

Back on the last weekend in May last year - yes, one year ago this week - we attended the Wool Muster held here in Bathurst and I purchased some rather lovely wool........just because it was pretty.

I started knitting it into a cowl, using a very simple 4/4 rib, so that the wool would be the feature, but got distracted before it was finished.....Very short attention span.

I finished knitting it last year and all it needed was to have the ends sewn together.

Since Christmas it has been hiding in the lovely knitting bag that Oddsbjorg sent to me in the Secret Santa Christmas Swap.

The weather has now turned cold, so it was time to finish it off.  It must have taken me all of about 15 minutes.  Huge job.

I gave it its maiden outing on Sunday and it did the trick.  I can see me wearing it lots, now that it is finished.

Springwood Quilt Show

We had a lovely day on Sunday.  The Springwood Quilt Show provided a great excuse to travel down to Glenbrook to have lunch with some friends we made in Tasmania.  We were slackos though, travelling by car instead of bike, due to miserable weather from home to across the mountains.

After our lunchtime get together, we all ventured to the see the quilts.

We didn't have a great deal of time there, but what we saw was spectacular.  Unfortunately, I didn't get details of the quilts, so can't credit the makers.

There really are some talented ladies.  I'm always drawn to Michele Hill designs.  One day........

Rachaeldaisy's quilts are always a delight, so bright and such fresh, imaginative designs.

The fabrics were so interesting to look at up close.  I think my favourite was this red and white car one.

I loved this quilt that was hanging on the wall above the entrance.

Just look at the detail of the quilting. (Thank goodness for a good zoom lens.) Gorgeous.

Of course, there were several versions of Chris Jurd's patterns.  It's always so good to see the different variations. Chris was also the feature quilter this year,

I loved this row by row quilt in 30s prints.  There were two versions, both beautifully made.

It looks like I only liked the light coloured quilts this year, but that isn't the case.  There were many other beauties.

We were too late to vote for the people's choice, which may have been a good thing, as it would have been too hard to pick.

As well as the quilts there were some great trading tables. However, for the first time ever, I didn't bring anything home with me.  I didn't really have time to have a proper look....Next time....

We then finished our day off by travelling some more minor roads, with scenery looking a treat in the late afternoon sun, but unfortunately, a car is nowhere near as good as a sidecar for taking pics as you travel along.

The organising committee should be very proud of the weekend's event.  Now we have to look forward to next year.

Anzac Day

Today is the day when we remember those servicemen and women who have served our country over the years.

As usual, Mick and I headed into town in the dark to attend the dawn service.  It was well attended, which was good to see.

We were in town later in the day and had a better look at all the wreaths that had been laid. The Carillon is quite a spectacular War Memorial.

In the afternoon we took Mum out to another service.  I have never attended it before, but it is the one that Mum always attended with Dad.  It is held at the gates of what was the army training camp during World War Two, which later became a migrant camp, through which many "New Australians" passed in the 1950s.  There are several memorials to various army battalions.  My Dad trained there before being deployed to Singapore.

It was a nice service, much more relaxed than those in town.  The weather was glorious, reaching the low 20s.  No one could remember such a nice Anzac Day, normally it is more likely to be freezing cold and wind blown.

I was surprised that the memorial next to the one for Dad's Battalion was on for the 54th Battalion, for both the First and Second World Wars.  Coincidentally, Mum's Uncle Fred served in the 54th Battallion in the First World War.

I think Mum really enjoys catching up with all the people who attend this smaller service each year.

Finish Along First Quarter Wrap Up

I've been rather tardy in giving an update on my projects that I had nominated to finish in the first quarter of the year.

I only gave myself a short list, but I didn't even manage to achieve all of those.

You can see my original list here.

I only managed to get the binding on Mum's placemat, which I finished back in February.

I know it is a poor excuse, but being on holidays and then moving have put me behind the eight ball.  There just may also be a little lack of mojo at present as well.

I will definitely sign up again for the next quarter and endeavour to finish my two remaining projects and add one more.  I think I will stick to just three a quarter.  I do want to give myself a slight chance of achieving my goal.

We've Started

That is just the beginning.  There is plenty more to go in here.

Mick has had a huge day moving boxes.  We had a room affectionately known as "The Box Room", which was an average size bedroom, full of boxes, nearly to the ceiling.  In over twelve months, we haven't missed very much at all.  What you see above is only a small portion of them.

We (mainly Mick) have now moved all of those boxes to the new house.  We will have a big job going through them and having a huge cull.  Mick reckons sorting through things will be a good winter job.

We have another room known as "The Jungle".  It is full of furniture.  Yep, that will be culled too.

There is still plenty more to pack.  We will get there.

No More Sleeps

Today we became the proud owners of our new home.

It has been a long process, with contracts exchanging back in November, but finally the day has come.

Unfortunately, it was not good timing for GDITC at Nundle, so I had to cancel the weekend........next year.

We took the first few boxes over this afternoon and Mick will have many more loads.  At least it is only a few kilometres each way this time, not a 56km round trip, like last time. He has taken the next two weeks off work. The removalists are coming next Monday to move the big stuff and we have to be completely moved before Easter.

It was funny seeing the new house empty for the first time.  

I'm just a tad excited about this...

Let's see what is behind those doors... which can be closed to hide what lays beyond....

The "Ta Da" moment:

A blank canvas.  It will never look like this again.

It is huge, at 6m x 4m, with great light and a door onto a side verandah......and all mine.  I've never had my own sewing room before.

I've no idea where I'm going to put things, but I will have fun figuring it all out.  I reckon all my bits and pieces will fill it up.

Things will probably be a bit chaotic around here for the next little while, so I will be back when life calms down a bit and I have things sorted enough for me to have a play in my new space.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

We had a smooth sailing from Tasmania to Melbourne.  We treated ourselves to a cabin each way this holiday and it really was worth it to be able to have a shower in your own bathroom and a real bed, after a week camping.

We disembarked early on Sunday morning, so it didn't take long to leave Melbourne behind us.

We knew it was going to be a hot day, so planned to ride as far as we could before it got too hot and then get a motel with air con and a pool for the rest of the day.  We would then leave in the cool of the morning on Monday and get home before it was too hot.

We were surprised to start out riding in low cloudy fog and be quite cool.

Once the fog burnt off it quickly warmed up, reaching 30 degrees by 9.00am and we set in for the long straight roads.  Quite different from what we had been on for the previous two weeks.

Then it got cloudy and cooled down a bit for most of Victoria.  We even had a couple of spots of rain.

We stopped at Albury for fuel and after that it once again quickly heated up, as we left the cloud behind.

From then on the temperature hovered at 38 - 39 degrees for most of the day.

Our next stop was Junee for lunch and fuel.  We had considered this to be a destination for the day, but Mick still felt fine so we kept going, stopping occasionally for a drink of water and stretch.

After Cowra, at about 4.30pm we reached our highest temperature of 41 degrees.  Not very comfortable in bike gear.

We had some relief at cold old Blayney, when the temperature dipped briefly to 35 degrees.

What we did notice all the way home was how dry it has become in the short time we have been away.  There has been no rain and the temperature has been in the 30s every day, with at least another week of the same ahead of us. At first I thought some poplar trees were starting to turn for autumn, but no, the leaves were just burning off in the heat.

We arrived home just before 6pm.  Not a bad effort for nearly 900kms.  We did a total of 3,220kms on the trip.

So now we are back home.  Yesterday was a day of unpacking and many loads of washing along with all those other bits and bobs that need attending to after a holiday.  I think Joey was glad to be back home again from the kennels.  Today I was back at work.

Our holiday was wonderful.  We visited new places and revisited others.  We are finding we are now taking more guided tours than we used to and think they are worth every cent they cost.  What we saved by camping more than paid for them.  I'm also pleased we camped every night.  We didn't do much cooking, but hey, it's a holiday.

The Ulysses AGM Rally was great.  Yes, most people were disappointed in the way it was organised, but despite the amenities being minimal, we never had a cold shower and they were always clean.  The weather was ideal, which makes the world of difference.  Most of all, we met some wonderful people, who we will continue to catch up with every now and then.  That is what it is all about.

Tassie - Day 14

Saturday was our last day in Tasmania.  We didn't sail out of Devonport until 7.30pm, so we had a whole day to fill in.  No rushing, which was nice.

We waited until the dew had dried on our camper before packing it up, which meant we didn't leave the camp ground until about 10 o'clock.

Our first stop on our way to the ferry was at the markets at the lovely town of Deloraine.  No purchases, but we met "Miss Marigold" the Morgan and her elderly owner.

The street was lined with quirky sculptures.

As we continued on our way, we started to notice the rich, fertile soil and the number of crops.

It really was a picture, with the Western Tiers in the background.

After lunch we made our way back to Don, just on the outskirts of Devonport.  If you remember, on our first day we saw the Don Railway Museum, but we were too early to visit.  At the time, we thought it would be good to visit on our last day.

Unfortunately, in recent wet weather part of the track was damaged and it wasn't quite ready to have passenger trains go over it as yet.  

Therefore, we just had a very short ride on a rail motor.

It dates from 1944 and is a diesel.  It was shipped out from England at the same time as the last of the steam trains.  It really was just like a bus on tracks.  Saturday was its first day back in action after a complete overhaul.

The Don Railway Society was created in the 1970s.  The line they are on was to a quarry and when it was closed in the 60s the entire infrastructure was removed.  

What is there now has been completely built since then.

They used to run excursions all over the state, but since public liability insurance has become harder to obtain they only run trains on their own, short, private track.

The museum is run entirely by volunteers.  They were really interesting to listen to, telling us all about the history of the engines.  I wish I could remember it all. It was really hands on too.  I got to sit in the drivers seat of the green one on the left of the above photo.  It originally was from New South Wales.

There were some lovely carriages.

I couldn't believe the size of the workshop.

While were there a little boy and his dad were also looking around.  The little fellow was dressed for the part and was having a fantastic time.

After our hour or so wandering around we thought we had better get on our way and have a bit of a look at Devonport.

I wonder how many town there are where you look down the main street to see a passenger ferry in harbour?

As it was a beautiful day we had a look around the foreshore.  We saw the lighthouse again, from a different angle.

We also found "The Spirit of the Sea" at the entrance to the Mersey River.

Some lovely craft came in.

A couple of rather large ships went out.

And one pretty coloured fishing boat went by.

Meanwhile, our ferry sat waiting to be loaded.

Finally, it was our turn to board.

Bye bye Tassie.