A few holiday views

This church at Stroud, N.S.W., was built by convicts in the 1830s and, like churches of the time, sits surrounded by graves of former parishioners. Stroud is a lovely little town, with many buildings from the same era as the church, in a beautiful valley. My family has tenuous connections with Stroud; in the 1800s it was a company town for the Australian Agricultural Company, and my grandfather (and I think his father also) worked for them near Tamworth. I don't know if they - my ancestors - ever visited Stroud, so I did it for them on a beautiful clear winter day.
The interior of the church - the woodwork is Australian cedar, the pews have carved backs. The gallery upstairs is where convicts sat for church services....they didn't sit downstairs and mix with the hoi polloi, they knew their place.
Ten days earlier we drove from Nundle to visit Arc-en-Ciel trout farm - it was really really cold, as you can see! We would normally have been able to see much further into the distance but the clouds were very low, snow had fallen the previous evening and the locals were expecting more. This snowy yard was a short distance from the farm. We had coffee, and sat by the fire, and I bought some smoked trout pate.....yummo.......the trout farm dog is My New Best Friend and I had the muddy paw marks on my jeans to prove it. Fishing at the farm would be fun on a lovely day, their website has interesting pictures and recipes too.

Only two months until we go to Canada, 60 days to be precise but who's counting? The locals are even putting on a craft show for me! Creativ Festival will be held while we are in Toronto. How much fun would that be.......speaking of being creative, Kiera-Oona has a video on her blog showing how she makes rag rugs from tee shirts that aren't fit to be worn in public any more. I have never used a crochet hook that size but I'm sure I could learn. If you couldn't crochet, you could probably knit rugs.

Elaine has a giveaway on her blog, a "Quilter's Stimulus Package" - wonder what that could be? There are times when I could do with being stimulated. She lives in coastal California and has lovely pics on her blog.

I shall leave you with a quote from "Australian Etiquette, or the Rules and Usages of the Best Society in the Australasian Colonies, together with Their Sports, Pastimes, Games and Amusements. Revised, Illustrated, and Compiled expressly as a Household Treasure for Australian Homes. 1885":

"It is the duty of Australian women to exercise their influence to form so high a standard of morals and manners that the tendency of society will be continually upwards, seeking to make it the best society of any country."

Jennifer

First WOW for August

This rather scary looking one-eared wombat was given to me by a friend, thanks Sandra......she bought it in an op shop in Bendigo, Victoria. In our little caravan we keep a stash of $1 coins, as we need them for coin-operated machines in caravan park laundries when we want to wash clothes. The little plastic box holds the money - looks as though the wombat is counting his hoard doesn't it! - he lives in the van to mind the cash. Kevin had great fun carefully posing the wombat and his dollars.

A couple of days ago I went to a quilt show held annually about 40 minutes from here. It's always a good show, the hall is small but it's surprising how many quilts fit in. My usual method of looking at shows is to walk around slowly once, stop for refreshment, then walk around again spending longer in front of particular quilts that speak to me. I can spend quite a long time just browsing and admiring.

But not this time.

One walk around, then I went outside.......not to return.

What ever possessed the organisers to play rock music with a thumping base through a sound system? It's not music I listen to voluntarily, let alone have forced down my throat when I am hoping for a pleasant day. I know not everyone in the world shares my taste in music, and I certainly don't share everyone else's, the world would be a dull place indeed if there was only one kind of music no matter what it was - but rock music at a quilt show?

Several years ago (seems like a previous existence now) I spent six months working as a receptionist in the city. One of the computer boffins in the company for whom I worked told me one day, when I commented on how pleasant their 'on hold' music was, that studies have shown the one style of music that keeps people in the best mood after spending time on hold is Baroque music; Johann Sebastian Bach (and probably some of his many composing children), Telemann, Vivaldi, Corelli etc. I can attest to that. I don't know about the rest of you, but I thoroughly dislike having loud music (probably the 17 year old apprentice's choice) forced upon me when I am waiting on the phone. It's even worse when it's a talkback radio station with loud music.

And how about the music played in many shops? A few years ago a radio interviewee said that if you don't like the music played in certain shops, then you are not the customer they are looking for; it's all part of that shop's marketing image. Geez......there obviously aren't many shops that want me as a customer!

What music is played where you shop?

Have a lovely week.

Jennifer

Back home again

All good things must come to an end they say, and our holiday is over - we came home early yesterday afternoon. We had a lovely relaxing (and sometimes cold!) time. We must have been lucky for the Nundle folk as we brought the rain with us; in fact, it snowed on the hill just out of town, we have photos. We were lucky enough to see lots of wildlife: wallabies in the park in the middle of Nundle in the evening as we walked up to the pub; more wallabies in bush as we were driving through; several large wedge tailed eagles circling overhead at different times, even one - which didn't move at our approach - perched on a dead kangaroo by the side of the road; and of course lots of parrots, rosellas, galahs, cockatoos and corellas.

And of course some road kill, including.....sob.......four wombats.

We visited towns that Kevin knew, they were in his territory when he was a sales rep calling on hardware shops, lovely little towns with a 180 year old history of white settlement: Stroud, Dungog, Buladelah, Clarence Town. That part of New South Wales is beautiful. A couple of places we thought a bit 'touristy' so we didn't linger. The pics (considering we were away for more than two weeks we didn't take many, shame on us) will make it onto the blog in due course.

Driving in Sydney gets more difficult each time we go away and come back. Country towns have little traffic and no one seems to be in a hurry, but here in Sydney the traffic is frightening and becoming more so each time we venture out. However next year we will be moving out of Sydney, moving to Tamworth where folk look at you and say g'day when they see you in the street, instead of ignoring you or pointedly looking the other way as they do here.

And of course it will come as no surprise to know that I found a few quilt shops while we were away, some background fabrics for my Bearly Autumn Bears Paw blocks came home with me, as did a couple of black and white prints. I was able to achieve lots of knitting, so much so that I made a scarf (twice - first time it was too wide and too short, so I made it again with less stitches on the needle) and knitted lots more of my blue cardi, it's not far from being finished now. I made a mistake and had to undo nearly four inches but it didn't take long to knit it again. That's what I told myself, anyway. It wasn't just a stitch mistake, I had one of the collar pieces round the wrong way. Bummer, double bummer and triple bummer. (that's not quite what I said when I realised what I had done but it will do for now, I don't want to burn your sensitive ears)

Keep warm, may your points be perfect and your stitches be neat.

Jennifer

See you all in a few weeks!

We will be heading off on Monday morning, the alarm will have to be set otherwise we will sleep in......we want to be on the road by 9am not noon, as we will have several hours' driving ahead of us.......so no posting for a few weeks as I don't a laptop or palmtop or one of those other fancy-nancy gadgets. No ipod either, although I can see their uses.....I reckon the world is going gadget mad, do we really need all these things?

Although I would not be without at least one sewing machine in my life......

The knitting is organised to go (have to do something in the car for all those hours), the hand-piecing project is already in its work box too. And there is a bag of books to read as we don't have TV in our little caravan, we listen to radio or play CDs. Oh yes, quilts for the beds too as it will be cold, and of course food and clothes....that's all we need. And I am hoping that a couple of weeks out of Sydney in fresh country air will help my body shake off the last of The Dreaded Lurgy which hasn't q-u-i-t-e gone away.

The lilli pilli tree in the picture is in the grounds of the Orphan School that we visited last weekend. Yes, the fruit really is that colour and yes, it is edible. Isn't it pretty!

Back by the end of the month. Y'all be good now.

Jennifer

WOW Family

These three wombats are obviously made from the same design, although the light one has its head at a different angle from the grey one. They are sold as garden statues so I put them in the garden......well.....near the garden, I picked up a couple of the fallen camellias from the bush nearby. I have no idea of its name, it's very pretty, has pink and white petals with ruffly centres and is one of the few survivors of The Great Hailstorm of 1990. There won't be a WOW post for a few weeks as we will be away, hence the trio.

Yesterday Kevin and I went on a walking tour of the Female Orphanage at Rydalmere, about twenty minutes' drive from here. It was built from 1814 to 1819 and, as well as taking in orphan girls from the age of two to twelve, also took in the daughters of the well-to-do folk to educate them. The girls were taught to read and write at a time when many girls were not even taught those essential skills at home and Aboriginal girls were also cared for under the same conditions as white girls, being educated side-by-side. Like many public buildings of the time it is an imposing brick building and was reached by river, as roads through the bush were practically non-existent in those days. Can you just imagine the impression it would have made on a little girl when, upon stepping out of a boat and walking across a bush path, she was faced by these stone steps she had to climb to get to her new home?
The centre, which had other buildings as well as the main one, functioned as an orphanage until the 1880s, becoming co-ed when boys moved in during the 1850s; their orphanage until then was further away. During the 1880s the foster care system started so the orphanage ceased to be used as such. It then became a psychiatric institution (it was known as 'Rydalmere Asylum for the Insane') for nearly 100 years, many buildings date from 1890-1910. The buildings are interesting and the grounds very peaceful - it is all now part of a university. Unfortunately we were not able to go inside the historic buildings but could look through some of the windows.

Social history is a topic which fascinates me, as you can see! I love finding out how people used to live.

One of the quilts I am making for bushfire victims has the top, backing and binding finished and I have started on the next. They probably won't all get done before we go away next week but it won't be for want of trying....it's a busy week. And the Bernina is behaving itself beautifully since its hissy fit the other day. It was the chocolate that did it.

Have a lovely week, may your seams all be straight.

Jennifer

Best wishes to my American friends

It is 4th July here so if it isn't where you are, it soon will be.....so to my American friends, have a great day. We spent 4th July on American soil three years ago. We were lucky enough to be on a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska and spent 4th in Juneau, it's not a big town for a state capital and it's an interesting place. We spent some time watching their parade which was great fun and even scored some of the candy that was being thrown to the spectators.

I am having a coffee break from sewing, I am assembling blocks into tops to make quilts for victims of the bushfires earlier this year. The need is still there and quilts are still being distributed. But when I stopped sewing to load a new spool of thread - same colour as the old one, same brand, same everything - it kept catching under the bobbin area of the machine. So, like the good girl I am, I took the bobbin area apart, cleaned it, put it back together......and it still kept catching, three times I put it back together and it kept catching......so it and I are having a short break from each other while I have a coffee and perhaps even some chocolate; the Easter chocolate wombat still hasn't been eaten but its time is drawing nigh.

Perhaps My Lovely New Bernina (which will celebrate its tenth birthday next month) could visit the sewing machine spa while we are on holidays.

Enjoy your weekend.

Jennifer

Canada Day

Best wishes for Canada Day to my Canadian family and friends! I hope you all have a great day.

As you can see the Maple Leaf runner is finished and on the table; it's already 1st July here in Australia. The fabric is by Deb Strain for Moda from a range called "Love is in the Air" that was released earlier this year for Valentine's Day, with lots of pink, red and white. The pattern is from the book "Maple Leaf Quilts" by Ilene Bartos but the colour scheme is mine, as is the reverse side with just one Maple Leaf block. Quilting is in a red and white variegated polyester thread by Aurifil. And that is indeed a little beaver you can see. It's not easy standing on two chairs trying to photograph something that is a bit long to fit in the viewfinder, but I am woman, I can do anything.

According to Blogger I have completed 100 posts, that's a lot of blather about not much........but wouldn't you think that, after so many posts and photos, I would remember that pics are uploaded in reverse order of selection?

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Jennifer