Last weekend I went with Robyn and 30 other quilters on the
Quilter's Guild of NSW away weekend. It was a coach tour to Tamworth and back visiting all sorts of points of interest to a bunch of quilters. Our driver, Clayton, was fantastic and put up with us all very well, said we were by far the cleanest group he had ever taken anywhere.
Whilst on the coach there were jokes and tidbits from the organisers, games, prizes and chatter between ourselves. We had to take something for show and tell, some fabric pieces to donate along the way for 'I spy' quilts and some magazines to donate along the way as well. Then there were the stops...
Friday 1 April
We met at 7:30am at Sutherland and had another pickup at Strathfield.
Blueberries at Wyong - where I bought the
Australian Patchwork Directory giving lists of all the places of interest to quilters throughout Australia. We had a 10% discount offered so prices were good.
At Singleton we joined the Singleton Quilters for lunch and had a show and tell of quilts from both the Sydney members and the Singleton members. One particular young member did not seem at all interested.
Then on to the
Country Capital Motel at Tamworth. After a fabulous dinner which included the most tender fillet steak I have had in a long time, some of us went to the
West Tamworth Leagues Club for some country music and line dancing. We were really a group of novices who giglled and tripped the whole way through. A courtesy bus was provided to and from the motel by the club.
Saturday 2 April
After breakfast at 7am we headed to the
Country Music Hall of Fame. Quite interesting to see displays of all the people that I own CDs by or have heard in earlier years.
Morning tea was provided by the
Inspirations patchwork and gift shop in Tamworth where lots of ladies bought lots of fabric at 10% discount offered.
Lunch was provided by the Tamworth CWA and hosted by the Tamworth quilting group. The gathering was at the Community Centre where we had lots of chat, eating and another show and tell. Other groups were there and included Grafton, Nundle, Singleton and more.
Then there was a short drive to the
Tamworth Regional Craft Centre, a tin shed at the other end of town. Here was a wonderful display of woodwork and other locally made crafts for sale. I bought a stained glass panel for my laundry window. I have been looking for one for ages so am overjoyed. It even arrived home in one piece.
Then there as a wine and cheese event at the
Tamworth Regional Gallery. There focus is fabrics but there was also a great visiting exhibition of Aboriginal Art. We had a special tour of the storage facility where we were shown some of the quilts not on exhibition.
Back to the motel for dinner and an early night. We all had to remember to turn our clocks back for the end of daylight savings.
Sunday 3 April
An early start this morning so that we could fit in three more visits before heading home.
First stop -
Nundle Woollen Mill where there was a tour of the mill itself and a very expensive shopping spree for beautiful woolen clothes not available in Sydney. I bought two very fine woollen jumpers with V-necks to wear with my shirts and pants.
Then on to
Cottage on the Hill out of Nundle. I only bought one fat quarter there. It is a fantastic shop and the owner also has weekend sleepover classes. We were treated to scones with jam and cream for morning tea.
Muswellbrook was the last stop in our trip. We were again treated to lunch by the Muswellbrook quilting group and CWA and had another show and tell.
In all it was a fantastic trip and I will certainly look forward to the next one.
