My Quilt Ladder, and Christmas Slow Stitching

Just in time for Christmas, I've received my new hand crafted quilt ladder.  Robin had found a plan to make one of these on the internet, and asked his Menz Shed builder friend for advice.  While he was in hospital getting his second knee replacement, and the subsequent eight weeks recovery time, Brian the builder took the job over for him.  He measured the timber, cut and assembled the ladder for Robin - how kind of him.  Once Robin could comfortably stand on his knee again, he took over the sanding and the wood staining.  And then brought it home to me.  As you can image, I was thrilled, I’ve wanted one of these for such a long time.

Christmas quilts on the quilt ladder

I haven't any slow stitching this week to show you, so I thought you might like to have a closer look at my Christmas Alphabet quilt which is displayed on the quilt ladder.

Alphabet Noel

Alphabet Noel was designed by Australian Michelle Ridgway, and I enlarged the designs.  I also changed a couple of the pictures on the alphabets to better suit me, and added four more of of Michelle’s designs in each corner.

So  what else have we been doing?  We received another Covid booster last week – no trouble at all afterwards, luckily.  And we had our final pre Christmas get together with friends.  We met our friends Calvin and Helen at Boulcott Golf Club Café in Lower Hutt.  The large car park was very full indeed, and we drove slowly around looking for an empty car park.  As well as people coming out for lunch, there were obviously plenty of golfers out enjoying their time on the golf course.

We pursued the menu and checked out the cabinet food.  There were several large tables full of other pre Christmas diners too, so the service was a little slow as the staff worked hard to serve the meals.  What to have – I chose Bubble and Squeak (don’t often see that on a menu) with a side of sliced salmon, and Robin had fish and chips.  With so many people dining, I decided not to ask the busy staff to take a photo, so we did it ourselves instead.  As always, there was plenty to chat about, our plans for Christmas, family, and our absent friend Trish, who sadly had just come home from a week in hospital.

Jenny and Robin, Helen and Calvin

This area is of historical significance from the early years of settlement.  The golf club is situated off Military Road and there is a large stone memorial on the corner of the road marking the site of Boulcott’s Farm Stockade.  This tells the story of the attack on the stockade during the Maori Wars.  On 16th May 1846 over 200 Maori warriors from Wanganui attacked the stockade and were fought off by a garrison of 50 men of the 58th Regiment.  The bodies of six Imperial soldiers who fell were buried nearby.

Memorial Stone

With just one week till Christmas I’m pleased the social commitments are over.  I can do with some spare days at home to get ready for our time away, do some baking, and pack the caravan.  The countdown to Christmas is always very busy, isn't it.