What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I have usually had enough of Christmas Festivities after Boxing Day and cannot wait to get back into  my workshop to get cracking on projects or a major spring clean. However, this year I have been utterly content and embraced doing nothing – in fact, I wonder where I will get the oomph required to restart for 2022. 

I have a tricky customer quilt to work away on a bit at a time. It is a re-do of a quilt that was unsuccessfully long-armed by someone else and its owner has removed some of its ...

Saying goodbye to the family in Kiwitea we drove up and over the Saddle Road, where the huge windmills on Te Apiti Windfarm kept me mesmerized as the blades turned slowly round.  Hopefully Robin wasn’t watching them too, as he needed to keep his eyes firmly on the hilly road as he drove around all those corners.

Driving over the Saddle Road

We arrived at Eriksen Road NZMCZ Park in Napier in the early afternoon, a little hot and bothered, and ready to choose a site, set ourselves up, and have a late lunch.  No wonder we were hot ...

Our Christmas was spent in rural Kiwitea, just north of Feilding, at my daughter and her family’s smallholding.  We were staying in our caravan, tucked around behind the house.  Just through the trees was the chicken run, and we could hear the chooks cluck clucking away.   I went with Nicky into the chook run to feed them some scraps and see how they were getting on.

Daughter Nicky with one of her hens

Grand-daughter Emma welcomed us with a pre-Christmas gift, home baked Christmas fruit mince pies and shortbread, such a lovely surprise.

Pre-Christmas gift from Emma

Emma loves ...

Christmas is coming fast, and there are last minute things to tick off the list as we are packing the caravan.  I’ve wrapped the family presents, including those three pair of secret socks which took me ages to knit.  We are taking our (half) Christmas ham away with us but where was the ham bag?  A rummage through the linen cupboard, and there it was, tucked away at the back.  There's just a little Christmas baking to do, I’m making my very rich Chocolate Cherry Slice to take away with us.  This was almost a non event ...

I've finally finished stitching a couple of cat mats for Gemma.  As you know, she comes traveling in the caravan with us, and she uses a litter box for toileting.  The box is kept in our shower cubicle and I had a piece of matting underneath to stop it slipping and scratching the lino while we travel.  Not good enough, I reckoned, so thought what I could do to make something that looked nicer.  Quilters always have heaps of fabric tucked away and I had several cat fat quarters, just the thing.  I decided to back the mats with ...

We had beautiful warm weather for our caravan club Christmas Rally, for the most part, anyway.  As often happens, the heavens opened and the rain came down on our last day.  But never mind, it didn't dampen the Christmas spirit.  Our caravan was decorated with the Christmas Cushions, and Santa Bear was perched on the corner of the sofa.

Christmas Cushions and Santa Bear

I found my Christmas Coins tablecloth, safely tucked away, and this was inspired by Jocelyn of https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/   I made this when I saw something similar on her blog some time ago, using ...

We’ve been away about a week now on our travels and starting to head for home.  After leaving our caravan at the Leisureline factory bright and early on Friday morning, we packed up Gemma, and parked the car under a shady tree for Gemma’s comfort, deciding we could safely leave her there for a half  hour while the temperatures were still relatively cool. Now, what’s for breakfast?  There weren't too many customers at that time of the morning, so service was very prompt.  We decided on French Toast for him and poached eggs for her, both ...

It was time to finally head up to Hamilton trip for work to be done on the caravan.  We had bookings made and were all set to go quite some weeks ago, when suddenly  Hamilton went into Level 3 Lockdown because of Covid cases.  That meant we could not travel into the Waikato, nor could businesses deal with the public.  So we waited, and waited, and finally the lockdown was lifted, our new appointments were confirmed, and we were almost on our way.  But……..as I was buckling Gemma’s lead through the seat belt I looked down and noticed ...

We spent last weekend away with our caravan club friends, just a small group this time with four caravans and four motorhomes staying at the Coach House Museum.   A visit to the museum while staying here is always a must.  Inside the museum was a treasure trove of all thing to do with farming and agriculture.  A grand selection of carriages, gigs, carts, plows, all sorts of horse drawn implements.  Even a few early cars which would have been the envy of all in the area at the time.   Shearing, milking, and blacksmith tools, and a great array of John ...

A three day weekend away with our caravan club buddies made for a fun weekend.  We traveled to Kaitoke Regional Park, Upper Hutt, a lovely natural area full of camping areas tucked here and there amongst the trees and down by the river bank. and had a very enjoyable and social time indeed.  Most of our caravan club members arrived on Friday afternoon, and we soon settled in to our chosen area.  There were plenty of other groups enjoying this camp too, caravans motorhomes and plenty of tents were erected, we noticed.  Lots of kids on bikes and plenty of ...

All good things have to come to an end, and our trip away was winding down as the four of us started heading home.  Gemma was her usual relaxed self during our time away – she tolerates the car travel by cuddling up besides me facing backwards.  It’s always a bit scary for her getting from the car to the caravan, but once inside she is perfectly happy and relaxed.

She loves looking out the windows, or just having a snooze

Heading home, our first stop was Ashley Park, north of Wanganui.  It is many years since we have been ...

Finally we are off on a caravan trip - the weekend was spent with our caravan club buddies, not too far away at Betts Farm.  Our previous caravan club rally had been cancelled due to Covid lockdown, as had our planned 3 week trip north.  So there was plenty of news to catch up with our caravan buddies.  The night ended with a lovely sunset, always so nice to see the gorgeous colours in the sky.

Lovely sunset

The weekend rally seemed to be all about eating and a little drinking.  Glenys was celebrating her birthday on Saturday so she rushed ...

So what have I been doing lately?  Cutting some strips to work on my RSC Cobblestone blocks.   Blue is the nominated colour this month so I dug into my bag of batiks to see what I could find.   I do my cutting out on top of the chest freezer, which is just the right height for this job.  But like most jobs these days I have to pace myself so that I don’t affect the muscles on my back.  Just a little at a time and I get there.

Cutting strips for cobblestone blocks

Now for a bit of ...

Last weekend was spent with our caravan club friends camped at a local dairy farm.

Each day the cows walked along the cattle race to the milking shed,one after the other.  There were plenty of newly weaned heifer calves which came rushing over to the fence, just in case we had some extra food or attention to give them.  And what about this big fellow resting under the shelter – he is sure the Dad of these calves.

Baby heifers and a very large bull

As we were staying on a dairy farm, Rally Captain Dennis had organised a milking ...

We have certainly had a busy week.  After our Caravan Club weekend rally we drove down to stay at Petone for several days.  With a couple of appointments during the week at Wellington Hospital it seemed sensible to stay here, then we wouldn't have the long commute from Levin to Wellington and back.

It was nice to meet up with friends during our five days at Petone.  Rae and Bruce from Foxton were also staying here, they had a family 21st birthday to attend, so they decided to stay on site for a couple of nights. They  travel around ...

Over the weekend we stayed with our caravan club buddies at Mt Lees Reserve, a beautiful place surrounded by native forest.  But we did wonder where this elusive mountain was.  Mt Lees has an elevation of only 95 metres, barely noticeable as you drive around, and I couldn’t really find any info on why the area was named Mt Lees. The reserve was created by Ormond Wilson, who inherited 320 hectares of what was part of Ngaio Station.   The homestead was built first, then he set to and planted a huge number of trees.  In 1972 he gifted the ...

I’ve taken both knitting and stitching projects away on the trip.  Must admit I often do knitting in the car while we are traveling, and have finished two little sleeves on the toddler cardigan I’m making and have now started on the back.  I’m not in any hurry with this project, and I’m using up left over wool from my own jumper finished recently.

Knitting in the car, and two sleeves finished

After the Covid scare in Auckland we changes our travel plans are have been moving slowly southwards. We drove along the Desert Road and ...

Have to admit that only a little stitching has been happening, but every bit helps, doesn’t it.  Packed away in my stitching bag is a set of 12 pre-printed small Christmas panels, designed by Bonnie Sullivan, my new hand stitching project.  This was a gift from my penfriend Carol from South Dakota, and has some felt pieces attached.  Here I am working on block number one.

My new stitching project

Our tripping around continues, and it’s always exciting finding “new to us” places  to stay.  We had never heard of Te Anga, a small rural community along SH37 ...

Our three week caravan trip away started off with a weekend rally with our caravan club buddies.  And what fun we had.  There was quite an adventure planned for Saturday, with a trip to Day’s Bay and back on public transport.  Originally we were to travel from Naenae to Wellington by train, but track maintenance was being carried out and the trains were replaced by buses.  Not such a disappointment, as along came a big yellow double decker bus to carry our bunch of OAPs into the big city.  It’s been a while since we were in the ...

We enjoyed a three day weekend way with our caravan club friends, staying in the grounds of Oroua Downs School 30kms away up SH1.  The Maori name Oroua means “place of dredging for shellfish” with the coast not too far away.   The wind blew, and blew, and blew even harder, meaning that it was only comfortable to sit outside on the day we arrived,  buffeting the caravan and trying it’s very best to whistle back down through the Range Hood over the oven.  After that, with the addition of rain, we made good use of the school hall.

Gemma ...