Friday 15 March 2024

The Second Week of March

I can’t believe we are already half way through March.  The weather continued to be more summery than autumnal, but today a cool change has come through, dropping the temperature by 10degrees C from yesterday,  now being in the low 20s. This last week has been rather full.

On the garden front, we have been enjoying the show put on by our dahlias.  Out the back, after a very prolific second flush of beans, they have now finished and the bean and zucchini plants have been removed and composted.  That only leaves self sown tomatoes, eggplants and spinach left for this season.  It looks rather bare.

Inside, I have my little shelf in the kitchen where I make little seasonal displays.  

I didn’t get around to sharing my summer display, which was rather simple this time.

This has now been replaced, for just a week, with a St Patricks Day show.  On Monday they can go away and Easter can come out.

We have been out and about.  

On Saturday, while Mick was at bowls, I took myself along to Kings Parade, in the middle of town and listened to a Carillon recital. You may remember that Mick and I went on a tour of the Carillon last winter.  Pop over here and read a bit about our visit to the wonderful feature we have here in town.

Back in the day, there were regular recitals on the Carillon on Saturdays at lunch time.  It was just a background to our normal lives.  We didn’t consider that this was something rather special.  Once the carillon was automated, those recitals stopped.  Now that the clavier has been installed and local carillonists trained they are starting up Saturday recitals again.

I took a folding chair and parked myself in the shade of a big tree, as it was a really hot day, and listened to the music while doing some crochet.  I may as well crochet, as you can’t see anything, you just listen.

Anyway, the draw card was a visiting carillonist by the name of Peter Bray.  He is a young man, who is a senior carillonist at the National Carillon in Canberra.  This was his final performance in Australia, before travelling to Belgium to compete on the world stage. He went four years ago and did very well. He played a mix of traditional, popular and contemporary music for about an hour.  I have just discovered a YouTube clip of some of the performance. It’s worth have a short look at.

By the end of the performance I had completed another spiked granny square. It was a delightful way to spend some time and I think I will keep an ear out for future recitals, and if the weather is nice, go down with some handwork and listen to the music.

Last weekend I had participated in one of Chooky’s impromptu Zoom sessions, during which I completed two more squares, with another added during the week.  There is just one more to make before I consider that I have enough to turn them into a small rug. I am getting down to the dregs of some of the colours, which is a great result. Hopefully, the last square will be made before the end of the month.

On Sunday we had an early start to drive up to Oberon.  The sunrise over the town was pretty.
The reason was the Oberon Swap Meet, at which we had a stall selling some bits and bobs.  The weather was lovely, not too hot, and it was a nice social day out.

I even read a book this week.  This one was shared by Lou.  A very interesting read.

It was about time to try a new recipe.  I used one of the last of our zucchinis, that had grown a bit too big, and made some zucchini chips.  Yummo!  All you do is slice the zucchini, dip the slices in an egg wash, then crumb with a mix of 1 cup panko crumbs, half a cup grated Parmesan and a teaspoon each of garlic powder and Italian herbs. Lay out on baking trays and give a little spray of olive oil.  Bake in the oven at 200C for 20 minutes.  We initially served them with aioli, but in the end preferred homemade tomato sauce.  I’ll definitely try them again and will also try with egg plant cut into chip straws.

Back in the sewing room, I have completed my two fish for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, one using the feature colour of purple for the body and the other for the features.  Such fun.

I mentioned previously that I want to make a second fish quilt using batiks and this month I made a start. What a difference to my colourful version.  I’m loving how they look.  I have the first three months’ blocks fused, ready to stitch down the appliqué.  The stitching will be a project to work on at Scrub Stitchin’.

Yesterday, I started to prepare to quilt my next quilt, getting the backing pieced and on the frame.  Now I’m off to cut the batting and make a start.  Hopefully, next week there will be another finish. No, this is still not my One Monthly Goal, but another UFO I want to get over the finish line.

As you can guess, I have continued to manage my 15 minutes of crafting a day.

Monday 11 March 2024

Chookshed Challenge for March Completed

The number selected by Deana for March was Number 4, which for me was to make a donation quilt from a panel.  

I had plenty to select from and chose the teddy bears’ picnic one.  This wasn’t my favourite by any stretch, but I wanted to push myself to do something with it.

I’m pleased to now share the completed quilt.  From a panel I wasn’t fussed on I now have a quilt that I love.

I used the Plumeria pantograph again, which seemed to suit it.

It is fairly sizeable, as the panel was the full width of fabric.  This will be ideal for a single bed, coming in at 46 inches wide by 68 inches high.  As usual, all fabric came from stash.

I’m so pleased that Deana suggested and administers this challenge.  It has pushed me to work on projects that would otherwise still be sitting in the “To Do” pile.

Friday 8 March 2024

The First Week of March

March is the official start of autumn here, but the weather, other than one day, has definitely not been autumnal, with every day for the next week forecast to be over 30 C.  There were storms all around our area yesterday, with lots of thunder, but we didn't get any rain.  No rain is forecast for the next week either.

We have had some lovely sunsets.

I have been playing in my sewing room.  I mentioned that it needs a bit of a tidy up before I can get productive.  

Well, I made a start, cleaning, not jut tidying, my sewing table, cutting table and the little shelf above it. 

Not only that, we finally hung my new items on the minis wall, being Sunbonnet Sue, the vintage felt picture of a girl stitching and a silly picture I found at a markets.  

I may know things, but most of them are of no consequence.

Mind you, it is not as tidy now and the rest of the room still needs lots of work.

Once that was done I started to contemplate my panel quilt.  Despite being a juvenile design, it would need to be a sizable quilt as the pane is the full width of fabric.  I decided to just use the simple pattern that I used last month.

Firstly, I did a little drawing to work on colours.  

For that I needed to get out my pretty tin.

This is inside.

And inside the pretty cardboard box.

These are my colouring pencils from school.  Some date back to kindergarten, all duly marked with my initials so they wouldn't get lost.  Not today's throw away society.  They were well used, and yes, I still used some of those tiny stubs for this project.  One thing about pencils is that they don’t dry up or go off.  The pencil at the top of the photo was precious to me, as it was the perfect colour for skin when colouring in.

I digress....

Anyway, after a couple of days of fiddling, I now have a quilt top and the binding prepared.  Monique still needs to be excavated before I can quilt it.

While stitching the quilt I pieced my RSC split nine patches as leaders and enders.

On another note, while working on the quilt I noticed that the steam wasn't working on my iron.  Blast!  Then, I realised that not only that, there was next to no heat coming out of the iron either. Double blast!!  Time to go shopping.  I had received a gift voucher for Christmas that I could use for it.  Perfect.  Once an iron had been purchased it was time to get working again........but when using steam, the iron was spitting all the time.  Not good.  Time to be returned to the store.

I started to see what other options there were for irons, as most stores all sold the same models, and discovered that Spotlight had a sale and Oliso irons were reduced.  Whenever they come on sale there are never any in stock at our local branch, but this time there were.  Bonus! 

So, now I am the proud owner of a pretty pink iron that matches my sewing room and it works beautifully. 

I even tidied up and cleaned the dresser behind my ironing board so that I could take a photo to share.

While I was going, I set up my second display cabinet of thimbles.  I have have one for years and about a year ago found an identical one.  It has taken me until now to fill it, with thimbles that have been tucked away in all sorts of odd places.  

Some are rather beautiful silver ones, even down to tiny child sized ones.  It's good to have them on display.  The tiny house at the bottom is a thimble holder.

Also, about a year ago, I came across an antique half doll with beautiful features and mohair hair for next to nothing.  She has just been laying around until now.  

She is now sitting upright in a vase in the china cabinet.  I don't think I will make her into a doll.

So what next?

The March fish block pattern released, so it is time to start playing with colours. I have already cut more background fabrics for the rainbow version as well as the batiks.  I need to get three month's blocks prepped for the second quilt.  It will keep me amused for a while.

I still have to make a start on my One Monthly Goal, but that will be after I complete the panel quilt.

But first……start sorting out the rest of the mess in my sewing room so I can use Monique.

Yes, 15 minutes has been spent each day.

Tuesday 5 March 2024

Winburndale Dam Tour


Last week we joined in on a tour of Winburndale Dam, which is the secondary water supply for Bathurst.  The significance of this is that there is no public access to the site.  Over the last few years there has been a major upgrade to the infrastructure and our local council arranged for two bus loads of people to go and see what has been done.  We jumped at the chance and were lucky enough to get a seat.  Many people that would like to have gone along missed out.  As the tour was on a Wednesday, the participants were mainly retirees, as most people are at work. It was a really hot day.

To access the dam you drive along some narrow dirt roads (excuse the reflections) and finally into the Winburndale Nature Reserve.  Despite there being no public access, several people on the tour had managed to access the site at some stage of their lives, by dirt bike riding, horse riding, hiking or with previous rangers.

A little history: 

The dam construction started in 1931 as a works project during the great depression and came into operation in 1934.  It is located up in the hills east of Bathurst on the Winburndale Rivulet.  The water is gravity fed to Bathurst and originally ran through pipes made of timber.  The timber pipes were constructed in a manner similar to barrels.  Some of those pipes are still functional.

It is fairly small, holding just 1,700 megalitres.  By comparison, Ben Chifley Dam, our main water supply, holds 30,800 megalitres.

The water is used to keep our parks, gardens and sporting fields watered and does not run through the water treatment plant for drinking.

Back to now:

After checking, it was obvious that although the dam wall has had no issues, it did not meet current safety guidelines and at 90 years old, things would need some upgrading.  16 million dollars has been spent on the upgrade and it ended up being a much bigger project than anticipated.  All work was carried out by a local engineering firm, using local contractors wherever possible, which is commendable.

Our deputy mayor decided that it would be good if the locals could see where the money had been spent.  When we arrived, there was a little speech from him and our local state MP, who declared this to be the unofficial official opening, as there wouldn't be an official one.

L to R: Ben Fry (Deputy Mayor), Ian McCartney (former Winburndale Ranger for 20 years), Paul Toole, State MP.

So what did they do? (As well as my photos, I will add some from photo boards on the day that showed the actual works in progress.)

Mick, having worked on construction and industrial sites for his entire working life, and being the one to figure out how to do tricky jobs, was fascinated.  He reckons it would have been a great project to be involved with and had a good chat with our guide, who had been one of the main project managers. He is pictured here with the original valve, which was replaced.

Firstly, they had to dig down to check the foundations below the dam wall.  It transpired that the wall was not built on solid rock and they had to dig down about 8 metres to reach it, much of it by hand, so as not to damage the wall. The wall itself had been well built.  From that depth they had to concrete up to the base of the dam wall to provide a solid base.    

About 700 truck loads of concrete, all to very specific, strong specifications, had to be delivered to site, which is about a 45 minute drive from town.

The water is piped through the wall at the tower.  The cast iron pipes had to be checked to see what condition they were in.  To access them, a large metal plate had to be attached to the side of the dam wall, within the dam to stop the water flow, this job being carried out by specialist divers.  The pipes turned out to be in rather good condition.  Those that were accessible were removed and refurbished, rather than replaced, as they knew they would fit and be water tight.  

There is a mechanism that lifts the inlet pipe up and down to get the best quality water from the dam.  That was originally manually operated.  It has now been upgraded to be automated. There is a well that goes to the bottom of the dam wall in here, so that the pipes can be accessed.

There are two outlets, one is the pipe that goes to town and the other is one that can be opened to let extra water out, directly down the creek, as required.  This one is tested once a month and they opened it while we were there. This originally had just one valve, which has now been replace with three for additional safety.  Some water is still directed down the creek at all times.

The entire wall of the dam is the spillway and had a timber walkway across it to the tower.  

That walkway has been replaced by a metal mesh one and raised by 1300mm to be above the one in one thousand year flood level.  The floor of the room in the tower was also raised that amount.

The main strengthening that was carried out was adding pretensioned rods down through the height of the wall. (Where you can see the new paler concrete at the top of the wall.) At its highest, the wall is 25 metres.  The rods had to go into the ground to the same depth, so some were over 50 metres long.  

They had to be craned into place, vertically above the wall, without bending and had then to be placed in predrilled holes in the wall with tolerances of only 10mm.  

The local firm did all the work. as no one else would take it on.

As challenges arose, the engineers had to problem solve and work out how to approach them.  For example, they had to get drilling rigs and pretensioning machines out onto the top of the wall, which is only quite narrow.  Therefore they built a wider platform over the entire length of the wall that would take the weight of heavy equipment.

Added to this, throughout the time of the project, there were a couple of flooding events, during which they had to move all their gear out of harm's way and had subsequent delays.

It was such an interesting tour and one we feel privileged to go on.  Congratulations on the Council for arranging it.  After all that walking, mainly in the very hot sun, we were all pleased to get back into the air conditioned busses for the trip back to town.