a class, a GTG and a great day out

I'm going to try to compress three days worth of posts into one here in a frantic effort to catch up... oh the giddy whirlwind that is my life. [ Here you kinda need to picture me with my hand draped melodramatically across my forehead ]

Saturday dawns . I'm up bright and early to pack the car for my day-long class in Bendigo, David refuses to get out of bed so the Carer gets landed with breakfast and showering duties. Arrive in Bendigo half an hour before the class with plenty of time to set up , display the quilts, have a cuppa, etc.
One lady is late but we start anyway and she wanders in nearly an hour later ... I'm reliably informed that this is normal. An apology is offered in an offhand way which is really no apology at all. She gets her fair share of attention for the rest of the day but no more than that.
At 11 am we turn on a radio to the ABC and have the obligatory minute's silence for Remembrance Day. The Last Post is played and then, for the minute, all we can hear is the sound of native birds carolling. Such a beautiful peaceful moment.
Back to work.
Of the other 14 in the class, one is very very "high maintenance" ... a relative beginner who doesn't know how much she doesn't know and chooses to do perhaps the most demanding variation of what is on offer. I spend a lot of the day being Saint Susan. She gets as much of my attention as is humanly possible without anyone else missing out. I will be helping her with this one for a while I suspect.
Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. I do too... BUT... it IS hard work and by the time I get in the car for the 45 minute drive home, I become aware that my chest hurts... a lot ... and the migraine meds need topping up.
Saturday night is spent pottering around and doing the bare minimum of housework necessary because I have friends coming Sunday. They really don't care about the pile of washing in the laundry or the size of the ironing pile either, and the house is clean and tidy[ish] so that's enough. Rest of evening spent on Nadie's Short and Sweet bolero. Fronts coming along nicely.

Sunday, and I'm up and at 'em early. Today is a UFO day ... unfinished objects!
The girls who usually arrive at 10 are running late so it's actually a very relaxed start to the day. They mostly arrive just before lunch and we have pumpkin risotto [ my contribution] asparagus quiche, and chicken. I can't have chicken but Luz always brings it because she knows that David LOVES chicken. A new friend, that I know mainly through our Blogs arrives a little later and fits seamlessly into the group. Hi Flick! Today no one is knitting ... all quilting today.
Bugger, I forgot to take photos... but you can see Felicity's project here. Clever little beggar [ and she's giving me an Ashford wheel too... happy dance ]
I sew all of about one inch of a seam on a foundation-pieced goldfish block and finish it after David has gone to bed... but that's about normal for me on a UFO day :]
Everyone heads off about 5 ish and I think we can confidently say a good time was had by all.

Today. All that was on the agenda was coffee with jeanette and a 10.15 am Dr's appointment. He was called up to the hospital so Jeanette and I decided on the spur of the moment to jump in the car and head to Creswick [ 40 minute drive maybe?] We've seen an ad for a new patchwork/wool shop and cafe and thought we'd check it out. Total waste of time. She had about 20 bolts of very ordinary fabric and a small selection of wool. Nice embroidery supplies but not what we were after. The yarn prices were probably quite okay for alpaca blends [ mostly around $10 per 50 gms ] but with Bendigo Woolen Mills Alpaca selling for $16 per 200 gm ball, why would we bother?
Feeling a little put out after braving rain and high winds to get there, we wondered over the road and down to Persephone's Garden. Ahh heaven... A book shop, gallery and cafe specialising in gardening books and botanical artwork. Wonderful devonshire tea... lovely wood fire, comfy couches in the reading area. If I lived locally I think it would become a regular haunt. I could see it being the perfect venue for a SnB group. Nadie,these purchases can be earmarked as from David for birthday and /or Christmas if you like :]
Refreshed, we hit the Creswick Woollen Mills [ mostly finished products: blankets, cushions and offcut pieces of yardage] where I acquired the last gumleaf green QS blanket for myself at very reasonable cost, and we both bought a needle felting kit.
Into the car and back to Daylesford where we stopped at a lovely new shop called Purl's Palace. They've only been open 6 weeks and I realised that I'd seen an ad in Yarn Magazine. Another heavenly place. Noro and Collinette yarn [ in the wilds of Central Victoria... unheard of ] Brittany needles, Japanese kimonos and recycled kimono pieces, japanese bits and bobs,hand dyed wool roving [ bought some as a thank you pressie for the friend that lent me the Ertoel spinning wheel and is teaching me to spin ] most of the T2 range of teas. Beautiful scents. A marvelous selection of knitting books ... Debbie Bliss etc...and the owner is a really talented knitwear designer in her own right. I bought a book of her designs and have already picked out the one I want to make. Again, a pair of comfy couches to sink into... and the other thing that gets them maximum brownie points? We were offered a complimentary cup of T2 caramel something-or-other. Another definite possibilty for a SnB group.
They do classes in all sorts of interesting things like Nuno felting so we discussed the possibility of me teaching japanese quilts there.
Their website is still under construction but I'll post a link when it's up and running.
All in all a fabulously serendipitous day, albeit bloody cold and windy. It was pouring in Creswick but not a drop in Castlemaine. I've just heard on the evening news that it is snowing in the Alps ... in November!