Ulysses AGM at Mildura – Getting There

I’ve been rather tardy in posting about the rest of our trip after Nundle.  If I don’t do it now I’ll have forgotten most of it.

We got a relatively early start from Nundle on the Sunday morning.  It was rather fresh travelling along and we hadn’t brought much in the way of thermals, as it was only March.

As we travelled west we left the mountains behind us and entered the slopes and plains.  Even though it isn’t that far from home, we have never travelled the road from Dunedoo to Dubbo.  It just isn’t on our direct route from home to anywhere, so it was nice to see some new scenery.

Once we headed south from Dubbo and Forbes we started to see the wide expanse of flood waters from the recent rains.

We travelled as far as West Wyalong on Sunday, staying in a nice caravan park and having a lovely Chinese meal at the local club.  It was here that we started to meet other Ulyssians making the trek to Mildura.

On Monday morning we once again got an early start.  However, that was by the sun, not the clock.  It is amazing how much later the sun rises as we headed west.  Of course, being the last week of daylight saving accentuated it as well.  I love taking photos of our shadow in the early morning.

As you can see, it was just glorious weather for riding along.

The slopes and plains made way for just the plains.

There was still plenty of flood waters around.  There was quite a bit of water flowing down Mirrool Creek between West Wyalong and Hay.

Of course, the water birds are loving the conditions.

Fortunately, the worst of the floods had passed at Hay.  However, about 10kms west of the town we encountered this sign, so prepared to get a little damp.

We needn’t have worried.  This was the extent of the water over the road for the whole trip down, which was much better than we had expected.

So many people complain about the Hay Plains being the most boring road in Australia.  We have travelled it a few times now and just love it.  Admittedly, there isn’t a great deal to see.  We didn’t even see a great deal of wild life this time, just a few emus, which we were glad kept their distance.

It is nice, though, to get to Balranald at the other end.

We finally reached our destination at about 3 o’clock on Monday afternoon.

We registered for the rally, admitting up front that we had left all our paperwork at home.  Oops!  I remembered everything for Nundle, but didn’t give the Ulysses paperwork a thought.  Oh well, we certainly weren’t the only ones.

At the end of the day it was lovely to catch up with all our friends from the Rockhampton Branch of the Club.  This is now the fourth time we have camped with them and it is one of our favourite things about the rally.

Now that I look back at the photos I hope they aren’t too boring, just lots of photos taken from the side car.  However, as we had to travel about 1200kms in a day and a half, stops were few and far between and usually just for fuel and a quick bite to eat, no sight seeing along the way.  That is being saved up for our four days in Mildura.

Saturday at Nundle

Finally the big day arrived and there was a frost!!!!  I wondered why I was a bit chilly in the camper.

Kerry and her helpers had the hall looking lovely for us.

Fiona and Kylie were ready to start.

Sue told us what we were doing.

We worked on clam shells to make this hussef. It was a new technique for me and I really enjoyed it.

We also had the option of working on this sewing box.

At lunch Aunty Alison and I went for a stroll outside, only to find this pair up the tree.  I don’t know what it is that Peg has about climbing the tree.  Dale was trying her best to talk her down.

Next time we turned around they were announcing to the world that they were the kings queens of the castle, sitting on top of a pillar.  Maybe it was the effect of all those drinks they consumed the day before. Rumour also has it that they were seen talking to a local gentleman here.

Back in the hall there was show and tell of projects completed by ladies present using Sue’s patterns.  Some lovely work was on display.

This is what I completed on the day.  I love the fresh look of it.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to play with it since, as Deb very kindly delivered it home for me, rather than me taking it on holidays.

We also swapped our pincushions.  Mine went to a lady from Cowra and I received this beauty from Jenny.

Meanwhile, Mick had a lovely day wandering the streets of Nundle while we stitched.

He had a nice yarn to some fellow BMW riders.

The lovely old Church, now the op shop.

You have to love the knitting needle inspired swings.

He visited the Woollen Mill where he had his own bit of retail therapy.  Fine merino clothing is wonderful on the bike.

Old mining relics.

Then, all too quickly it was over for another year. It was so good to catch up with friends and to meet people for the first time in real life that you “know” from their blogs  and, of course, they are all as lovely as expected.

I’ve already put my name down for next year.

Off to Nundle

I can’t believe it is already well over a week since we headed off to Nundle for the Girls Day in the Country.

As it was the start of a longer break for us, Mick tagged along as the token male for the weekend.  To make things easy, we left on Thursday afternoon.  When Mick picked me up from work this is what the sky was like.

About 10kms out of town we went through a big storm, but after that it was lovely riding weather. We travelled through our favourite Bylong Valley.

Denman was where we ended up for the night and our camping spot in the caravan park was rather lovely.

As we had plenty of time to get to Nundle we started off with a scrummy morning tea at Murrarundi. Peg did tell us that diets were out the window for this weekend.

We were the first to arrive at the caravan park at Nundle so set up our little camp site by the river.

We joined Peg and Dale and all the other girls for lunch at the Pub.  I noticed that Peg and Dale had also thrown the diet out the window.  Good to see them following Peg’s advice.

After lunch we headed out to Kerry’s lovely shop for a little retail therapy. 

After a rather pleasant time sitting on the lawn in the shade nibbling away and having a bit of show and tell we headed over to Mount Misery for dinner.  Local smoked trout caught my attention.

Here we all are. Fiona, Kylie, Mick, me and Miss Jules.

Next it was over to the hall for Sue Daly’s trunk show.  Wow, does she have some beautiful work.  I don’t know how she gets it all done, but she admits that she never stops. It certainly inspired us for the next day. 

Pincushion Swap for Nundle

By the time you read this our weekend at Nundle will be over and we will be on our way to Mildura for Mick’s share of our trip – the Ulysses AGM, where thousands of motorcyclists will be camping at a week long rally.

As we won’t be home before the end of the month I thought I’d better share the pincushion I made for the swap at Nundle so that it can be included in OPAM.

I haven’t done a great deal of English paper piecing and never diamonds, so I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out.

I used some nice fresh fabrics and had an attempt at fussy cutting.

I even found a button to match the unusual colours. 

Ta Da!

Rubbish photos unfortunately, as they were taken at night, as usual.

It was a good piece to play with.

Ta Da!! The Camper Trailer Quilt is Finished

Finally, I have finished a quilt.  Looking back, I think the last real quilt that I finished was in 2007.  That’s terrible.  Hopefully I’ll be a little more prolific in the future.

As I have shared, this quilt was started back in July 2010 and has languished until early this year, when I finally put on the borders and had my friend Val quilt it.  She did some lovely quilting and the design really suited the fabric.

We collected it from Val on Australia Day, and finally, 20 months after it was started, it is finished.

So…..Ta Da…….

It is really quite a simple quilt.  Just square in a square.

I added the spare blocks to the backing.

I just used a bamboo batting that came with a magazine subscription.  It has a very low loft, but we only want a light quilt in the camper trailer, nothing too bulky.  It will be interesting to see how it wears.

It will also make a nice picnic rug.

It isn’t to be a precious quilt, rather one that gets plenty of use.

It was fun taking photos in the evening light down on the old hay rake in the front yard.

The size is possibly a bit big for the camper, but we will have plenty of tuck in.  It actually fits on the top of our queen size bed.

As you may be able to tell, I’m a tad excited to actually finish something. 

Thanks for indulging me.  By the way, a big finish for OPAM.

A Glorious Sunday

What a difference a week makes.  Unlike a week ago, the weather has been glorious this weekend. 

Our long term plan for today was to have a stall at the Oberon Swap Meet to continue with our declutter.  However, Mick had to work yesterday so we didn’t get ourselves organised.  This morning we considered going out for a look, but as we didn’t want to bring any more “stuff” home, we just rolled over and had a sleep in instead.

When we did finally surface we enjoyed a yummy breakfast on the verandah.  It was our first chance to partake in this for some time.  It is something that we really enjoy and I probably put more thought into Sunday breakfast than any other meal of the week. (That’s not saying much for my culinary skills.) We can’t be bothered to go into town for a nice breakfast, so it is much better to just make our own. As usual, I forgot to take photos.

After breakfast I finally started the hand stitching of the binding of our camper trailer quilt.  I must be a little odd, as I really enjoy hand stitching the binding onto a quilt.  I can turn the brain off and day dream while stitching away.

It was so peaceful.  I think all the birds were also glad to see the sun out and enjoy the lovely weather.  There seemed to be an incredible variety on show today and the birdsong  was just delightful.  It was what I call a gentle day, a pleasant temperature with a very slight breeze.  Perfect autumn weather. 

While I was stitching away, Mick was doing the crosswords and then did some weeding, while the ground is soft. 

So yes, the camper trailer quilt is finished, but I will give it it’s own' “Ta Da” post.

Now I just have to finish my pincushion swap and name tag for Nundle in….12 days time!!!

The pincushion is nearly done, and I can stitch it in my lunch breaks, but I haven’t started my name tag.  I’ve thought of a design and should have started it this afternoon, but I wanted to play with something else.

When we went to Braidwood in November I bought a Lil’ Twister Ruler and its big brother that suits layer cakes and I haven’t tried them out yet.

Finally, I had a little play this afternoon, making a mug rug with left overs from the quilt.

I used this tutorial that I found recently and there is a twister quilt along on the same blog.  I didn’t do a proper binding, instead I just turned it out and top stitched.

I made a little whoopsie.  See…..

In my haste, I ended up sewing the backing on inside out.    Oh well, it can just stay that way, as I had clipped the corners before I realised what I had done.  It is only the back anyway.  The main purpose of the exercise was to see how easy the ruler is to use and I was very pleased with it.  Now I will have to make a little quilt using a charm pack, and a big one with a layer cake.  Mick likes windmills, so I might just have to make a quilt for him using this method.