What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 You know what it's like when you set off on holiday - you seem to have all the time in the world and then it's all over.  We were attending our caravan club rally in Napier, with plenty of plans, people to see, things to do, plus a little shopping.  It didn't all fall nicely into place though.  On my "must do list" was a visit to Skeinz, a local company which spins their own wool.  I had found a pretty 6ply cardigan pattern for myself and was after some yarn.   Of course there were several lovely colours ...

 Happy Valentine's Day to all.  I had to educate Robin about St Valentine - he didn't realise that there was indeed such a person.  St Valentine was martyred on 14th February in the year 269 under instructions of Emperor Claudius 11 for helping Christian couples wed.

I like to bring out my bed quilt "Hearts of Love" for the months of November, our wedding month, and again in February, for Valentine's Day.  The heart blocks were received some years ago when I took part in a block swap.  Then I assembled the quilt using star blocks as part ...

 Last weekend we had a caravan trip away to Whanganui, stopping overnight on the way at Duddings Lake.  What a pretty, peaceful place this was.  We decided to camp off power so left the crowded motor camp behind and parked up around the lake on a large grassy area.  There were several caravans and campervans parked here, but plenty of room  between is all.

Our lakeside camping spot

The lake must be very healthy as we noticed plenty of bird life, and the frogs serenaded us in the evening.  How often do we hear frogs, we commented.  Their calls are ...

The lazy, sunny days at Napier were coming to a close.  There really is nothing nicer than sitting under the awning, doing a little knitting or stitching, and chatting away with our friends.  Gemma discovered one of the locker doors open, and wasted no time jumping in to see what she could find.  Sorry Gemma, there’s nothing very interesting in there at all, just a cozy place to curl up.

Gemma in the locker

On our last day in camp we arranged to go out to lunch with Helen and Owen – where to but the Silky Oak Chocolate café ...

Generally, we spend New Year fairly quietly, but we had a family birthday celebrate.  This year we spent a very wet New Year’s Eve with my nephew Shane who was turning 60.  Shane is the eldest grandchild on the maternal side, the first child of my late sister Kathleen and hubby Dennis.   It is a tradition in this family to prepare and cook a hangi for special occasions, and this Shane did with a little help.  Not a “hole in the ground” traditional hangi, but rather one cooked in a stainless steel container, heated with gas, but still using ...

We have moved on from the family small holding after four very pleasant and relaxed days.  Before we arrived, I was a little worried about the family dog and how he would react to a strange cat on his property.  Noodle would come and look at Gemma through the closed screen door.  Then one morning Robin had the screen door open, Gemma was on her lead, and the two met nose to nose!  I was amazed that nothing untoward happened.  It may well have been a different story if Gemma was outside the safety of the caravan door.

First meeting ...

Pre Christmas is such a busy time, isn't it.  We had another caravan trip planned, about 8 days this time, to attend the ICA Christmas Rally, up at Te Aroha and Matamata, quite a drive away for us.  Most of the ICA members live much further north than us, so depending on where the rally is being held, we generally have the longest drive.  Our first stop was at Turangi, a well known fishing area.  There was a tap  on the door, and a lady asked us if we would be interested in a trout fillet.  My goodness, of ...

I have another finish to show, and no, I haven't whipped this up after returning home last week from our Anniversary trip.  This was completed a week or so earlier.  It all started with a unicorn panel looking for a new home  from Sew Wot buddy Helen’s stash.  Gemma thought those unicorns were well worth checking out.

Unicorn panel

So I cut the panels apart, sashed them with different fabrics from my stash, assembled the blocks and added a purple border.  Then one sunny day I pinned the three layers together on the patio table outside.

Next step ...

Our Anniversary Trip was winding down.  But I did have time for a little shopping therapy.  Not much really, I was after some cream  wide backing for a project nearing completion, and while there picked up two half yard cuts of pink and green fabric for my daughter’s upcoming big birthday quilt. Nicky doesn't like “bright – in your face” types of colours so I found a couple of muted shades for her.

Holiday fabric purchases

You know you have arrived in Rotorua when that “rotten egg sulphur smell” hits your nose.  Not all the time, just here and ...

Sunday arrived, our 40th Anniversary.  After breakfast, we drove out to one of the things on our “must do” list, the Redwoods Treewalk.  Driving into the carpark, we noticed walkways in the trees above criss crossing overhead.  Tickets purchased, we were given a briefing about allowable numbers on the walkways and platforms, and don't touch the trees as it can harm the bark, we were on our way up the spiral walkway.

The start of the walk

We weren't sure how we would both manage up in the tree tops, but it was very easy walking indeed.  The ...

Our 40th Anniversary was fast approaching so we needed to decide how we wanted to celebrate.  I'm the social secretary in this household and after throwing a few ideas around, we decided on an Anniversary Trip, ending up in Rotorua.  This is where we spent our honeymoon, all those years ago!  But first, we needed to drive through to Ohaupo, Hamilton, the collect the caravan.  Our caravan Romany Rambler had been driven up to Leisureline Ohaupo just a week before Robin’s knee replacement operation, and left there for some work to be done.  They kindly stored it for ...

I was the Sew Wot hostess on Tuesday and it was nice to welcome everyone here.  Jude’s birthday wasn't quite over, and she received two more gifts to open.  What was inside, I wondered?  Pretty fabric and fancy soaps, we discovered.  It’s just as nice watching the gifts being opened in anticipation from the sidelines, I think.

Happy extended birthday, Jude

I received an early birthday gift from Heather, plus a pretty little hand picked posy from her garden.  Can I keep this gift till my birthday, I inquired?  Of course I could, so I will look ...

There was time for a little more RSC sewing with aqua and teal this week.  My girls Happy Blocks were first, although I could only find two charm squares in this colourway.  They will get added into the big pile and I will need to have a count up to see how many I have.

Happy Blocks for my girls quilt

I knew exactly how many boys Happy Blocks I needed to stitch to get the required number, but not a single  aqua block was stitched.  However, I sewed a selection of other colours instead, depending on what boys charm ...

There was one more lot of  Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks in yellow to finish up this week, my Horizon blocks.  This will be a donation quilt and I’m making it as suitable for an older or teenage boy, with the backgrounds being a mixture of black and grey.  The monthly splash of colours with a 1.5in stripe look good against the dark backgrounds, I think.  Nice and simple, just how I like it for donation quilt blocks.  I need to lay these out and do and count, to see how many more of these are required.

Horizon blocks ...

I've had such a busy time out in the last week or so, one social outing after another.  And no, its not usually like that at all, everything just came at once.  We have been meeting up with a group of friends each month.  In the early years when we were much younger and fitter, we would go walking up and down hills, along the coast line, travel out out town for weekends away, visit gardens, exhibitions  and museums, all sorts of things.  As the years went by our numbers have dwindled as friends have passed away, and of ...

We've been away on a caravan trip for the last week or so.  Our destination was Cambridge, and we had a nice leisurely time getting there.  The first stop was the Gumtree Motorhome Park at Taihape.     Checking out the sign, I wondered what the overseas visitors would think, there are no koalas in New Zealand.  Although there were plenty of gum trees in the park.

Gemma travels quite well in the car, but I suspect she just puts up with it.  But once we get to our destination, she bounds into the caravan, jumps up on the bed, and ...

It’s the winter solstice here – the shortest day and the longest night.  You know what that means – it’s time to change the seasonal quilts.  Down came the Autumn wall-hanging, to be replaced with Welcome Winter.  I know we don't have the hardship of snow on the ground where we live here in New Zealand, but I rather like this little wintry piece.  It was a kit sent to me by my quilting penfriend from South Dakota.

Welcome Winter

International Maples has been hung over the sofa, and the black background makes it a winter quilt in my ...

Autumn has well and truly arrived.  Cool mornings and evenings, the sun is rising later and setting earlier, but we are still enjoying nice crisp sunny days.  It’s time to ring the changes and hang my Autumn quilt up.  I love the rich golden colours in this quilt.  The centre baskets came in a kit sent to me from my pen friend  in South Dakota.  I wanted to make it bigger so put the baskets on point and added borders to make it a wall hanging size.  This was the first time I tried circular spiral machine quilting.

Baskets ...

Our beautiful Birman Gemma is five years old today, happy birthday!   To celebrate she is having her favourite meal tonight, Jimbo's beef, which she adores.  She is a bit of a drama queen and likes to lay stretched out on the floor, so that we have to bend down and rub her tummy!  And tell her how beautiful she is too, of course.

Waiting to be admired, stretched out on the floor

When I saw this machine embroidered tea towel recently, I just had to buy it for her birthday, that’s Gemma through and through.  Of course, she ...