One Project a Month February

I seem to have been missing in action lately and haven’t even posted my finish for the month of February.

As per my usual form, this was completed just in the nick of time – in fact at 10.50pm on the 28th.  There was no missing out or I would have been ejected from Chooky’s Stitch-a-long, and we can’t have that.

February’s project was the “True Friends Tote Bag” from Natalie Bird’s “The Red Book”, although mine is blue.  I was able to use my stash entirely for this one, which was good.

Anyway, here it is.

I’ve had some of these fabrics for quite a while.  The bottom fabric was part of a kit I bought from Anni when she first open “The Home Patch”  in a tiny little shop down in Keppel Street.  That was about nine years ago.  The top fabric is from the backing scraps for my uncle’ 80th birthday quilt. It was one of my very first blog posts here  in 2008.

I’m rather pleased with how it turned out.  It has been great seeing all the different interpretations of the design, some very close to the original and others quite varied.

Now I have to start this month’s project, which should be much quicker, as it is a cute pincushion from Anni’s “Some Kind of Wonderful” book.

Chest of Drawers Makeover

To recap, just as we were about to leave the Newbridge Swap Meet last weekend, a car came in to set up a stall and I noticed a chest of drawers on the roof rack.

I’ve been looking for a chest of drawers to hold fat quarters, but with most the drawers are too shallow. When they unpacked, this one looked fairly good. It is just a cheapy pine job, but it was nice and clean and not knocked about. Best of all it was for sale at the princely sum of $10.00.

I was quite excited. Mick not so much. He wanted to leave it there, but I won out. It fit in the back of the car and on the way home I requested we go past the hardware shop, which was a bit out of the way, to have the reply, “Are you going to do anything with it today?” Of course I answered that I was. Mick knows me too well. I have a habit of getting things to do and either not finishing them, or more often than not, not even starting.

We duly stopped at the hardware shop, so I had to make a quick decision as to what I wanted to do with the chest of drawers. I knew I wanted to paint them, but really wanted to have a bit of a think about it. Oh well, the simplest thing would be to paint them in Dulux Clotted Cream, the same colour as all of our architraves. I would change the handles and maybe do a bit of stencilling.

I’ve never painted furniture before. Mick and I have stripped paint off many pieces in the past. I don’t think I could paint a good piece of timber furniture, so this chest ticked all the boxes.

As the weather was quite hot, I was able to get the undercoat and two top coats done on the Sunday afternoon. That’s where it was at until today.

During the week I had found some nice handles and after a hunt around, found a suitable stencil in Spotlight. Not quite what I was after, but it would do. What colour to do the stencil in was the next question. In the end I found a folk art paint called “Peynes Grey”, which is like a charcoal.

This afternoon I bravely did the stencilling. I haven’t done any since the mid 90s. It isn’t perfect, but it will do. Mick had to give me a hand with the handles, as the screws weren’t much good.

The best thing is that it is finished.

I’m quite pleased with the result. Well no, that’s an understatement, I’m actually thrilled to pieces with how it turned out. I just can’t wait to use it.

Now the next phase of the project has to commence. I have to make room for it in the house. That will take much more work. Watch this space.

The Month So Far

Just when you think things will calm down after the silly season, they actually get busier for us.

To start with, on the first weekend of February our Historic Car Club hosted the Bathurst Swap Meet. We had the best weekend.  After all the hot weather and then storms, the weather on the day was about perfect – sunny and 25 degrees C.  As a result, it was an incredibly successful day with everyone going away happy.  We had a stall as well as being involved in the organising, so were a tad busy.  As a consequence I forgot to take photos, except for our lovely old Cyclops Clipper pedal car that we parted with.  We’ve had it for several years.  It used to live on top of a bookcase, but we replaced that with a different display cupboard and it no longer fit.  It was sad to see it go.

Last weekend saw us at another Swap Meet.  This time at the little village of Newbridge.  We had planned to have a stall there too, but we did so well at Bathurst that we didn’t have a lot to sell, so just went for a visit.  Once again the weather was good, so there was a good turn out of both sellers and lookers.

Don’t you love this old sewing machine.  It would make quite a statement.

This peg bag also caught my eye.  I was strong and left it there.

We bought a couple of little things, but just as we were about to leave a car came in to set up a stall and I noticed a chest of drawers on the roof rack.  I’ll tell you more about that soon.

This weekend was also busy.  It was the Orange Country Classic Bike Rally.  A group of us from Bathurst went up after work on Friday and camped for two nights.  We had a nice little area in front of the trees.

We took “Olga” the old girl up for the run.  The plan was that Mick and I would have a threesome with our friend Cath on the run, as she has a dicky knee.  Cath would be in the sidecar and I would ride pillion behind Mick.  We had hardly gone any distance and I announced that I wouldn’t be staying on the back.  It was just horrible.  It felt like the bike was going to roll over at every corner. 

At the first marshalling site I got off and decided to travel in the back up vehicle.  However, the marshal offered to take me on the back of his bike, so I ended up travelling in style on the back of this rather tasty Harley.  Very plush, but I’m still very happy with the bikes that we have.

It was also good, as we marshalled at a couple of corners and I was able to see all the bikes go past.

Our mate Martin went well on his newly finished Honda CB350.  He was thrilled when he won a trophy.

Mick and Cath had fun on Olga.

It was a fabulous weekend.  We all had a great time.

Cath and I had travelled up in my car, so we had some time shopping in Orange today.  Even though Orange is just up the road, it is years since I’ve had a look around the shops there.  A great way to finish off the weekend.

Next, onto the stitching front.  I have not made one single stitch this month!!! I think I will have to do some embroidery in my lunch breaks this week or I will be making a very quick exit from the Stitch-A-Long.

January’s Finishes

This year I have once again joined Peg and Kris in One Project A Month.  It is the best thing to keep me stitching.

My January finishes have been my projects for Chooky’s Stitch-a-Long.

I shared my first thread catcher previously, but had to make a second.  The light weight pelon is definitely better for the size shown on the pattern.  When I saw these fabrics I thought they would work well together.  I’m really happy with how it turned out.

I was happy that the shoe bag was on the project list.  I made two of these as Christmas gifts in 2011 and shared here and here.  At the time I stated that I should also make one for me, but it hadn’t happened.  Now I have one of my own.  On all of them I cheated by just putting a single fabric around the top, instead of the patchwork strip.

So, here is my little collection. 

I’ve made a small start on February’s project.  As you can see, I’ve decided to use blue for the colour.  It will be fun making the bag from fabrics in my stash.

A Nice Little Interlude

For one reason and another we didn’t get around to having lunch today, so mid afternoon we popped down to our lovely little local “O’Connell Avenue Cafe” for a late lunch come afternoon tea.  It is a tiny little cafe that is only open from Friday to Sunday.  I have shared it with you before here and here.

After a tasty frittata we treated ourselves to French Bread Pudding with White Chocolate and Raspberries.  Scrumdidiliumptions!  The coffee is great too, as it is roasted just next door.

To top it all off, on a Sunday afternoon there is live music.  We settled in for a while.

Rather a lovely way to spend some time.  We should try to do it more often.

Australia Day

We always like to venture out to a community event on Australia Day.  This year the Historic Car Club travelled to the old gold mining village of Carcoar, just west of Blayney, for their Street Fair. We went there last year too.

We took Olga the old girl for a day out.  She hasn’t left the shed for a while, so it was nice to use her.  This decision was made despite the fact that storms were forecast for the afternoon.  We figured that it wouldn’t be cold rain and that we would dry off once it stopped raining.

We were the first of our club to arrive at Carcoar (no, we weren’t fast, we just left early), so found a nice shady spot by the river and set up our flag.

There were lots of interesting stalls, many looking rather patriotic.

We were entertained by some local singers.  Not bad either.  

The stage coach did a roaring trade taking people for a ride.

The horses appreciated a bit of a cool down.

There was lots of fun, with thong throwing, gumboot throwing and Cooee calling.

Carcoar is one of those lovely historic places to visit, but it varies as to whether there is much there in the way of shops. 

To our delight there were a couple of newbies which were rather tasty.  One had lots of vintage and retro items, including some more contemporary uses of old pieces.  Just a pity that I don’t need anything.

As the day progressed we noticed that everyone seemed to be more relaxed.  They’d looked at all the stalls and were just happy to sit around and enjoy picnic lunches and many took advantage of the pretty little river running through the park.

After lunch we decided to head towards home, via another little village, Newbridge.

As we left Carcoar we noticed some very ominous grey clouds to the west and were sure we’d get rained on.  We travelled past the picturesque Carcoar Dam and were amazed at the number of people camped there and the number of boats on the water, although there are none in this photo.  That nasty grey cloud was still there in the background.

We travelled past the wind farm.

More storm clouds.  Bound to get wet before getting home.

We made it to Newbridge without being rained on and stopped off at the local pub, where there were a few Australia Day activities taking place.

We didn’t stay too long, before heading for home.  No we didn’t get rained on.  When we looked at the radar the line of storms were travelling in a south easterly directions, but just to the west of us.  We were lucky enough to miss all the storms, but receive 38mm of soaking rain in the early hours of the morning.  Blessed.  It was the perfect way to finish off a great day.

Random

I’ve been a rather slack blogger for the last month or so.  Yes, I’ve made a few posts, but I haven’t been commenting and worst of all, I haven’t been replying to comments.  I apologise, and should be able to get into the swing of things again, now that life seems to have settled back to a bit of normality after lots going on in the background over the last couple of weeks.

The other night we went out onto the verandah to be greeted by this little gathering.  They just sat and watched Mick while I went and got the camera to take their photo.  Eventually they casually hopped off  and with a big jump scaled the fence.

When I went around to the other side of the house there were two more near the vege garden, one with a small joey in it's pouch.

You can tell that we don’t have a dog any more.

A couple of weeks ago one of our poor, neglected cacti put out a gorgeous flower.

Just for one day…….and we were here to see it.

I’ve finished my January projects for the Stitch-a-Long and will share pics soon.

The weather is cool and overcast here this morning, but I think it will heat up again this afternoon, the same as yesterday.  We did have a short reprieve over the weekend, but only had a tiny sprinkle of rain.  Not enough to measure.

I suppose it won’t be long until I’m whinging about the cold.  I just like the in between weather.  Not fussy am I?

Last Weekend – A Road Trip – Part 2

When we woke up on Saturday morning we were surprised and delighted to see that the weather was overcast and quite  cool.  It was going to be a much more pleasant day for getting out and about.

We started off with a delicious breakfast at the little “Whitty Cafe”.  You will start to think that this trip is all about eating.

From here on we only had a very vague plan of where we were heading.  Looking at the map, there was an interesting road leading from Whitfield to Lake Buffalo, however it had about 30kms of dirt.  That doesn’t bother us, so off we went.  It was a a lovely drive and we didn’t see another car while on the unsealed section.  It was nice to roll the windows down, as the bush smelt so fresh.  It is not often that you can really smell the gum trees.

With all the bushfires at the time and the bad weather conditions we cringed when we saw where some people have built their homes.  We’d be a nervous wreck.

Eventually, we were on sealed roads again and the countryside opened up a little.

Mount Buffalo made a stunning backdrop as we drove along.

We were really glad we came this was at the scenery was stunning.

Finally, we reached the Lake Buffalo dam wall.

 

From here we met a string of cars towing boats, all headed to the Lake.  There was lovely farmland and vineyards.

There was also the occasional oast house from when the area mainly grew hops.

Before long we were in Myrtleford,  where we had a walk up and down the street.  I found a little green glass shot glass in an op shop. So much more pleasant walking around in the cooler weather.

We have explored the area from here on, around the old goldmining towns, quite a few times, as we used to attend the “Butterball Classic Bike Rally” in the 1990s.  The rally took us on some great little roads and to so many interesting attractions.  We really enjoyed revisiting the area after all this time.

From Myrtleford it was on to Beechworth for lunch and a wander. Of course we had to have a pie and bee sting from the Beechworth Bakery.  We worked it out that it is just over 20 years ago that some friends from the Butterball Rally introduced us to the bakery and bee stings.  This was before there were branches of the bakery all over the place.

While we were having lunch it even started to rain a little bit.  No one was rushing for umbrellas.  Everyone was enjoying it.

After lunch we meandered to Chiltern, another town with lots of character…and lots of characters as well.

It was fun looking in all the little antique shops.  We didn’t buy anything.

Next stop was Rutherglen.  By now many shops had closed, but we did stumble upon one rather tasty antique shop.  There was lots of green glass, but I was strong.  I did however, buy 3 slate pencils.  Don’t ask me why, they were just something that you don’t normally see.  Mick found a piece of Shelley china that my Mum would love, but it was way, way out of our price bracket and had a bit of damage, so it stayed where it was.

By now the afternoon was getting on and we were ready to call it a day, so decided to stay at Corowa, on the New South Wales side of the Murray.  We don’t think we have been there before, or if we have, we can’t remember it.  The town is quite a lot bigger than we expected.  We were warned that there was a rowing regatta on and that accommodation may be a bit thin on the ground.  However, there are lots of motels and we had no trouble getting a room.

We wandered down the street to get dinner.  I loved the old “Rex” cinema sign.  No, the building is no longer used as a cinema.

We had not idea where to eat, but when we saw the wonderful Art Deco “Hotel Australia” we decided to try there.  Apparently the pub was built in 1893 and was remodelled in the 1930’s in the Art Deco style.

Beautiful tiles.

Lots of leadlight windows, which from the inside were green and yellow.  It just doesn’t show in this photo.

And yes, the meal was good.  They do a great steak.

On Sunday we really just had to drive home by the most direct route, being the Olympic Way.  We decided not to have a Maccas breakfast in Corowa, but to get something along the way…………….Two and a half hours later we drove into Wagga and had some breakfast.  There was no where anywhere inn between where you could even get a coffee.  Yes, there were places, but they were all shut on a Sunday morning.

Not to worry, we had a lovely breakfast when we got it.  Worth the wait.

We arrived home late on Sunday afternoon, having had a rather pleasant few days away.  Sometimes a short break is as good as a longer holiday.

We travelled nearly 1,800 kms. 

The canopy on the ute is dust proof.

We only saw a couple of places where there had been bushfires.  Near Tarcutta on the Hume you could see where there’d been a fire earlier in the week and at Woodstock, near Cowra they were mopping up after a fire on Saturday night.

After being cool down south, it was stinking hot on Sunday afternoon at home.

We ate well.

We will have to plan another getaway before too long.