I seem to have a thing for bladeless windmills this trip.
A quick stop in Gulargambone to check out the sculpture.
This year Mick and I were the only ones who brought our caravan to Scrub Stitchin’ and Mick was the only husband to tag along. Quite a contrast to last year when there were several hubbies and Mick played tour guide. He enjoys our annual visit to Baradine as much as I do.
He was looking forward to a quiet few days, reading, going for a walk, maybe playing some bowls. So much for that….. He ended up being a gopher for all of us “Scrubbers”.
He helped set up the room on Tuesday, did a couple of jobs in the garden for Chooky’s mum, and most importantly, collected and delivered our scones for morning tea on Thursday. He did receive payment for that little job, with his own parcel of scones.
On Friday, he went into Coonabarabran to have lunch with a mate who moved up there a few years ago. While he was there he was given the job of collecting some items at the patchwork shop…….oh, and while you’re there, can you pop out to the other patchwork shop to pick up some things?
On Saturday, after taking all our photos, he did get to have an informal game of bowls with some locals, something he really enjoyed. He then had his next job of helping to set up the room for our special Saturday night dinner.
Add to all that, he had a bit of a play with “Frank”, starting to run some wires to connect the UHF radio and caravan reversing camera. Both jobs that will be completed back home.
The poor fellow had not rest.
Having said that, he did get to finish the book that he was reading.
He was not starving either. We had bought some sweet treats on the way up, so he enjoyed nice morning and afternoon teas.
Rather than join the girls for breakfast, Mick and I had brekkie in the van each day. I love the way the steam shone in the morning sunlight.
Dinners weren’t too bad either. He had dinner at the pub with Chooky and Jules’ hubbies on Wednesday, while all us girls were out the back. On Thursday he cooked a BBQ. Friday was Chinese and raffles at the Bowlo with the locals. He always enjoys this, as they make him feel so welcome. On Saturday night he received a serve of the roast dinner that we enjoyed. No slumming it for Mick.
The campground is such a nice peaceful place to spend time.
You can see what a lovely setting it is from his drone shots.
The weekend was capped off when he received this on Sunday. He was tickled pink.
Now to wait twelve months until we do it all again.
An integral part of the retreat is the “Make it or fake it” swap. It is such fun on the Saturday night seeing what everyone has gifted and received.
I had fun this year making a little sewing pouch with bits and bobs inside. It was all inspired by the random cute strawberry fat quarter I recently found. The pouch is a combination of a couple of patterns from Anni Downs.
I found the perfect coloured vintage ric rac in my stash.
It was a bit of a challenge to add the ric rac around the label, as I was using machine buttonhole, but we got there in the end, with lots of pins.
Betty of Rainbow Connections Quilter was the recipient of this little collection.
The gift I received was a fat quarter bundle of rustic, country style fabrics. They will work well to make a blokey quilt. This gift came from Sue.
Now to the shopping…… there always has to be a little retail therapy.
The only shopping plan I had was to buy the jelly roll ruler for the braided quilt that many would make during the retreat and to get one more batik fabric to add to the fish quilt I am making.
I didn’t make the braided quilt on the weekend, but I have pulled out a junior jellyroll and coordinating fabrics to make a cot quilt at some stage. Another one for the list……
Our first stop on the way up was Crafters Cottage in Coonabarabran. As we had taken longer to get up there than planned, and we were to be giving Chooky a hand to set things up, I only called in very briefly, but did come out with a suitable grubby brown batik. The best bit was that I ran into Jenny of Bird on the Border while there.
The other purchases were all made from the pop up shop that Deb from Crafters Cottage set up at Scrub Stitchin’. Having that shop on site is such a bonus for us, and I’m also guessing for Deb. Win, win.
I even brought home a gift for Monique. I was delighted to see that there were bobbin cases to hold “M” sized bobbins, which are what Monique uses. My bobbins were just thrown in a small tub beforehand. This is so much better, and something I had been on the lookout for.
Pins with caravans on them are not something that was on my shopping list, but how could I resist?
Also, I didn’t NEED any more fat quarters, but when I saw that she had the same Tilda fabric that was used in our bag that we made from last year’s retreat I bought some more with a matching project in mind……..now I just have to make it.
The other fat quarters are just ones that I know will be incorporated in something. You can never have too many low volumes for a scrappy background, which I always prefer to just a single fabric.
There is always such a variety of projects under way during the retreat. For the last few years Chooky has come up with a project that we may like to stitch at the same. This year it was a braided quilt featuring a zig zag up the centre of the braid.
It required a ruler that is custom made by Picton Patchwork in Coonabarabran and is cleverly made using a jelly roll. It is a very effective design with minimal wastage.
The designers visited one evening, bringing their version of the quilt to show us.
Most of us bought the ruler, but only a small portion of the group started the project. I took along suitable fabrics, but ended up too busy working on other things to make a start.
This is how things finished at the end of the retreat. The way it works is that you make one very long braid and then cut it into segments to make the columns in the quilt. It looks so different in the various fabric ranges. I hope some of the completed quilts are brought along next year for us to see. Hopefully, I’ll have mine done in time.
I couldn’t resist getting a photo of the papparazzi.
Let’s have a wander and see what else was happening.