A Visit to Annie's

Isn't this such a lovely looking shop?  Heading back north, we stopped at Ashburton once again for an overnight stop.  We whizzed right past Annie's when we were heading south down the island, so I was determined to call in for a visit on our return trip.  And I wasn't disappointed.  Annie’s Country Quilt Store is based in a 100 year old pioneer cottage, and is chocker-block full of delights. 

Annie’s Country Quilt Store

I had forgotten about owner Rachel’s love of egg beaters, and there they are, still hanging up on a rail.

Rachel’s egg beater obsession

Plenty of goodies in this shop

There was such a lot to look at.  I checked out some patterns, looked at lots of lovely fabric, and purchased a couple of gifts, it’s always handy to get them done ahead of time.  Then two lots of fabric for me, I have projects in mind for these.

These two for future projects

My knitting is coming along well.  I’ve passed the armhole shaping on the back of my cardigan/jacket and now I’m about half way up the back yoke.  I’m really pleased with my progress as you may remember I unraveled the back a while ago as I had not cast on enough stitches and was knitting merrily away before I discovered the error.

Nearly finished the back

So how is the South Island  holiday going, you may be wondering?  We stopped of at Waimate, a lovely little town.  Did you know that there are wallabies in Waimate?  Wallabies were introduced from Australia and released for hunting purposes near Waimate in 1874. Fifty years later, they were recognized as a pest, responsible for destroying pasture, native regeneration, damaging fences and displacing stock. They may look cute, but they are an introduced species and are not welcome.

Waimate has unwanted wallabies

Another claim to fame in Waimate is their white horse high up on the hill.  Retired farmer Norman Hayman and his wife Betty spent three months to prepare the ground and lay 1220 concrete slabs, with a huge 2.5 ton precast head. This was  tribute to the hard working Clydesdale horses who worked  the farms.  On a trip to England, Robin and I spent some time checking out several of the UK’s famous white horses on the hills,  each one was quite unique.

The White Horse of Waimate

We stopped to admire the Silo Art back in town.  Waimate artist Bill Scott painted murals on grain silos at Transport Waimate’s Queen Street yard.  The silos were built by hand in 1920 and were the first of their kind in the country.  Hometown hero  WW11 soldier Eric Batchelor was twice awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous bravery when he served in Italy.  Beside him is Margaret Cruikshank, the first registered woman doctor in New Zealand.  She practiced in Waimate from 1897 until she fell victim to the 1918 influenza pandemic while treating patients.

Silo Art

The reason I was so keen to stop at Waimate was to visit one of the pubs in my “Great Kiwi Pub Crawl” book, and check out the sad story of Ted’s Bottle at the Waihao Forks Hotel. Ted d’Auvergne was having a farewell drink or two with his mates at the pub, waiting for the train to take him to Burnham Military Camp for training before heading off to war.  Ted heard the train coming, and left an unopened bottle of beer on the bar, calling to the publican to “save it until I get back”.  Ted served for two years in the Middle East, was transferred to Greece, and was killed in May 1941 in the Battle of Crete.  The publican saved Ted’s bottle of Ballins XXXX beer, and it is now stored in a case above the bar, engraved with Ted’s battalion insignia.  Each April on Anzac Day, another poppy is placed inside the case, and the locals drink to Ted and all his fallen comrades.  There is a statue of Ted outside the pub, showing him waiting with his kit bag at the station.

Ted’s Bottle at Waihao Forks Hotel

So that's what we have been getting up to the last few days.  We are cutting our holiday short by two weeks,  as Robin has a problem with  his leg and is up to his second lot of antibiotics.  You can imagine the stress we had trying to find a doctor while on holiday and traveling around.  I felt it was better to be cautious and head home a little earlier than we had planned, but  the earliest ferry booking we could get is in ten days time.

Wearable Art in Levin Supermarket

Shoppers at the New World Supermarket in Levin got a first hand look at schoolgirl Eden Parker’s recycled dress.  Eden attends Koputaroa School and her assignment was to make a garment from recycled objects.  Using cardboard, masking tape, chicken wire, toilet rolls, and lots of of the store’s reused plastic shopping bags, the dress has been stopping shoppers in their tracks as they enter the doors on their shopping trip.

This talented young lady is keen to do more fashion design projects in the future, she says.

Lunch and Quilts with Shirley

Come to lunch, Shirley and Lewis invited us, together with our mutual friends Robyn and Barrie.  We couldn’t turn down an invitation like that, could we?  Lunch was delicious.  Chicken and various salads, including Lewis's famous Canadian Potatoe Salad.  And to finish off our meal, Shirley brought in a wonderful trifle – so yummy.  While the blokes were doing a little “male bonding”  the three ladies retired to the sewing room to check out some quilts.  This is her latest creation, all made from stash fabrics, Shirley proudly announced.  The pattern came from her book “Pairing Up – 2 block quilts”, by Nancy Mahoney.

Shirley’s new quilt

She had recently made two new cushions for the settee in the sewing room.  These handsome cushions were made panels purchased a while ago, from a trip to Canada, I believe.  You don’t want to take my photo, she is saying. 

Shirley and her owl cushion

Check out this cute wall-hanging

My friend Shirley is multi-talented and does beautiful paintings too – a talent I certainly don’t have
.

A couple of Shirley’s paintings

We rejoined the men and spent the afternoon reminiscing about our younger days.  Believe it or not, but many years ago when we were all so much younger, Shirley, Lewis, Robin and I spent several days walking the famous Milford Track together.  The walk was hard going at times, but what a sense of achievement we all had when we had completed it.  Those were the days!