A day out with Karen M.

 Yesterday I met Karen M., one of the Chookshed Stitchers, at Circular Quay. Although she lives in Sydney we had only met on Zoom before, never in person.

After morning tea at City Extra we walked up over the hill through The Rocks to the Finger Wharves.

 

There are some lovely views with old and new Sydney juxtaposed.

Then lunch at The Gateway then headed for the Royal Botanic Gardens for a quick visit to Surrey's tree. It really seems to be thriving.

Thank Karen for a lovely day and good company. By the time I got home I had done 17600 steps!

May Gathering

 Last Saturday our small band of hard working ladies all cursed me. I had brought home lots of scrap fabric from Baradine donated by the Scrub Stitchers. So I set the task for the day was to cut the fabric pieces into standard sized squares or strips for use in later projects.

We had our usual Show and Tell over Zoom with Jo and Janice and here are a few below. I forgot to photograph Elaine's quilt.

Stephanie's inspiring new blocks

Karen's version of Leaders and Enders

Three finished quilt tops and quilts and more strips to put together

The same block that Stephanie is making but this one is made from Surrey's shirts.

We welcome our possible new members Sue (Victoria), Tina (Campbelltown) and Deana (Utah).

Scrub Stitchin' 2026 - Part 4 - Home again

 We left Baradine and headed off to Coonabarrabran after breakfast then to Coolah where we enjoyed lunch at the Bakery. Because it was Sunday the op shop was not open for Stephanie.

On then to a quick pit stop at Denman. We'd like to spend a night or two there next year so might plan that in. I had the idea to stay the night at Morpeth so we eventually found it but unfortunately there was no accommodation available. However, talk about Morpeth led Stephanie and I into chat about family history and it turns out that we may be related so we both have to investigate our family trees to see where that rabbit hole takes us.

We eventually found a motel on the New England Highway at East Maitland. It was really lucky that Stephanie had filled one of her slice containers with assorted left over slices before we left camp and I had only eaten half my lunch because there was nowhere nearby for dinner. So we enjoyed half a salad sandwich and cake for dinner.

In the morning the adjacent coffee shop was opened so we both had eggs on avo toast for breakfast with our coffee.

Then it was time to wind our way back to the expressway and follow our noses via the M1, M2, M7 and M5 to drop off Stephanie just after 11am. By the time we'd had morning tea and unloaded her things I ended up arriving home at about noon.

Alec was there to greet me as he moved into mine again the day before we left a week before. He even cooked a lovely steak and vegetables for us for dinner. It was so lovely to arrive home to company again and to be able to travel knowing that things were being looked after while I was away.

Stephanie and I had both had a great trip and look forward to repeating it again next year with a few different stops along the way. Perhaps I'll even have my own car? It is due back to me tomorrow.

Scrub Stitchin' 2026 - Part 3 - Party time

 Each year we have a final dinner with a dress-up theme. This year it was our favourite book character.

We had lots of fun with some people going all out with the dressing up and others just getting by.

Stephanie the gumnut baby

Me as grandma Arrietty with Brenda as a find-a-word book vest

Ann-Marie - from Downton Abbey

Peta - Paddington Bear

Di (foreground). Mary - as a Diana Gabaldon character. She even made her own kilt.

Jenny - Ursula from The Little Mermaid 
Harriett - as a witch from Harry Potter?

Jules - Vera

Here we have Harriett, Lea, and Sue (as Noddy) having a laugh

 

Evelyn, Deana, Lori, Phyllis - as Wally (or in Utah known as Waldo)

I went as Arrietty from The Borrowers. Only the two younger ones knew anything about her. If you'd like to find out more search for Ghibli Studio animations or Wikipedia or read The Borrowers.

Lots of laughs and much noise and great food. What fun!

Scrub Stitchin' 2026 - Part 2

 People started to arrive on Wednesday and find their allocated space. Lots of setting up of machines and projects and also chatting to people we'd not seen in person for a long time.

There was always time for a cuppa with one of the many cakes and slices that came with participants and Chooky's Mum.

Brenda is a local and comes each year. She made some yummy coconut ice for all our goodie bags.

There was plenty of time for work but also for chatter over the 5 days.

And chances to solve problems and swap wise words and techniques. Sandy had forgotten her machine extension table so we were able to construct one for her from a tissue box that was the perfect size.

We convinced Evelyn (Utah) to try Vegemite at nibbles time but I don't think she was impressed.

Walks at any time gave us an opportunity to stretch our eyes and look for kangaroos or other wildlife.

 

We had a show and tell session and Stephanie was able to show her mountains.

When we arrived we each had a goodies bag with a mug included. This is my mug with its string attached so it did not get lost with all the others.

Although this is a 'cheater' fabric it is a great idea for a border on a future quilt.

Some of the group were interested in joining the Rainbow Connection Quilters and here we have Sue...

... and Tina.

Mary was one of my neighbours and completed this jelly roll quilt top over the week.

Tina's daughter Harriett was my other neighbour and completed a baby quilt in the time as well as some other piecing.

Jo completed the quilt-along challenge and it looks so much like Surrey's wardrobe of shirts that I think I might be inspired to make one.

While away I did get an email from NRMA to say they had extended my car hire until my return so I was pleased not to be harbouring a 'stolen' hire car any more.

Scrub Stitchin' 2026 - Part 1

 Just over a week ago Stephanie and I left for our trek to Baradine near the Warrumbungles for 5 days of sewing with friends. It was great to catch up with lots of people who live at distance from Sydney.

We stayed the first night with Kerrie in Springwood and had a lovely meal with friends at the Golf Club.

Of course whenever we needed a break the venue was governed by the op shops so Stephanie now has a lot more glasswear for her Christmas trees. She was also able to buy a lovely red woolen coat and possum and wool beanie to wear on our star gazing night. 

The drive was uneventful with stops at Lawson for breakfast , Yetholme for fuel then Orange for lunch. I went to an optometrist in Orange yesterday for some fit over sunglasses and while there I asked her to clean my glasses. Last night when I took them off I noticed she had also tightened the screws so they are now not so loose.

We had afternoon tea in our motel room at Dubbo before a walk down to the river and through a few backstreets.

Then we went to the restaurant next door was a great place for dinner. The Haldi Indian Restaurant serves great food!

For breakfast we went to Patrick's Cafe and met a friend of Stephanie's. We both ordered a half serve French Toast which was huge. I'm glad we did not order a full serve.

We then drove to Coonamble where we strolled for a bit then had lunch at Hazel's Cafe.

When we arrived at Baradine we were assigned to our cabin and settled in.

Then off to dinner at the Bowls Club. We won't be having anything there that might be deep fried again but did find out that the hamburgers were great. I chose lamb cutlets.

After dinner we car pooled to visit the Milroy observatory. The most amazing thing for me was the fact that at the particular time we were there on such a clear night we were able to see both Orion (The Saucepan) and Scorpio in the same hemisphere. We also saw The Emu quite clearly.

Back to bed for a late night and a sound sleep.

I have still not heard if I can keep the hire car for the whole time so I am now just sitting with a 'stolen' hire car in Baradine.

Rainbow Quilts by the Rainbow Connection Quilters

 Wow! What  a busy day we've had today. As people arrived they were instructed to take from the Gram inheritance table. I suppose about half the bits disappeared.

Then it was time to create borders for our pebbles quilt and it is just on ready for them to be added next time we meet.

We had 3 machines going to make strings of 2.5" squares  to go between calico strips. 

During our zoom session we had Jo, Janice, Linda, Liz and four of us at mine - Stephanie, Elaine, Karen and me. 

We had fun looking at all the rainbow strips members have sent us so far. Keep sending them in. We each received a random bundle of 6 colours to create a rainbow quilt from.

Over lunch we discussed a set of constraints for our finished quilts:

• strip sets will only be given to people who can collect them in some way as postage of such large bundles would be too great
• do a search for 'rainbow strip quilts' to get inspiration for your finished quilt(s)
• use the strips you are given to create one or two quilts of maximum size 56" x 56". They can be smaller in either or both of these dimensions so can be square or rectangular
• strips do not have to be in rainbow order and not all strips have to be used in the same quilt
• you are free to choose your own sashing and borders, batting and backing, and quilting style
• finish your quilt however you wish then photograph it and label it before either returning it to Carlton or donating it to your favourite charity

If you have any questions please put them in the comments section below so everyone can see them.