Head West Young (well not quite) Man & Woman – Part 1 – Getting There

I’ve just come home from a fantastic trip to Western Australia.  We are members of the Ulysses Club – a social club for motorcycle enthusiasts with junior members starting at age 40. They held their AGM at Albany last week.  Not many attend the actual meeting, but about 3,000 motorcyclists made the trip for the week long rally. (This was a small one!)

Get yourself a cuppa, as I’ve got lots of holiday snaps to share. 

We rode “Snubby” the modern BMW and sidecar over.  (I’m sure Peg won’t mind that I “borrowed” her photo.) We were loaded to the gunnels with all our camping gear.

It took us a week to get there, we had a week there and then I flew home (never enough holidays accrued at work).  Mick is still on his way home.  He should arrive tomorrow afternoon.

I was especially excited about our first day.  I had arranged to meet fellow  bloggers Peg and Dale in Narromine and then Jodie in Cobar.  We had a lovely morning tea in Narromine, it is amazing how much you can talk to people you have never met before and just hit it off.  All because of blogging.

Peg, me & Dale.

Jodie and Connie popped into the Cobar caravan park to visit. We were spoilt as Jodie brought some bickies, cheese and best of all some of her home made zucchini pickle.  Yummo!  We sat and chatted for about 2 hours and the time just flew.  Connie had a great time playing on the bike.  We forgot to take a photo which was a pity.

It was a pretty special day.  I would have liked to try  and meet some more bloggers, but time just wouldn’t allow.

The scenery travelling across this big wide land of ours is stunning.  People say it is boring, but it changes all the time.  Yes, it is a long way, but never boring.

It was so lush and green in western New South Wales, but was extremely dry from then on.  I never tired of watching the changing sky and took a photo each morning.  They are all so different. We were lucky to have relatively cool weather on the way over, although there was a cross wind most of the way.

The historic buildings in Wilcannia, although mainly derelict, must have been stunning in their day.

You have to take these border photos, just as proof.

We travelled by the Eyre Peninsula and near a little town call Elliston we noticed a sign “Scenic Clifftop Drive”.  It was a 5km gravel loop and had lovely views with sculpture all along the way.  This one entitled “Headlands” was our favourite.

We started to see other bikes from Cobar and after that every time we stopped at a Roadhouse there would be a big group of bikes and we would have to wait our turn in line.  It was all very social.  Apparently this had already been going on for a week before we left home.

At one stage the road goes right next to the Great Australian Bite and the cliffs are stunning.  The water was a gorgeous colour. Aren’t I just the glamour puss in my bike gear (not)!

Another of those must have touristy shots.  We took a similar one when we rode a different bike over in the late 90s.

Of course, we had to visit the old Telegraph Station at Eucla.

The true Nullarbor Plains. Not a tree in sight.

Cocklebiddy Roadhouse at dawn – just before we made a start for the day.  The roadhouses were all excellent, offering camping, accommodation and food.  They did well to cope with the volume of bikes travelling across.

At the end of this straight  there is an S-bend in the road.  For the life of us we couldn’t work out why.  We reckon the grader driver must have fallen asleep or was bored.

We saw lots of 3-trailer road trains and a couple with 4 trailers.  There was a sign near Kalgoorlie advising that the maximum length was 53.5 metres!  Imagine that, longer than an Olympic pool!

The first traffic light in over 2,000 kms and we had to get it!  Norseman, the first “Town” you reach in WA.

Next I’ll show us playing the tourist in WA before getting to Albany.

Bits and Pieces

On Saturday Christine Book did a workshop at  The Home Patch in town.  What a fun day.  Christine is a scream.  She warned that we probably wouldn’t achieve a great deal of stitching….and she was right.  The theme for the day was “Tea Party”.  When we arrived these were on the table.  Isn’t that the cutest cupcake ever, complete with cupcake button! It holds 8 fat sixteenths of scrummy fabric.

There were lots of designs to choose from.  I have started a table runner and will use the fabrics in my cupcake.  It should be really pretty.

I’ve also been using some more of my op shop linen skirt and fat quarters. (They nearly match my cupcake!)  This is the fabric I had left to work with. I was determined to use the zip for something.

This is the result.  It is just big enough for a credit card or Drivers Licence. I looked at a few tutorials and then just played.  I’m not real happy with the top corners, but they all seem to have the same finish if the purse is lined.

Being an ex bankie, I’m a bit anal about putting coins next to credit cards, so I then fiddled and made two sections inside.  None of the tutorials had this feature, so I was happy with how it turned out and how easy it was in the end.

There is still a tiny bit left and the button, although there is none of the bright pink left now.

Then…… after I’d finished, I found that I still have the two inset back pockets…. and….. I’ve thought of a way to use them….. but that will have to wait until later.

My other little bit of sewing has been the little corner blocks of Verandah Views. 

This now completes the embroidery for the top.  I’ll just plod with embroidering the lovely, detailed label during my afternoons at the craft group.

Now I’ll have to play in my stash to find some fabrics to piece the top.  This is one of those projects that I’m enjoying working on, with no pressure and not getting bored with.

I really wanted to have a go at Jenny’s binding scraps challenge for February, but have just run out of time, so we’ll have to see what she has in store for us in March.

Also, on the weekend I hope to meet a couple of fellow bloggers, which will be really exciting.  I’ll share more later.

Flea Market Finds

We’ve had the most glorious wet week.  In town they have had quite a bit more rain than us, but we are still really happy with what we have received.

This is what the driveway has been like for the last few days.

As a consequence, we abandoned the idea of having a stall at the Newbridge Swap Meet today. Unfortunately, they were as good as washed out because it rained nearly all last night.

We had a bit of a sleep in this morning, and when it stopped raining decided to go out for the drive anyway.  At least that way they would get some money on the gate and sell an egg and bacon roll and coffee.  There were only a handful of stalls, but still a few people having a wander around.  There was a good representation from our Historic Car Club which was good to see.  Most of us seemed to bring something home. It remained dry for the time we were there.

Mick found two intriguing things and when he showed me he announced “Blogerize That”!  Therefore, here are Mick’s purchases.

Do you have any idea what they are?  I’ll explain shortly.

I made two little purchases as well.

There was just this one pattern.  “Misses Centennial Costume with Pantalets”.  It is quite old as the price is 9/6.  It says it is a size Medium 14-16.  A size 16 has a 28 inch waist.  I’m a size 12 and my waist is definitely larger than that!  Therefore, I don’t think I’ll be making it for me.

This little 54 piece jigsaw is of a Cezanne painting from the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.  It is a nice little reminder of the paintings we saw in Canberra, all from the Musee d’Orsay including several Cezanne's.  We had 50c worth of fun putting it together.

Back to Mick’s purchases.  We knew what the first one was as Mick bought another one out there a couple of years ago.  It is a big safety pin that was used many years ago to temporarily close wheat bags before they were sewn up by hand.  Mick’s Dad can remember his father using them.  We reckon that would be a good mystery object on “The Collectors” TV show. 

The other is this:

A little folding music stand.  But I will use in in the kitchen.

Here it is holding my old cook book that I’ve had since primary school.  I think it will be a great recipe book holder, even if it looks well worn.

This afternoon, as it has been bleak, I got out my gem irons again and made some gem scones.

The recipe comes from the good old Commonsense Cookery book that we used in home science at school.  Mine is starting to fall apart, but it is still the best reference for the basics and those old fashioned recipes.  Mick and I enjoyed them at the kitchen table with a nice cuppa while listening to the rain.  You can’t get much better than that.  

Pop over to here to see what other lovelies people have found this week in Flea Market Finds.

Swap Meet Over – We Were Blessed

The Swap Meet is over for another year.  This was the weather yesterday morning.

We had good rain on Friday night, but it stopped yesterday.  Well, it did here……on the Blue Mountains and the coast it was bucketing down.  Poor Mick had over 100 phone calls yesterday wanting to know what the weather was doing and if the Swap Meet was still on.  We had no rain at all yesterday.  The number of sellers setting up yesterday were down a bit, but there was still a great roll up.

We had some more light rain last night, but it stopped just before 5am, which was good, as that is when we start manning the gate.  The rain held off, so lots more sellers arrived and the people looking and buying just kept on coming.  Last year was so very hot, that many stayed away or left quite early.  This year the food van ran out of food, I had to do a mercy trip for the coffee van, as he had run out of milk (most important that the coffee van was up and running)and lots of really good junk was bought and sold.

We were so lucky with the weather.  It was cool, but dry.  Heaps of locals came down for a look.  We would have had about 3,000 people through the gates, which was excellent as so many wouldn’t have come from Sydney due to the weather. 

After doing our stint on the gate Mick and I got to have a good look around. We didn’t bring very much home at all.  We could have bought a Porche of $1000??

Well, maybe not!!

Things were just starting to slow down a bit at about 12.30 when the heavens opened!  Unfortunately there was no warning before it started, so some stalls got a bit wet.  Therefore, instead of a gentle winding up, everything came to a very quick end.

All I bought was an interesting cast iron cooking thingy.  The gem scone iron on the right is my old faithful that I’ve had for many years.  It makes the best gem scones.  Today I bought the smaller one.  I suppose it is just for smaller gem scones?  Does anyone know what else it would be for? It is a “Simpson” brand.  I’ll have to do a Google search and see what I come up with.

Have you ever made gem scones?  They are easy to make and yummy on a cold day.

I then found another piece of green depression glass that is a bit unusual.  I have several pieces with the scalloped pattern, but the oblong vase is one I haven’t seen before.

This is my little scalloped collection. The other bits and pieces in the photo are also rather special to me.  The radio was my grandparents’.  It was purchased in 1942 in anticipation of the power being connected.  Unfortunately it doesn’t work at the moment, but it looks good.

 

The apples sign is from my grandparents’ and uncle’s orchard.  I remember when I was little they made up the timber cases, added this label to the case of apples and then sent them to Sydney on the train.  That was in the late 60’s.  If you go  back a bit further (the late 20’s) a case of my Grandfather’s apples won at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and were then shipped to England and presented to the King.  As an Englishman who had immigrated to Australia it was a very proud moment for him.

The kero lamp at the front was found at Vinnies many years ago.  It is made from a Bushells coffee jar.  These two lamps are regularly used, as being out of town our power supply is somewhat vulnerable in stormy weather.  When Mick recently went to refill the coffee jar lamp, it cracked.  What could have been a disaster was saved as I was sure Mum had one of those jars at home.  After a pleading phone call, she very kindly sacrificed her “String Jar” to me.  I have kept the jar lid as well and it is in the “Kitchenalia” collection.  We were so relieved to have our lamp back, as it works really well.

Mick bought a few bike magazines and came home with another motorcycle! A mate who has a stall gave him a little plastic black BMW model.  He was chuffed.

I think this year would be the least that we’ve ever bought at the Swap Meet.  We usually bring home lots, but we have nearly got to saturation point.  There was very little sewing and craft stuff.  I did not see one doiley, which is really unusual.  There were a few nice toy sewing machines, one in particular was immaculate in its box, but I already have one the same, albeit without the box, so left it for someone else.  There was lots of green glass, but not much that interested me.

So, although not a lot of treasure came home, the weekend was really successful.  Now we don’t have to think about it for a few months, then the planning starts all over again.

Next Sunday is the Newbridge Swap Meet, about half an hour from home.  It is quite small and friendly.  We might try to organise ourselves to have a stall out there and get rid of a bit of excess “stuff”.

Tea Cosy Treasure

I have this suitcase full of old doileys and hand towels that I have collected over the years.  Some get used, but most just sit there.  I can’t pass the lovely workmanship (or should that be workwomanship?) that has gone into them, only to be discarded.  Often I tell myself I’ll do something with some of them, particularly those that are damaged or stained, but until now I never have.

Remember I showed you my recent purchases here.  Well, tonight I found some cream homespun and sewed this shape.

Then I found some stuffing and made this.

For this finished product.  A lovely squishy little cushion for our lounge chair.  The colours are perfect.

The tea cosy would have just languished in the suitcase, never to be seen again.  I marvel at tea cosies that aren’t padded.  What was the point of them? This one has seen much use and the embroidery and crochet edge is quite worn on the reverse side.  It was so very quick and easy to make.  The crochet along the bottom edge had a row of eyelets which were perfect for sewing it together inconspicuously.

A finish for the month and I also used what I had.  Bonus.

By the way, I can’t wait till Sunday.  The Historic Car Club is hosting the Bathurst Swap Meet.  It is one of the biggest and best Swap Meets in the state (not that we are biased) so there is a huge variety of bric-a-brac and car and bike related stuff.

We will be down there all weekend setting up and doing our bit to help.  That will also include having a good look at all the stalls. We had planned on having a stall ourselves to declutter a bit, but that hasn’t eventuated, so we will probably just bring more stuff home.

Another Block Finished and Flea Market Finds

At our craft group yesterday I finished Block 8 of Verandah Views and have nearly finished the cornerstone blocks as well.  That means I will have to start looking out fabrics to piece it all together.  I still have the label to embroider, but I can continue with that each fortnight when we sit and stitch.

I had to chuckle when I showed this block to Mick.  He read it out and then added “and watch out for snakes”!  He knows me too well.  I’ve always got my eyes peeled, and fortunately haven’t seen any more lately.

I’ve noticed a few blogs with titles “Flea Market Finds” today and thought I might join in.

These few linens are recent purchases for next to nothing.  The house is actually a tea cosy, although it has not padding.  I have plans for this one.

I also have plans for this lovely embroidered doiley.

This peg apron is quite stained and worn, so is just for posterity.  I seem to have quite a few  lots that I have bought “just because”. I like to think of all the use it must have had – probably for wooden dolly pegs on an old “clothes props” clothes line.

The last two came from the Australia Day Red Cross Stall.

Tea Towel Shoulder Bag

Ta Da!  I’ve finished another Tea Towel Challenge project. 

When I visited Jenny’s blog yesterday and saw the lovely diary cover she had made (there is even a tutorial) I decided to finally use my tea towel with the same design on it.

The tea towel was a freebie with Country Style a few months ago.  It was so pretty that I planned straight away to make a bag out of it.  I was just going to make a bag similar to the green supermarket variety, using some other other bits a bobs I had…..but….I dithered around……. I didn’t have quite enough of one fabric, and it all seemed to be just too hard, so I put it away.

As a result of Jenny’s challenge I brought it all out again, but got no further, so ended up making the oven mitt instead.

When I saw how lovely Jenny’s project made up I thought some more and ended up using Jodie’s tutorial for a “One Hour Bag” which fitted onto the tea towel perfectly. 

I tweaked the pattern a bit to add a button and loop and made the strap much longer.  Believe me, being such a ditherer, it took well over one hour to make, but I did make it from start to finish last night……..only to decide this morning that I didn’t like the way the strap had turned out (there wasn’t enough left of the tea towel, so I had originally used the brown floral lining fabric, but the contrast was just too great), so I went and found another fabric from the stash and am much happier with the result. 

The vintage buttons are from the jars that live on Grandma’s treadle machine in our lounge room. 

Once again, I have used what I have, even down to a long thin strip of batting for the strap and is another finish for the OPAM Challenge.

I’m off to my craft group this afternoon, so hopefully I will get some more stitching done then.

Killing Four Birds With One Stone (and Other Goings on)

We’ve been rather busy in the last week.  On the weekend us and friends Norm and Cath headed off to Canberra to visit the National Gallery of Australia for the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition.  They had visited the studios of Monet, Van Gogh and Cezanne last year on their travels, so were eager to visit this rare opportunity to see their works in Australia. You couldn’t take photos, but have a look at the link, many of the paintings are shown.

After the Art Gallery we ventured to Questacon so the boys could play.  (It doesn’t matter that the “boys” were in their 50s, they still had a lot of fun.) I also enjoyed it, especially the “Perception Deception” display.  Quite a bit you could relate to visual effects on some quilts.

Of course, there was also lots of delicious food – Saturday night Italian al fresco in the cool of the evening (after a very hot day).  We had a bit of a wander around and these trees were just stunning.

Sunday saw us visit the Old Bus Depot Markets, but I came away empty handed, which is highly unusual for me and then had a very leisurely drive home.

Yesterday was Australia Day and the Historic Car Club always attends the event hosted at one of the local villages.

 

This year it was Rockley.  Each year the local Red Cross  holds a white elephant stall and it is always GOOOD! (It is up there on a par with the Church Fete I love.) We were travelling by sidecar and have a bit of room to take things home…….. well…….four bags of stuff went home in a friend’s car! Oh, the books – great novels, patchwork books and magazines, old linens, bags full of mohair yarn, all at giveaway prices….. I can’t wait to go and visit our friends and collect the booty.  I’ll have to wait till then to show you.

I was trying to be good this year and not buy so much, I haven’t set foot in an op shop, bought nothing at the markets, but I couldn’t just leave it there, now could I?  I’ll have to read the books and then move them on.

I also saw this on the CWA stand.  All Australian tea towel calendars dating back to the early 70s.  It looked great.

We had a lovely day, picnicking in the shade of big old trees and then called in at a little pub on the way home to cool down.

Now, back to those four dead birds.  I made this yesterday:

Challenges met:

1. Made from a tea towel –  Jenny from Elefantz

2. String Pieced – Stephanie from Loft Creations

3. Used what I have – Fiona from Dragonfly Crafts

4. Another OPAM finish for January.

I’m pretty happy with that. 

I’d been dithering as to what to make with a tea towel, I had an idea, but not really happy with it, look on the net for inspiration, still nothing grabbed me, when I suddenly thought of this.  It is a totally different idea from what I had and uses a different tea towel as well.  It now makes a set with my applique tea towel from Jenny’s pattern and I think will make a nice little gift.

An Offer Too Good To Refuse

When Mick called to say he would be free to have lunch today, who was I to refuse, as this happens very rarely.  We just had a sandwich in Kings Parade in the centre of town.

This is a lovely park, and as locals, I think we take it for granted.

It contains several monuments.  This is the Boer War Memorial, which  celebrated its centenary last week.

It is surrounded by a garden of Peace roses and rosemary.

In the background is the war memorial Carillon, where the Anzac Day Dawn Service is held.

The weather was glorious again today as we sat under the shade of a spreading tree, although I think it is going to get quite hot again in the next few days.

I’m Happy

Mum found some ric rac in her stash that will work for my new tea towel.  I think it does the trick.

It also is Using What I Have (I think using Mum’s stuff counts – she is glad to have it used).  The ric rac is donkeys years old and the only thread I had that matched is also quite old.  I think this could be dated to about 1983, when my first work uniform consisted of a skirt in this colour.  The colour of the thread is probably the more true colour, the other is showing a bit too blue in the photo. I wasn’t that fussed on the uniform colour, as my school uniforms all the way through school were also green.

I forgot to show a photo of the wonderful storm clouds on Saturday afternoon.

We only ended up getting 10mm of good soaking rain.  A lady that lives about 2kms in the direction that this photo is looking towards got 80mm!!  I’m glad we missed that.  What we received was perfect.

Twilight Outing

We took “Olga” the old bike out again yesterday for the Historic Car Club’s Twilight Run.  It is always a really well attended outing due to the lovely evenings we have at this time of year. We went out to Ben Chifley Dam, which is Bathurst’s water supply. We were lucky enough to go right into the bowels of the workings of the dam.

At the end of the tunnel we were in, we were about 100m out under the deepest part of the dam, under the green pontoons.

It was a glorious afternoon, no storms (like the last few days), not too hot and postcard perfect. The dam wall was raised about 15 years ago, and has a good catchment.  As you can see, there is still lots of water. 

Bathurst is very, very lucky with this dam and the foresight back then to raise the wall. It is a very popular boating spot, but most other people rarely go out there.  Up until a couple of years ago, it was a real goat track to get in, but now the area is so much nicer.

On Saturday, our little craft group had our first get together for the year.  I finished my kingfisher block of Verandah Views on Friday, so started the next one.  It should be finished fairly soon.

On Thursday I also did this quick and easy applique on a tea towel.  It is Jenny’s latest free design, and very cute. 

I tried to get some ric rac on Friday, but couldn’t find any cotton in a suitable colour, only 100% nylon – not very suitable for a tea towel.  I’ll have a bit more of a scout around through the week and see what I can come up with.

I’m also going to take up Jenny’s January challenge to make something out of a tea towel.  I’d better get a wriggle on with that one.

Also, I’ve signed up for the No Strings Attached Challenge set up by Stephanie and Fiona’s Use What You Have Challenge.  That shouldn’t be too hard, as I have SOOO MUCH STUFF!  The tea towel I used for the applique has been waiting to have something done with it for a few years and the fabric is from the stash.  The pink floral has come from Mum at some stage and has obviously been used for dressmaking.  I’m guessing it is from the 70s.

I also got out Mum’s quilt on the weekend and cut the next couple of borders.  I’ll stitch them on in the next day or so.

Oh No! Not Already!

There were Easter eggs at the supermarket checkout yesterday!

Can you believe that?