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.

Meeting together last Saturday

 At our last gathering on Saturday we all had our various tasks assigned and while Karen was sewing on labels (see later in this post) I did some quilting and machine binding.

Stephanie trimmed all our pebbles blocks and then joined them into a flimsy.

Elaine machine bound the flowers quilt.

We have received more of our rainbow strips (thank you ladies) and they look stunning hanging over the bannister.

I have now purchased some woven labels for our donation quilts to make the labelling job quick and easy. These are the labels Karen was seen sewing on above. I think the others were labelling as well.

During our Zoom we had a show and tell and I have now photographed all the quilts that are finished and awaiting a new home.

Shadows 2

Ivy and Betty's Pink and Blue using orphan blocks.

Flowers 

The Pebbles flimsy that Stephanie constructed.

Now we need to add borders to the Pebbles and decide how we are going to divvy up the rainbow strips to finish those quilts as the year progresses. Of course we have not received all the strips yet but we can still start. According to the number of active members in the group we should end up with about 10 quilts eventually.

Placemats for Meals on Wheels St George area

 After seeing so many quilters making placemats for Meals on Wheels I rang the NSW branch many years ago and they did not want to know. Susan at Susan's Sewing Space suggested I ring my local Meals on Wheels. Ha success! The manager had never heard of it but thought it was a great idea. Basically she said 'how many have you got?' 

So here we go!

Anyone who has eaten at my place may remember the ones I use.

If you are looking for a little project or want to try out a new technique or use up some scraps. Ring your local Meals on Wheels and see if they'd like some to send out with their meals for birthdays or other special days.

I made some for my grand girls when they were small to teach them about setting the table.

Perhaps I will make a few to practice my machine binding rather than hand hemming the binding.

Thank you Susan for your inspiration.

Our recent day together

 On Saturday our group met together both in real life and on zoom.

Our latest challenge is to create a strip each of each of 6 colours in any way you like. It is a real stash buster challenge. In 6 months we will have enough strips for multiple quilts and can spend the rest of the year putting them together. The strips can be any width but at least 56" long. Our display so far is quite impressive and the only one of our colours not represented in this photo is orange.

In the afternoon we had our usual zoom but unfortunately quite a few people were late getting on which is an issue when I can only book a 40 minute zoom session.

I was able to do my usual walk around the room showing progress so far on some of our projects.

Then of course there was 'show and tell' (more on that later).

Stephanie's mountains, here held for display by Alec, was amazing. Foundation paper piecing.

Elaine had been given all these strips an created this colourful queen size quilt. We were all pleased that Alec was here to hold it up with Stephanie.

Stephanie's show and tell is an Easter Egg bowl.

My grand daughter Ivy had helped create the flimsy for this quilt and Elaine was able to bind it.

Stephanie has almost finished the binding on our second 'shadows' quilt after I quilted it in the morning.

Karen put the final border on our flowers quilt and we have chosen binding for this one too.

There is one flimsy left to complete next time we gather.

In all it was a lovely day together and the air con worked so we did not expire upstairs.

So our homework is to finish our strips at the rate of one per month and be there next time either in person or on zoom.

Happy stitching and stash busting.