Spring in the Scrub - Part 1

THURSDAY

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending another retreat at Camp Cypress at Baradine.  This one was organised by Chooky and Deb from The Crafters Cottage in Coonabarabran, with 21 ladies attending.  About half of them were ones who have attended “Scrub Stitchin”.

I wasn’t intending to go, but you can blame Mick, Chooky and tablecloths.  Yes, tablecloths.  You see, while on a Zoom sewing morning, Chooky asked if I could duck into town and get her some particular tablecloths, which I did.  The original plan was to give them to one of her family members who would be down here soon.  However, on the following morning Mick asked me if there were still places available at the retreat, and if so, why don’t I deliver them in person.  It didn’t take very much to twist my arm, so I started to get some projects prepared to take and made a swap gift.  Far too many projects, as is always the case, but you need choices, don’t you.

On Thursday morning I headed north.  Yep, just me.  Mick stayed home this time.  The early spring season is so lovely and the countryside is looking a picture.  I just couldn’t take many photos, seeing as I was driving.

Dunedoo is always a good spot to stop and stretch the legs and get coffee and cake.  That sign is so true.  LOL

I went for a quick walk up and down the street and was delighted to see a new mural on the side of one of the pubs.  Jamieson Leeson is the women’s silver medalist in Boccia BC3 at the Paralympics and hails from tiny little Dunedoo.  

It took me rather longer than expected to travel the rest of the way to Coonabarabran, as there was a car accident blocking the road in the middle of nowhere.  Initially, we thought we may be held up for an hour or so, but in the end were told it would be several hours before the road reopened and we had to take a detour, over a rather rough dirt road.  Not to worry, I ended up seeing some new to me countryside.

After a light lunch in Coonabarabran (let’s face it I didn’t need much after that cake) and a bit of retail therapy at The Crafter’s Cottage I reached Baradine in the early afternoon.

A few of us got the room all set up ready to go.  It did look good with all the wildflowers that Chooky had picked and dried and Brenda had arranged.  It never looked this tidy again.

It is surprising that Deb had anything left in her shop in town. There was a great variety to look at and shop from.  Yes, maybe I did shop again.

The day was completed by dinner at the Bowling Club.  Yummy cutlets.

FRIDAY

Friday was the official start of the retreat, so time to get my sewing station set up.  We each had loads of room to spread out.

There were lots of lovelies in our goodies bags.

At morning tea time we celebrated Brenda’s recent milestone birthday.

So, what did I manage to sew on Saturday?  I made 12 of these blocks for the three yard quilt that is my challenge project for the month and joined them into a flimsy, but no photo at that stage.

I also started piecing some large half square triangles for two baby quilts using left overs from fat quarters from a previous baby quilt.  These were to be my June Challenge project, which didn’t happen at the time.

Dinner on Friday night was at the pub and was rather tasty.  We returned to our sewing after dinner.  And that about wraps up Friday.

I’ll do a separate post for Saturday.

My Goals for September

Here we are at the beginning of spring and it is time to set my goals for the month.  I kind of had them sorted in my head, but on Sunday I had to have a rethink.  You see, at the last minute I decided to attend the “Spring in the Scrub” retreat this coming weekend and I need to have a few projects ready to work on.  So this is what I have come up with……at this stage…..

ONE MONTHLY GOAL & CHOOKSHED STITCHERS’ CHALLENGE

Once again, one project will tick both these boxes.  The number that Deana drew out of the hat was 7.  For me that is “Three Yard Quilt - Start and Finish (for Donation)”.

I have selected a pattern and initially chose these fabrics.  That has since slightly changed, but I didn’t get a photo.  It is already kitted up to take on the weekend.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

I haven’t really been able to ascertain the colour for the month, but have a feeling it is black or neutral?  If so, it is a little difficult for me.  I don’t want those colours in most of the projects I’m working on.  

Initially, I didn’t think it would work on my bright fish, but the pattern that will be released next week is tropical fish, and I want to use orange.  An orange and black fish will work, so all good.  I also want to catch up on August’s fish.  I may just use some random colours for that month.

Other than the fish, I may also just work on some random colours for the other projects.

BATIK FISH

I will be making some more fish this month.  I found another small scrap of batik in a stash I inherited that is a salmony colour.  It will work well.

FIFTEEN MINUTES A DAY

Of course I want to keep up with this.

OTHER STITCHING

• I didn’t get to work on my Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge in June and it is fairly simple, so I will kit that up and take to retreat.  It is just another small donation quilt.
• I want to quilt my Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt, but want to try a new pantograph on something smaller before using it on the larger quilt.  At least one of the donation quilts will work for that.
• Hand stitching is always on the list these days, to take to my stitching days and for any Zoom times.  My hexies are ticking that box at the moment.
• I didn’t get any knitting or crochet done last month.  I want to set an actual goal this month to deconstruct the crochet baby rug, so that I can sew the squares together rather than crochet them, so that it will sit flatter.
• Also, I have purchased some fabric to use for sashing and border on the Sashiko table runner.  I’d like to get that done this month too.

That should keep me going.  There is always plenty more if I go looking.

MY OTHER GOALS

These  are simple.

• Try a new recipe.
• Read a book - I’ve been failing at this lately, so need to lift my game.
• Have a fun day out.
• Write Isle of Man blog posts - before I forget what we did.

I’m linking up at Dreamworthy Quilts, Stories From the Sewing Room, So Scrappy and Life in Pieces. 

Let’s see how I go at the end of the month.

Found!

It’s always the way, that you find something missing when you least expect it and often where you least expect it.  This happened to me a couple of days ago.

I was digging deep in my sewing storage area and came across these two paper bags.  What on earth could be in them?

I had quite a little chuckle when they revealed the missing fabrics that I wanted to use in one of the Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge months.  

I had bought them on our trip to New Zealand in 2015.  The batiks and the Paua buttons were bought at a gorgeous little shop “The Stitching Post” in Arrowtown on the South Island, which I believe has now closed.  The woven flax fabric was bought in Coramandel.

I have a couple of other Kiwiana fabrics that had been gifted to me, so they will now all be stored together, where I can find them, ready to use in one of the challenge months next year.

Now to decide what to make with them.

The Rest of August

 I still have a few things to share about the rest of August.  Looking at my non stitching goals, I wasn’t as successful as with my stitching.

I didn’t read a book and I have only written one post about our trip to the Isle of Man.  I must do something about that very soon.

Surprisingly, especially to me, I actually tried three new recipes this month.  The first two were only so so, but the third was a resounding success.

You see, we have a rather prolific rhubarb plant.

Therefore, when I saw a recipe called Rhubarb Pudding it had to be tried out.  It is quite a dense texture, using a lot of almond meal, but was delicious.  Next time we will add more rhubarb.  Yes, there will be a next time.

Of course, you have to add ice cream.

While on the food front, after attending the high tea, the following Saturday I attended an afternoon tea party for a sewing friend’s significant birthday.

Oh my!  It was as fancy as any high tea you would attend at a restaurant, and all home catered.  We drank from fine china, the food was presented on beautiful tablecloths and doilies.  There was a lovely selection of teas in beautiful pots and under cute cosies. And the food was to die for.  It was a very special afternoon.

Nice afternoon teas seem to have been a theme this month, as we then had a good friend visit us for afternoon tea.  It was a good excuse to bring out our nice china and was warm enough to sit outside on the verandah.

It was also a good excuse to bake a slice that we haven’t made for many years.  We should make it more often.

It was also a good excuse to pick some pretty little flowers.  When looking for a suitable vase, I spied this tiny jug.  Mum gave it to me when I was in primary school and this is the first time I have ever used it as a vase.  It normally just sits on my little shelf on display.  It’s only taken about fifty years.

The weather has been rather warm for this time of year over the last week or so.  The garden is rocketing away.  Our little plum trees are in flowers.  Let’s hope they do better than their predecessors, which did no good, which is surprising for what is normally a very easy tree to grow.

The warm weather has also come with some rain and even a storm or two.  The sky one evening was rather impressive.

The local swap meet was held a week ago.  We didn’t have a stall, just went along for a look see.  I was happy to find this Singer tin at a very reasonable price.  The tin was in excellent condition.  It is a Godzilla Tin.  They originally came with a nice selection of accessories and an instruction book.

While the tin itself was in great shape, the inside was not.  I have already thrown out an extremely rusty wide hemmer foot.  (I have another one.)  It will clean up enough for me, as let’s face it, the closed tin will just be on display on a shelf.

I didn’t buy the cute little Singer oil can for $75.  That’s for a serious collector, not me.

Finally, yesterday we went out to the tiny village of Burraga, in the Oberon area, to attend the Burraga Sheep Show.  This also doubles as their agricultural show, with pavilion exhibits.  

Sadly, this year the exhibits, both inside and outside, were way down on the last time we attended, which was quite a few years ago.  Also there were very few visitors.

As a consequence, we didn’t stay long and went into Oberon to have lunch at a nice cafe.  It was still a very pleasant drive, seeing all the countryside looking so very green and lots of wattle and blossom trees putting on a show.

And that about wraps up August and winter.  Where is the year going?  Now to look forward to September and spring.

August Stitching Wrap Up

I did have a rather productive month in August. As I stated after the first week, it makes a huge difference when I actually stay home.

Just to recap, I finished the little Half Square Triangle Baby Quilt.  Thanks to Lou for giving me the encouragement.

Then I finished the little Blue House Sampler mini quilt.

I also achieved my One Monthly Goal and Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge by completing the Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt top.  I have decided to quilt it with a pantograph, but I want to try a new pantograph on something smaller first.

I was rather productive with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Completing the split nine patches, a crumb block and four orange Hexy Flowers.  The Fish will be caught up next month.

Which brings me to my Scrappy Hexy Flowers.  This was just to be a pick it up whenever type project and maybe do one in the RSC colour each month.  Well, it has progressed, as I cut out heaps of fabrics, then glue basted them and have actually stitched fourteen flowers this month.  That has been helped by taking them to my stitching groups and joining in on quite a few impromptu Zoom sessions hosted by Chookyblue.  They are the perfect project to work on while chatting away.

I have now completed thirty flowers.  I’ve decided on a project to use them in.  It is called “Bigs and Smalls”.  The designer is Anorina Morris and the pattern was published in the May edition of Homespun magazine.  I have quite a way to go, as there are one hundred and eleven one inch hexy flowers and eight two inch hexy flowers.  They are appliquéd onto six inch background squares.  That should keep me out of trouble for quite some time.  There’s no rush.

Although I am leaving my RSC fish till next month I still made my Batik Fish this month.  I made three versions of the pattern, which all look quite different.  I’m continuing to enjoy playing with this project.

The final thing I worked on was making a block for a group quilt that our Wednesday Patchwork Group are making.  The instructions were rather broad. “Make a 12 inch block, any pattern, any colour.”  Eventually, there was some fabric provided to tie the blocks together.  The blue in the centre and the background come from those fabrics.  I will make a second block using another provided fabric.  The hardest part is selecting a pattern.

Looking back at my goals, I didn’t do too badly.  The only one that was missed was working on my knitted jumper.  It will happen, all in good time.

As for my 15 Minutes a Day, this is how I went:

August = 29/31

Year to Date = 221/244

Sucess Rate = 90.57%

At least I am still above the 90% mark……just.

Now to start thinking about September.  It’s always fun to look forward and make plans.