Scrub Stitchin'...Friday...

Generally Saturday at Scrub Stitchin' is the day for show & tell and theme dinner...but Chooky moved those to Friday but because one of our lovely international visitors had to leave early Saturday so her husband could get to his fun activity of their trip - cattle judging at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney...I don't have any pictures from Show & Tell because I was a holder upper for Janice's quilts and then kept on being a holder upperer with Chooky...there are plenty of pics on other blogs though...

 

We also had our group photo Friday morning instead of Sunday morning...happy campers...

Drinks & nibbles at the outside bar before dinner...my room mate Jenny taking a photo of me taking a photo of the gathering...

The theme was "Australiana" and the dress code for Saturday Night Dinner on Friday Night was "what does Australia mean to you?"...of course the room was decorated...most excellently by Di, Miranda and Brenda...among the decorating touches were Australian flag bunting hung all around the room and the table set with Australian themed runners embroidered especially by Di along with foliage and Aussie soft toys... 

So interesting and fun to see the outfits and hear the explanations of everyone's take on the theme...especially with our international campers on board...my initial thought was "sky/light" which I expanded to "colours"  - sky, wattle and fire -  a bright blue t-shirt "sky", yellow and green ribbon around my ponytail "wattle" and my CFA ID & red lanyard "fire"...I have to say Harriett and her mum Tina as "Kath & Kim" complete with impressions were hilarious...the "Kim" look that Harriett gave Tina in response to "look at me look at me" was spot on...the internationals were not too shabby...Deana and her sister Tracey, came as tourists...Sylvia, Well...goodness only knows what else she would have added if she'd had more time to go through with all her ideas!...High Tea on her head, a snake catching a mouse (a reference to the last mouse plague Chooky had to contend with) around her neck, a crocodile on her arm and she was a kangaroo with a joey in her pouch...such fun...

Gail was already in Oz when the theme message came through so she came up with a great idea...buy an Australia t-shirt and write her special memories of her trip on it...you'd think sourcing the t-shirt would be the easy part but it wasn't! she did well to eventually find what she wanted...very personal and a great memento of her trip down under...

Tracey in her tourist outfit can be seen to the right behind Gail...great ideas from the international friends...(also behind Gail is "Kath" in the purple tracksuit..."Kim" is in pink in the first photo of the room)...

 

A fun night...

 

We also had our "Make It Bake It Fake It" swap and I'll show that in another post, this one is already long enough...

Happy Stitching...

Arrival...Baradine & Scrub Stitchin'...

I was so excited about Scrub Stitchin' I couldn't wait and set out to Baradine from Tooraweenah very early...I took the road through the National Park to Coonabarabran which comes out just near the road to Baradine, much nicer than up the highway and through town...I stopped a couple of times on the approach to the Warrumbungles...

There were a few roos/wallabies about in the Park but they had better things to do than play with cars and hopped off to go about their business...

 

After a pleasant drive into view came...

Then...the ultimate destination...

Bring on Scrub Stitchin' !!!!....the room all set up and ready for the stitchers...lovely quilts adorning the walls for inspiration...what could be in those goody bags???...

No more sleeps...let the fun begin!!!

 

Happy Stitching...

Northward Ho!...Lake Cargelligo to Tooraweenah...

Day 2 was a shorter route than Day 1...Lake Cargelligo to Tooraweenah.  Before leaving Lake Cargelligo I had a little drive around the lake and checked out the painted water tower...it was challenging to get pictures as the sun was in just the wrong spot...

After arriving at my destination for that night...Tooraweenah Caravan Park...and unloading the car into the cabin, I had time to get up to Coonabarabran and check out the patchwork shop where I found Janice & Lou!!!! Best find in the shop!!! and it is a lovely shop with much temptation...I was very happy to find she stocks Cosmo embroidery threads so I was able to get the colours I needed for a particular project.

I stopped on the way back to the cabin at the lookout on the road in to Tooraweenah from the highway...it's a lovely spot to look out to the Warrumbungles...

Also at the lookout is a sculpture of a returned soldier...a bit of unexpected public art...

Only one more sleep and then it is on to Baradine!!!!!

 

Happy Stitching...

Northward Ho!...Off To Scrub Stitchin’…

*Warning...long and photo heavy...

Excitement built and finally the day arrived...Easter Monday…time to leave for Scrub Stitchin’ in Baradine! Wahoo!!! I had booked two overnight stops, allowing for a bit of ducking and weaving along the way for painted silo/water tower chasing…of all the days to sleep in I woke up about the time I wanted to leave...not that there was a deadline but I just felt like I was two hours behind all day which made me a bit anxious about getting to that night's stop, Lake Cargelligo, so I modified the plan as I went and skipped some silos and street art for another day...

 

Finally I set off, via the North East Victoria Silo Trail...starting with Goorambat. Approaching from Benalla the first thing that appears is an owl on a shed with silo behind...

There are two separate themes on the silos…an Australian Barking (aka Winking) Owl and Iron Bark tree hollow scene which is important for the Barking Owl…

And Clydesdales...which were important to the Goorambat farming community...

Onwards to Devenish…where it’s all about honouring the community members who enlisted in WWI and the role of nurses/female medics in service and evolution of the role from WWI to now...

Included is a metal sculpture of Sally, an explosive detection dog who served in Afghanistan… 

Paintings not only on the silos...also the public toilet block…

 

and on the side road a mural of the train station…

Next up was St James…where G.J. Coles began…well hasn’t that business grown!!

 

The original store building is still there but I didn’t realise until I was driving out…

 

Last stop in Victoria before crossing the river was Tungamah…the first silos painted in North East Victoria...they are all about local bird life...

I crossed the river (Murray River into New South Wales) at Cobram and stopped next at Coleambally...their water tower isn't painted but rather a mosaic of scenes of community and district life circles the base of the tower...a clever variation on the painted theme...

That was it for public art for Day 1...

Happy Stitching...

Stawell Quilters – 70th birthday block

At Stawell Quilters, when a member is celebrating their 70th birthday, blocks are sewn and put together into a quilt top for that member as a gift from the Group…one member does soooo much work, she works out the designs and puts the blocks into numbered bags for handing out and return to her when done and then she constructs the quilt top...a massive commitment and we are very lucky to have someone who is willing and able to do that work.This is the block I stitched...

...eventually. I made an oops when reading the instructions and thought the return date was a week after it actually was and that I might be a week late but in reality I was two weeks late…not to self: read instructions Properly!...the remaining blue lines were not to be stitched as they are pre-marked quiltling lines...the final design is a mystery to us as we stitch and will be revealed when the top is gifted...

Happy Stitching...