Still in Australia

It's a while since I updated my weekly walking tally but it doesn't mean I haven't been walking.

I found a walking buddy at Scrub Stitching. Lea and I walked every morning before breakfast.

It was a great chance to see, and listen to, the Galahs-

And the Kangaroos. We saw them most mornings but I struggled to get decent photos-

She got a beauty though-

Once Scrub Stitching finshed, Kiwikid Sue and I had a nice meandering drive back down to Tullamarine Airport at Melbourne. We took an extra day so that we could visit the Dubbo Zoo. We walked 10kms that day!

I hadn't seen a Tasmanian Devil before so was intrigued to see this legendary creature. It was more interested in seeing if we had any treats for him, than being scary!

And we also clocked up a few kms in Wagga wagga exploring the botanic gardens and their street art-

A wombat at the Wagga Wagga zoo-

Bronze sculptures-

The Jolly Swagman-

And to finish my two weeks in Australia, a couple of selfies-

Goodbyes at the airport-

Already we're looking forward to next year's Scrub Stitching and wondering what routes we will take.

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

Bits and Bobs from Scrub Stitching

Looking through my photos, there's still parts of our Scrub Stitching adventure that I haven't mentioned.

After our Stars Dress-up dinner on Saturday night, we had a Make It, Fake It or Bake It gift swap. Luckily everything survived Chooky and I collapsing the table it was all sitting on when we tried to move it (gulp!). Random numbers are drawn and gifts dispersed. Everyone seemed really happy with their gifts - the amount of creativity and imagination all around the room was amazing.

I received this cute pouch and stitchery-

It has a metal band top - one of those ones that you squeeze to open.

It was made by Christine of macdonaldspatch. Christine was another person it was great to meet after only knowing her via blogging or zooming for such a long time!

I am ashamed to say I can't remember who received the gift I made. It was a 'folder' with pockets inside for notions or a pattern, etc, etc -

A close-up of the stitchery because the above one is sun-mottled!

This is a Gail Pan pattern.

We all received fabulous goodie bags when we arrived. I forgot to take a photo of mine and by the time I thought of it, I was home and wee Tammy had destroyed it!

So I borrowed a photo from Chooky, who I think borrowed it from Christine-

How lucky were we? Di embroidered the mugrugs, Brenda made the smiley face badges and the coconut ice (that and the chocolates didn't last very long!). We each received a cup with an Australian native plant on it, and a kit for a sewing roll/case by Anni Downs.

I also won these fabrics and wee pattern as a spot prize :-) -

There was a pop-up shop at retreat to tempt us all-

(The Quilters Cottage, Coonabarabran)

And so I do confess to a wee bit of shopping while away - one must, after all, support the local economy.

Kiwikid Sue and I found these on our travels and decided to buy one each - to be made by next year's Scrub Stitching -

And a few pretties-

We had a big show and tell on Saturday afternoon and  of course there would be a big cheer whenever someone finished a top/project during the weekend. Here are just a few of the many photos I took. 

(Chooky has put lots more pictures up on the Scrub Stitching blog.)

Janice with one of Edyta Sitar's mystery quilts-

Di with her dinosaurs - 

And this one was Harriet's -

Maunreen was working on this FPP Pineapple quilt from Japanese fabrics -

The below photo shows some of the back - very intricate!

Annette spent most of her time stitching and made great progress-

Lea's work in progress- 

Janice shows us how effective the one-up-one-down setting is-

Linda with her Mariner's compass-

Sue at Show and Tell-

Lianne-

Trish-

Stephanie also gathered up lots of our thread ends, scraps and trimmings and sewed them into a 'thread' which was then sewn into a coaster!!

Thanks for reading!

'til next time,

Happy stitches,

Raewyn

Sewing time at Scrub Stitching

I was really looking forward to having a good four days of interrupted sewing at Scrub Stitching. I tried to be reasonable in my packing but of course took more than I could accomplish in the time frame!

Last year at Scrub Stitching, a wee group of us decided to make the "Corner Star Quilt" (by The Missouri Quilt Company) and show it off this year.

I procrastinated all year about what fabric to use and it wasn't until I was packing to go away that I made a decision on my fabrics!

First block made - 

I had hoped to do all my cutting before I left home but that didn't happen. So it took me half a day to make my first block. And another day or so to make the next four!

Grand plans of finishing this quilt at Scrub Stitching evaporated and I'd only made 5 out of 16 when I put them away for the weekend-

(in need of a good press, sorry)

Sue just needed to sew a few seams at Baradine and then she had one to show off (she chose to use just one fabric for each block)-

I think everyone else had finished top or quilt to show off-

Lea, myself, Sue, Georgina and Kylie.

I put it aside on Saturday morning to start a new project. Chooky had come across a cool quilt for us to sew using a ruler produced by a local quilt shop.

She'd started hers on zoom one time so many of us took a jelly roll and bought a ruler...!

Here was the original, made by the quilt shop-

Cut and sew and sew and sew and sew....

You make one big long length and then cut it into shorter strips. Chooky's long one-

Ahem, some silly person modelling it as a scarf-

Chooky's cut up-

I laid mine out for a photo shoot-

With Sue's-

Group photo-

Top left, you can see Betty made hers double ended, and top right, Stephanie made a smaller one - both as runners rather than quilts-

Betty, Kylie, mine, Sue, Betty and Stephanie

Louise asked about the ruler and I realised I didn't show it - 

A fun quilt to make! I have 16 more strips to sew onto mine, and Sue about the same. We thought we might finish them one evening on our way back from Baradine, but sadly that didn't happen. 

See you next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn