Scrub Stitchin' - Part 4 - Wandering the Streets of Baradine

While at Scrub Stitchin' I went walking  early in the morning on a couple of days.  It was lovely to see the soft light, hear the birds' early morning songs and soak up the morning sun, once it rose.

Come for a stroll with me.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Such a nice way to start the day.

ANZAC Day

He looks so young.  My dad, newly enlisted in the army.  Before travelling to Singapore and becoming a POW.

At his last ANZAC Day in 2012, aged 93.

We attended the dawn service and I wore his medals with pride.

This year the service was special, as the eternal flame which has been alight since the War Memorial Carillon was built has been replaced with a new version.  The old gas powered flame was damaging the structure.

This is a photo of my Dad during the commemorations of 60 years since the end of  World War 2 , back in 2005, overlooking the old flame.  This featured in the local newspaper.

For the first time in a very long time we were invited to walk through the carillon to see the new eternal flame and lay rosemary sprigs at its base.

After the breakfast at the RSL Club Mick and I wandered over to have another look, once the crowds had disbursed.

It is a much different style flame, with electronic lighting and a modern plinth, but still very still very attractive and should enable the flame to persist for many years to come.

LEST WE FORGET

Updating Splendid Sampler 2, Rainbow Scrap Challenge and One Monthly Goal

As it is getting close to the end of the month and is also the last week of the link up for Splendid Sampler, I thought it was time to do a bit of an update on where I'm at.

Splendid Sampler 2

My aim for the month was to have twelve SS2 blocks completed.  Happily, I have fourteen done.

I have another two that just need a little hand stitching, so there is a slight chance that they will be finished by the end of the month, but we won't hold our breath, as we have a little bit on in the next week or so.

When we were at our retreat last weekend I was able to put them on a design wall and see how they looked together.

It was fun to see them play together.  Well over halfway there, so I'm keen to get the rest done.

The stitch along run by Jane and Pat has now completed, so I have to keep going without that regular accountability, but I think I will be fine. Thanks so much to the girls and all of the designers for making this such a fun project.  I'm really enjoying seeing some of the quilts all finished in the gallery.  I'll be linking up at The Splendid Sampler for the last time this week.

I'll also be linking up over at Elm Street Quilts with my OMG being met.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

The colour for the blocks this month was Aqua.

I knew I would run out of time if I just worked on these as leaders and enders, so got stuck in and finished them.  Now to wait for next month's colour.

I'll be linking up over at So Scrappy.

Next month won't be as productive as we have other fun stuff happening, but here's hoping I still have something to share.

Other Stuff

On a totally different tack - I took these photos on my walk this morning.

A morning shadow is the only way that I will ever get long, thin legs.  Oh, I wish.

It is mid autumn here and it is truly the nicest time of year. The weather is generally calm, with warm days and cooler nights.  The autumn trees are really putting on a show.  There is a racing stable over the road from us and their grounds are like an English park.  These are the claret ash along their street frontage.  Such a lovely place to walk past.

Scrub Stitchin' - Part 3 - It's Not Just About the Stitching

There's more to Scrub Stitchin' than stitching.

There are other important factors too........ like food.

On two mornings we were treated to hot, freshly made scones by Chooky's mum.  A quick trip up the street for a coffee and all set to go.  Mmmmmm Mmmmmm!

On Saturday night we had a themed dinner.  Last year it was "Pink", this year it was "Bling".

We were all kicked out of the hall to get blinged up and, once we were permitted to return, this is what greeted us.  So beautiful.

This group really got in the spirit of things.  I knew that Deb and Annette would dress to impress and they didn't let us down.

Miss Jules and I were rather understated, by comparison.

Peta won "Best Bling Dress" by a country mile.

While we were dressed up for our event, another event was taking place in Baradine.  It was quite the social centre on Saturday night.

The local debutante ball took place and the debs and their partners were having their photos taken just out the back of Camp Cypress.  Some of us went for a sneak peek. They all looked gorgeous.  

Lea was our own tractor pin up girl.

Each year Chooky organises a mystery event for us.  Last year it was a visit to Dandry Gorge in the Pilliga Scrub.  This year we stayed closer to home and the mystery came to us.

It's a poor photo, but this is a rather flash telescope.  The night sky is particularly spectacular out this way and just down the road is Siding Springs Observatory. "Donna the Astronamer" visited and taught us much about the observatory  and the night sky.  The moon looked rather impressive through the telescope.  It is interesting to have someone explain what we see in the night sky.  Thanks to Chooky and Donna for an interesting mystery.  I wonder what Chooky will come up with next year?

In the days leading up to Scrub Stitchin', Sonia told us a little about the Baradine Drought Aid Pantry run by the CWA and requested we provide some donated supplies or cash.

Chooky's mum, who is quite involved, told us all about it and on Saturday we took our donations along and visited the CWA hall.

 

The CWA can't hold their meeting in their hall any longer, as it now looks like a supermarket.

The stats are rather telling.  The landscape may look green at the moment, but it is mostly burrs and it will be quite some time before the farmers start to earn any income.  The drought is definitely not over out here.

They have a great little Facebook page and there was an interesting article recently in the Daily Telegraph.  It is worth popping over to have a look at them.

Of course, no retreat would be complete without a little swap.

This time I made a covered coat hanger and added a couple of bits and bobs.  How fun is the needle case that looks like a lip stick that I found on our recent visit to Cowra.

Mum always says that "Nice things come in small packages".  This was certainly true, as my swap gift was a packet of forked pins for holding seam allowances in place.  It was the perfect gift, as it was something I had been thinking of buying for all the fiddly seams on Splendid Sampler. There was also a few lucky door prizes and I was fortunate to be the winner of a ruler stand.  Very handy for the cutting table.  Thanks girls.

Looking back at this, we certainly packed in a lot on our few days.  So much fun