It must be in the Genes

I’m delighted that my daughter Nicky has taken up sewing with a vengeance lately, and also enjoying doing some hand work.  Now that she as a light airy dedicated sewing room she has been doing such a lot.   She is happy to take any sewing related items off my hands, she said, so I have passed over all sorts of things, buttons, beads, lace, balls of crochet cotton I had accumulated, even feathers which I had purchased for goodness knows what, some time ago.  Plus quite a few crochet hooks which I had gathered up over the years and never ever used.   She likes to make dress up items for Art Deco weekends so I’m sure she will find a use for these items.

While rummaging around recently I came across four white hankies with fine holes stitched around the edges (I'm sure there is a name for this) to do a crotched edge.  Nicky recently taught herself to crochet so I asked if she would be interested in taking them off my hands.  My mother used to do this many years ago and I was always going to learn…… someday.  Within a couple of weeks the hankies started arriving in the post.  Here are the first two, such beautiful fine work, and she is self taught by watching videos.

Two hankies done

And seemingly in no time at all, number three and four arrived, with the message that she had really enjoying doing the edges.  I’m really thrilled that she did this for me.

Edging on four hankies done

But that’s not all, included in the items I had passed on her her a while ago were four stamped cross stitch table mats.  Once again, something I was going to get around to doing.  Probably highly unlikely as I have only ever attempted one cross stitch item before, and that was about 30 years ago!  At our pre-Christmas family lunch last weekend she presented these table mats to me, all finished.

Four cross stitched table mats

If I’m honest I would have to say that Nicky didn't inherit her crotchet and cross stitch skills from me.  She does some dressmaking these days, but is not interested in knitting or quilting.  In her younger years she made gorgeous smocked dresses for her girls, and stitched me a lovely smocked nightie for my 50th birthday.  She has tried her hand at Hardanger, woodwork, and stained glass too, and makes her own soap and cleaning products.  OK, I’ll admit it – she is much cleverer than me!

Cross Stitch Beauties

I attended the Coffee Club Support Group morning run by the Levin Branch of the Cancer Society, and our we had a very interesting speaker. Marion, from St John’s told us all about St John’s Medical Alarms.  Most of the ladies present had a personal alarm and we ourselves are St John’s Supporters, which entitles us to emergency call-outs and ambulance transport to hospital if required.  As we now live outside the Wellington Free Ambulance district, becoming  St John’s members now gives us peace of mind.

Sharon is one of the very busy Cancer Society volunteers who helps out at our Coffee Club mornings.  She is a very talented needle worker and brought along her framed piece of black work embroidery to show us.  She proudly told us that this lovely piece had recently won a silver plate at the Mana Embroidery Group meeting.   And we could see why, it is so beautiful, elegant ladies stitched with black thread with just a little touch of gold.

Sharon’s winning black work embroidery

And Sharon has almost completed her latest creation, full of cute teddies and bunnies with their very own quilt.  I don’t do cross stitch myself, I tried once but failed miserably!  But I can certainly appreciate all the hard work which goes into making one of these beauties.

Sharon with her teddies and bunnies

My quilt club, the Town and Country Quilters, supply a never ending supply of quilts to be displayed at the Cancer Society rooms.  The quilt on show this month had quite a New Zealand flavour.  Designed and stitched by Luchelle Cottrell, it was inspired by NZ artist Shane Hansen and the 10 cent New Zealand coin.  

  “Myth”  by Luchelle Cottrell

Visitors to Winchester House,  the Cancer Society rooms, always enjoy looking at the quilt on display each month.

Dutch Delights

We visited Foxton yesterday to sample some Dutch delights, and join in the 10th Birthday celebrations of De Molen, the 17th century working replica Dutch windmill in the main street.  The ground floor of the windmill serves as a visitors centre and sells authentic Dutch goodies.  The volunteers on duty inside the shop were all dressed in costume, and was the accordionist who was seated in the doorway playing merrily away while we filed past. 

Two pretty young Dutch girls

For just the price of a gold coin donation we could climb the steep stairs to the upper floors.  We sat for a while and watched the video which told how the windmill was built and how it all works.  Photos of the windmill build covered the walls, as well as some interesting textiles.  I walked over to admire a lovely framed cross stitch panel showing windmills through Holland.  Someone has put an an awful amount of work into this panel.

Cross stitch windmill sampler

Also hanging up was another pretty panel, a  commercial piece showing a young girl in a field of tulips, with a windmill in the background.  What could be more Dutch than that?  It seemed to me that the local Dutch community had donated (or perhaps loaned) these items to the windmill trust.

Pretty panel hanging up inside the windmill

We had a good look around the windmill interior and another volunteer dressed in costume explained the workings as we watched all the wheels and cogs moving together, driven by the power of the wind.  Through the window we could see the large blades as they kept swishing round and round.  Down the steep staircases we climbed, going backwards as suggested, to have a look around the gift shop.  After seeing how it all worked, we couldn’t leave without purchasing a bag of stone ground wholemeal flour, and a selection of Dutch biscuits from the ground floor shop. I’ll use some of that flour when I next make a batch of bread.

Dutch goodies from the shop

Organ music was calling us as we made our way outside, and we saw the prettiest pink painted organ.  Built in 1880 in Paris, the organ was sent to Amsterdam in 1903 where it played on the streets up until WW11.  All street organs were banned from operating by the German occupying forces in 1942, and this organ was hidden away to keep it safe. After the war it came out to play tunes again, before being sold and shipped to USA.  The organ arrived in New Zealand in 2001 in a very bad state and has been completely transformed back to working order and a new life.

Beautifully decorated organ on display

We sat outside eating our tasty lunch of of Dutch sausages served with mustard and sauerkraut, and Ollie-bollen, similar to a doughnut -  a deep fried pastry filled with raisins and dusted with icing sugar, while the organ music swirled all around us.  We had such a lovely morning out sampling all sorts of Dutch delights!

De Molen windmill, Foxton

Cross Stitch Galore

Tucked away in Expressions Gallery was an exhibition of work by the Upper Hutt Cross Stitch Club.  In 1990 a group of women interested in cross stitch formed a club to attract other interested people to this art form.  Their aim is to encourage members to expand their cross stitch horizons.  Twenty years on, and the club is celebrating this anniversary with their latest exhibition in the Rotary Foyer, at Expressions Gallery.  With 40 items on display, there was a great range of colourful framed pictures and other items to look at.  I noticed several made especially to celebrate the birth of a new baby, and a wedding or two.  A couple had  been made by turning photos into a working graph made from photos – I understand  that their are computer programmes available that do this.  “Good  Neighbours”, by Maria Zoetebier was stitched in lovely pastel colours.  While the neighbours were chatting away, the quilt was left casually on the wicker porch swing.

“Good Neighbours”

A nice assortment of bags, scissor pouches, needle cases, bookmarks, and other small items  were under glass in a cabinet.  I always love to ponder over small pieces like this to see exactly what they are.

Two bags and lots of smaller items

A horse drawn carriage, lamp lights, long dresses and falling snow all speak of a Victorian street setting.  Wonder if it is London?  This is by Claire Maich and is called “a Gracious Era”.  

“A Gracious Era”

A cross stitched cushion proclaiming “Welcome” by Pat Cudby nestled on top of a cross stitched baby blanket.  With colourful ABC’s around the edge, this was stitched  by Teresa Keown, and was a lovely work of art to welcome a new baby.

Cushion and baby’s ABC blanket

“Memories of a visit to the Isle of Man” was a nice little framed cross stitch showing the island, shipping, a Manx cat,  and places of interest.  This was stitched by Ruth Maclachlan, and would certainly be a wonderful reminder of a holiday trip.

“Memories of a visit to the Isle of Man”

There was one quilt on display, with all members of the club working on the cross stitched flowers.  Called “Friendship and Flowers”, it is very pretty in pinks and blues, and I wonder if everyone had turns to take it home for a while.

“Friendship and Flowers”

I have only dabbled with cross stitch myself and didn’t really like it, but I knew that there was a little tray cloth that I had done many years ago.  After hunting through the linen cupboard I finally found it.  Not counted cross stitch, but stitched over “crosses” printed on the fabric.  Here it is, not up to exhibition standard, but something I’ve completed, never the less.  Think I’ll stick to patchwork and quilting, it’s much more my style!

My own cross stitch item