Scrub Stitchin' 1

 Stephanie and I have returned from a trip to Baradine (near the Warrumbungles) for a 5-day quilting retreat called Scrub Stitchin' organised by Chookyblue.

I left home on Monday and picked up Stephanie then headed out of Sydney with a very loaded car full of sewing gear ready for a week of quilting.

Our first stop was at Leura after following a large truck most of the way through the mountains.  We had a lovely lunch at the Leura Gourmet Cafe with views over the beginnings of autumn colouring in the trees and a background of blue-green eucalypts. 

On then to Mudgee for afternoon tea and a wander before heading to Jenny and Alex's where we were to stay for 2 nights much to the disgust of their two scardy cats.

Alex left early for his golf day then Jen, Stephanie and I drove up to Flirtation Hill then west to the Mudgee Tip Shop for a browse. Op shops are a favourite haunt for Stephanie and Jenny.

Then a stop at Honey Haven on the way back into Mudgee where we had morning tea at the Art Gallery cafe before browsing through the current underwhelming show on at the moment.

Then there was the walk along the river through the park where Stephanie found an interesting Salvia in one of the gardens opposite and conned the gardener Robert into giving here some cuttings.

Home then for a nanna nap and a show and tell of our various quilts and Jenny's beautiful scrap books and cards. A beautiful lamb stew for dinner with Alex when he arrived home.

We left Mudgee at about 8:30 am so we would have time on our way to look at Gulgong and have coffee and fill with fuel.

Our main aim was Stacks under the IGA. Stacks is full of stuff like a Two Dollar shop but is HUGE. I bought some seeds I was wanting and a duster and a phone charging cable for the car.

We drove up to Gulgong Flirtation Hill and the view was amazing!

On then north west with a brief stop at the Dunedoo Op Shop for Stephanie where she found a skirt for our party later in the week.

We turned off at Mendooran to head to Coonabarrabran for a quick toilet stop thence to Baradine. I called Chooky who was just arriving in to pick up her lunch. So then we were able to meet in person for the first time but also get instructions on how to get to our campsite for the Scrub Stitchin' Quilting Retreat.

After our hamburger from the middle pub we arrived to set up at our allocated table space, have a cuppa and meet others as they arrived. Annette and I both had birthdays to celebrate and did so with chocolate cake. Yum!

I was able to hem the binding on a little wall hanging before we all left for dinner at the corner pub.

April tessellations

 Yesterday saw a very small group working on our latest star quilt. Elaine and Kathryn came for our get together. We almost finished the top but decided not to rush at the end because the tessellations were getting quite taxing on brain power at the end of the session.

When we meet again this should go together quite quickly as we only have 4 bottom stars to insert. It has been an interesting group project and some people have made stars for the first time. We've also learned about placements we could have done better and how to be brave and just cut blocks in half if that achieves a better result.

Stay tuned for the final result.

A great use for two of our quilts

 I contemplated hanging a curtain instead of replacing doors on two cupboards with rather ugly contents. Then I had a brainwave...

Why buy curtain fabric when you have quilts in the house? The bookcase one is a perfect size for the guest room, the doiley one is a little big but is fine in the girls' bedroom.

Jeanette's show and tell

 Jeanette missed our zoom the other day so sent me a photo of her current paper piecing project.

I love the colours although I'm not quite sure why it is a paper pieced project. maybe it is the centres of the stars. Please put a comment below Jeanette. 

Stars galore!

 One of our works in progress asked for any sort of stars with the centre of our focus fabric and the background of calico. What an imaginative bunch of quilters we have...

The arrangement at the moment is just random pinned on our design wall but this is looking like fun! And there are even a few tiny ones to fill in gaps where needed.

Sue is tickled pink (or blue) with her new quilt

 Sue sent through some photos of her quilt on the bed.

She loves it!

The instructions for this one were to zoom in on one of the flowers in the flowery fabric and applique or embroider it onto the blue fabric.

Karen's finished table runner

 After showing us her unfinished table runner last Saturday, Karen has now finished it and provides these pics for us.

Karen prints her labels and then attaches a border in the backing fabric to make it much easier to sew onto the back by hand. The printable fabric is often really stiff and difficult to get the needle through.

Heather's finished top

 During our zoom last week Heather showed us the finished paper pieced borders for her latest quilt. She has now finished the quilt top and removed all the papers.

It is truly amazing! Next steps - sandwich and binding, label and photo. Then I think a glass of bubbly would be in order.

On a hot day in February

 Several of our members enjoyed our gathering last Saturday.

After Sue chose our next project focus fabric from the Lucky Dip basket we spent some time selecting a block design. Then Stephanie arrived and pointed out an issue with our choice - the chosen fabric is directional and the block design we chose was not and would destroy the lovely direction in the fabric.

so we chose another block design and discussed colour choices and other options for some time. Of course this means I now have to write some instructions.

We were joined by Ivy (and Heather) for some time while Mum and Dad loaded their car with more stuff to take to their new home.

We all thought it was hot in the sewing room until we went downstairs for lunch and found that downstairs was much hotter.

I have now sent out all the fabric for the new block and will get instructions done as soon as I can.

At 3pm we had a zoom and were joined by Heather, Christine and Lynette.

There was lots of show and tell from Elaine and Karen and we found homes for two of our quilts. Kathryn likes the Nautical Quilt and Sue likes the Appliqued Flowers Quilt so they have taken those. Stephanie took our Exploding Stars quilt to donate to the St George Palliative Care Centre. This means we now have $100 to donate to charity at the end of the year already. She show and tell set off much discussion about little tricks and tips re using up scraps of batting (Elaine) and flying geese (Karen). All  our finished quilts can be found on the Pages list along the top banner of this blog.

Thank you to everyone who enjoyed our time together and all those who sent apologies. And thank you Karen for the photos.

Karen's Temperature Quilt

 Sydney Temperatures 2021

Here are pics of the front and back of my weather quilt, tracking the daily maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall (> 5 mm) for Sydney in 2021. I used the weather data for Sydney Observatory, which is the closest BOM site to us. The quilt has the biggest label that I've ever made with the key to temperatures, etc. 

The 'Sydney 2021' label on the front of the quilt was an experiment, using waxy paper from the wrapper of a ream of paper ironed onto the pinkish red fabric so that I could put it through the printer. It worked fine - a handy hint for anyone else wanting to print on their own fabric rather than on the ready-stiffened calico one can buy. 

And another hint for the standard label on the back, sewing a frame of the backing (or another suitable fabric) around the printed stiffened label makes it much easier to hand sew the label neatly to the back. In this case I used the bird fabric as the frame for  my big label.