Burrinjuck Waters State Park

Back in 2010 we went to Burrinjuck Waters State Park to for the first time to catch up with a group of friends.  It is a great park to visit for a family weekend away or group catch up as there are clusters of cabins so you can all book in the same section and be next to each other while still having your own space.  The children all have fun popping from cabin to cabin all weekend to play together too.

They also have a great little park to play in, plenty of room to ride bikes and walk about and also friendly parrots and kangaroos.  The kids love feeding the birds and there were lots of squeals of laughter.

 

We went back in 2012 for another catch up.  It is always fun to see how much the other kids have grown and to see friends in person again.  

The kangaroos and parrots have not changed a bit but Blue is now riding about on his bike with his training wheels on.  Memory tells me that he was not riding so much as being pushed about but he still had fun.  This trip was also very wet.  We spent all weekend drying and changing clothes but the kids loved it.

Our latest visit was this year.  We only seem to make it every second year as it is a nine hour drive for us from where we live now.  We always have good intentions of going every year for the annual catch up but our good intentions fade with the effort involved in getting us there and we have only managed every second year so far.

The above photo reminds me of theone of Blue taken in 2010.  He is older but with the same love of the outdoors and same cheeky smile.  His bike is bigger too.

It is always nice to wander down to the dam.  We don't spend much time near the water and both children enjoy watching the boats and tossing in the odd rock.

We always enjoy our trips here.  Good friends are worth the effort and it always feels like just yesterday we saw them.  Our children play together so well even though we are now spread out from moving and they don't see each other very often.  Friends are like that.

The staff at the park are always super helpful too.  As you can imagine, in trying to coordinate 5 families we tend to change booking details and dates until we are finally organised and they always help without complaint. 

Sunday Stash, the Road Trip edition

 

Denyse Schmidt. Salty Aire. 

Michael Miller Ta Dot on the left.

Amy Butler on the right.

Heather Bailey on top.

I don't know what this is, it was in the random FQ box.  Any idea?

Because there was a road trip, there was also laughter, cheesecake, coffee, friends and more laughter.  Shame I don't have any photos of that stuff, the fabric shopping was nice, but the day out was the best part :)

{fifteen} polly pratt

I was really lucky to meet Anna of Polly Pratt at Sew it Together earlier this year.  Polly Pratt was one of the sponsors of the event which makes me very happy as you may remember I bought one of her dresses there and wore it to the children's Christening back here.

Then there was a sale and I picked up another shift dress.  I love this vintage style horse print on the linen!

Then there was another sale...

I don't feel guilty because Anna is lovely, and she sponsored a great event.  And I love great clothes and am a sucker for a sale too!

Camp Weekend

I just got back from a weekend away at camp with a group of lovely ladies and good friends I met through knitting.  I packed my sewing machine and a heap of quilting supplies and hit the road.  I thought it was ironic that I packed the iron to take away for the weekend when I don't use it here, but given I didn't use it there either it was more typical than ironic.

The camp was held at Lake Keepit and it is a great spot for such a thing.  It was VERY cold on the Friday and Saturday but thankfully Sunday was a lovely day.

I took my 31 blocks that where made during Round 1 of Around the Block.  I love these wonky log cabins but I had not made any myself until this weekend.  I made another 23 blocks to finish the quilt top to size and got it all pieced, photos of that to come later.  Special Thanks to Ellie who made a couple of these blocks for me over the weekend.

I ate so much great food.  Also so much junk food.  There is a melting moment in the photo above as made by Mandy.  They are perfect, it feels wrong to call it a biscuit as it really is baking at it's best.  I also ate 2 packets of Tim Tams, a large bag of chips, M&M's and plenty of coffee.  Today starts my detox I think!

I also took my 9 patch quilt from the Chaletgirl Block Swap.  That really was AGES ago but I am happy to report that it is now quilted and as of last night the binding has been machine sewn on so a few nights in front of the telly hand stitching should see that done.  HURRAH!!

What a great weekend!  I am already looking forward to next year as I had a great time laughing and got a lot done.  It was wonderful all round.

SIT ~ In which I appear

I am not a fan of photos that include myself, but in the interest of full disclosure, here are some that I have seen popping up from the big weekend away.  I look tired in all of them, next time I might skip the shopping and sleep instead (or not!).

Good friend Kylie and I on the last morning.

Stitching away with Renae and Posie

At Material Obsession

Kylie and I again on Saturday night :)

I shamelessly stole these photos from Kylie and Kathy.

If I see any more pop up I will add them in.

Friends

Belated thanks, very belated in some cases given the first couple of these are from last years birthday bounty.  Lucky for me friends are allowed to be late with things like this :)

Emily, thank you for the mug and the tea selection.  You may notice that not all the tea is pictured, but I have already mentioned how long ago my birthday was so this is not surprising!

Mandy.  I cannot tell you how much I love this Zero Japan tea pot!  LOVE it.

Emma, I am still trying to find the perfect project for this beautiful 4ply.  It is just the sort of thing I would have bought for myself, I love the blues and greys together.  I love the project bag too :) 

And Kylie, who just sent this lot of goodies, not for my birthday, but because I sent her 5 balls of cotton so she could knit Baden a vest.  I think I ended up with the better end of the deal.  There is a blanket Possum has given to Dolly, a pair of shorts that I have to add elastic to for Blue and some Merino and Silk blend for me to play with on the spinning wheel.

Spoilt?  Perhaps I am...

Spotter's Fee

I won't really charge Ellie a spotter's fee for this :)

I hope this is the sort of thing you are looking for, let me know as I am happy to keep my eyes open down here if you let me know exactly what you would like to add to your lustreware collection.

This serving platter is 30cm across the diameter. 

The colours remind me of blowing bubbles with the children.

If Ellie doesn't like it I would be happy to keep it here ;)

Knit Night

Last night was knit night.  I don't normally travel to the monthly evening catch up because knit night is an hour and a half away but this time I craved the company so took a drive up the mountain.

I can't show off any knitting because I ripped out more than I knit.  I worked on some softies to send away and we sat and laughed and chatted and snacked.  Just what I needed. 

I took up some figs, and some eggs and bought back lots of fresh zucchini, jam and Johnson Brothers.  I was tired after the late drive home, but it was worth it and I should make the effort to go more often.  Next time there might even be cheese cake ;)