playing catch up

Wednesday: Patchwork first, then Lorraine and I jumped in her car and went bellydancing for an hour. Back to patchwork for maybe half/ three quarters of an hour, then off to collect Beryl from the station [ a whole 3 mins away ], pick up lunch then back to quilting with Beryl in tow. A pleasant few hours later we collected David from Windarring and drove back out of town.
Rest of day / evening spent catching up, stitching and trying not to drool on Beryl's copies of Gloria Loughnan's and Ruth McDowell's new books. Reintroduced myself to my RM books that have been in Beryl's custody for a couple of months [ so she could peruse them before last week's 4 day masterclass with Ruth at the Australian Quilt Convention. Colour me green. ]
Thursday dawned as it is wont to do and we headed for Bendigo after dropping Dave off. Spotlight first to get some yarn to finish the bag I'm knitting. Note to self: Knit from Your Stash only works if you have enough yarn for the project to start off with. One moderately annoying thing happened at Spotlight. Beryl found a set of santa panels on the clearly marked $3 a metre sale table. There were 3 designs printed across every 45cm of length, so we were expecting to only get 90cm for our $3 because we're used to that shortfall with american by-the-panel things being a yard not a metre. We were going to share it and have a row of three each. The little snip at the counter was adamant that it was $3 for one 45cm row. She was very close to rude about it. We left. Perhaps if there had been a slightly more senior person around we could have settled it one way or the other. Bother! Mind you I expect nothing else at Spotlight.
Next and much more amenable stop: Honeysuckle Patchwork at Long Gully. I needed Moda Marbles in 2 greens for the current project that you still haven't seen, and Beryl needed to purchase FQs for a birthday swap her tassie group is running. We found the greens okay because Nicky has the whole 200 odd fabrics in the Marbles range, and most of the birthday FQs and I was ambushed on my way to the door by a couple of japanese prints and that new Ruth McDowell book. I swear. They pointed guns to my head and everything. Honest.
Having fought our way clear of the book-and-fabric pheromones at Honeysuckle, the next stop was just down the road at my other quilt group where we only stayed long enough to say hello and drop in quilt show forms.
Next stop was over the other side of town at Bendigo Woollen Mills where I only succumbed a little bit to TEN x 50 gram balls of 4-ply off-white pure wool baby yarn for $15 in the magic room out the back. If you were paying attention in January you will know that 'on sale in the back room at Bendigo doesn't count' is a vital rule for this year's Knit From Your Stash.
Lunch stop at Beechworth Bakery [yummy] then home via Maldon and The Village Patch where only fairly minor indiscretions occurred ... me a metre of harvest gold on sale and a Heartwood Creek Santa-with-cat ornament and Beryl some more FQs. Final stop was at Threadbare in Castlemaine where BJC picked up her new Roxanne thimble and the last FQ that she needed.
Collected Dave and straggled home for a recuperative cuppa or three and then out for Chinese.
Friday we went to Daylesford and mainly just mooched in an enjoyably virtuous manner. Bought NOTHING at the japanese shop with the multiple maneki neko cats [ stranger things HAVE happened but rarely ], a stencil at Purl's Palace and some shorts and a shirt for David. Nothing at all to speak of.
Lunched at Coffee Bean then home.
Yesterday we quilted all day.
Today we rose late, went to the Farmers Market [ disappointing... no goat cheese or gourmet snags ] coffeed at Saffs to make it up to dave for missing out on a snag at the market, and spent the rest of the day quilting.
BJC was seen onto the train about 2 hours ago and should be having a well earned dinner about now. Of course having commented to BJC that I hadn't heard the kookaburras much lately, they made themselves known just after I dropped her off and the four crimson rosellas that have barely been in evidence all week are all at the bird feeder as I type. TYPICAL.
Rosie has discovered the new billygoat next door and is letting me know that she's feeling amorous. She is camped as close to him as the fence line of the goat paddock allows and is singing goaty love songs in his direction constantly. I keep telling her she's a tart. She doesn't care.

AFTERNOTE: Beryl has just rung to say that after nearly 3 hours she is still not at Southern Cross which is normally an hour and a quarter trip. There has been some major disruption at Footscray and no trains are getting through. Buses have been put on but her hubby who has just come over on the boat from tassie and was going to meet her at Southern Cross, is now driving to Water Gardens [ wherever THAT is] to pick her up. Probably not what he wants to do after 12 hours on the boat. Poor bugger. Welcome back to Victoria!