Home again

Our three week holiday ended with us attending a weekend rally at Masterton.  This was the first caravan club rally since the months of Lockdown, and it was great to meet up with everyone again.  The rain continued most of the weekend, making things rather wet underfoot, but didn’t really dampen our spirits at all.

Mawley Park Motor Camp, Masterton

The days were fairly free, and several took the opportunity to have a nice lunch out downtown, while others did a grocery shop, all helping out the local economy. The usual club Morning Teas and 4zees took place, and in the evenings Dave had organised a few quizzes for us, to see how our brains survived lockdown. Robin and I did quite well in the general knowledge quiz, coming first equal with another couple!

There was a special occasion on Saturday morning when we had a Flag Breaking Ceremony, for our new club flag.  This had been ordered months ago, but going into lockdown slowed things down and the order was put on hold.  As our longest serving members, Eileen and Geoff were given the honour and asked to pull on the cord to unfurl the flag.

Geoff, Eileen, and Selwyn with the new club flag

After rain showers on Sunday morning, the skies cleared and the sun came out, isn’t that usually the way when it is time to go home?    Then it was time to pack up and head for home, and I made sure I had some knitting ready to do on our journey home.  That’s if Gemma is snoozing on the back seat, it certainly doesn't work if she wants to climb on my lap.

Maybe I’ll get a bit of knitting done

Now we are safely home, after traveling about 1800km during our time away, I can get back into my sewing again.  You may remember that I dropped my sewing machine off to Barry for a service when we started our trip.  As we didn’t come home via his town he is quite happy to drop it around to our home on Friday, when he is down this way.  How’s that for service!  I’m sure I've got things to potter around with and keep me busy till then.

While we were away, I replaced my camera, and luckily got it on sale, so that was good.  The poor thing had a hard life, got dropped several times and one of the dials came off, making life very difficult when I wanted to change the settings. My camera is in constant use, although my grand-daughters thinks it is terribly old fashioned.  “No one uses a camera these days, Nana”, they tell me, as they do clever things with their phones.  Well, I do, I tell them, I’m not much of a cell phone user.

My new camera

Blue Selvedge Sewing, and Anzac Day

The month is rolling on and I’ve completed my last lot of blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This month the colour is light/bright blue and I've been working on my two selvedge projects.  Quite simple sewing, I’ve made a blue selvedge block which will join the other colours to eventually become a bag.  And another little selvedge spool block – I’m making this to hang in my sewing room (spare bedroom in reality).

Last blue blocks for the month

Wonder what colour will be chosen for May?  Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Here in New Zealand and over in Australia our countries have  just celebrated Anzac Day. ANZAC is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, a grouping of several divisions created early in the Great War of 1914–18.  The Anzacs first saw action at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. The small cove where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed was quickly dubbed Anzac Cove. Soon the word was being used to describe all the Australian and New Zealand soldiers fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Later it came to mean any Australian or New Zealand soldier.

This year, because of Covid 19 Lockdown, the first time in more than a century, there'll be no dawn services to commemorate ANZAC Day.  People are encouraged to mark it in their own way, perhaps placing poppies in their letter boxes, or in windows. We have our hand crafted ceramic poppy outside our kitchen window.  This was purchased three years ago when we visited the Great War Exhibition at the historic Dominion Museum in Wellington -   read about our visit here.  And the New Zealand flag is proudly flying from our flagpole.

Our poppy and flag

Giving thanks to all our Anzac heroes, past and present.

A different type of Mending

I was busy doing quite a different type of mending today – stitching up a New Zealand flag.  Robin likes to fly the flag at home, and as the previous flag was getting rather worn, started off the new year with a brand new flag on the flagpole.  But after just a week or so of flapping in the wind, the stitching was coming adrift.  Perhaps, I thought, it might be a good idea to re-stitch all around the outside of the flag.

Mending the flag

It’s just as well I did the mending on the flag, as it wasn’t very well sewn at all.  The double folded hem was just a single fold in some places.  Mind you, this nylon flag was not expensive at all, so I guess we got what we paid for.  But the extra rows of stitching I did will hopefully extend its life a little.  The flag certainly has a hard life, flapping in the wind day after day.

Flying the flag

The New Zealand Flag is the symbol of the realm, government and people of New Zealand. Its royal blue background represents of the blue sea and clear sky surrounding us. The stars of the Southern Cross emphasise this country's location in the South Pacific Ocean. The Union Jack in the first quarter recognises New Zealand's historical origins as a British colony and dominion.

Can you fix my flag?

I was doing an errand of mercy today, Robin asked me if I could fix his flag.  He likes to fly a flag when we are “In Residence” and the stitching around the edge of his New Zealand flag was coming undone.  So it was no trouble at all to find some navy thread, thread up the sewing machine, and stitch around the edge of the flag.  There, all done, that didn’t take too long at all. 

The New Zealand flag

While this one was being repaired, our black and white Silver Fern flag was fluttering in the breeze.   With two different flags Robin can ring the changes, although I notice that the Silver Fern flag often gets brought out when the All Blacks Rugby Team plays an overseas team in a Test Match.  A trip to USA some years ago showed just how popular flying a flag was in that country, and how proud the population is to show their allegiance.  On our return home Robin decided he wanted to start flying our own flag.  We have a collapsible  flagpole which is attached to a post on the front deck.

Silver Fern flag

After my mending stint I decided to work on my shaggy floral quilt and cut out lengths of green fabric for the borders.  But……..oh no, I don’t think I’ve got enough of that fabric left.  So I’m putting that aside until I can go back to that particular out of town shop to get some more.  There is no point in starting the border in case I can’t get what I want and have to change plans.  What a bother!

Happy Independence Day

We were away at a caravan rally over the weekend, and since today is the 4th July, we had a special Independence Day quiz to complete. Now, as a Kiwi, I’m no expert on this subject, but I certainly knew the answers to these two questions.

Q: Who sewed the first American Flag? I know that, Betsy Ross of course.

Q: How many stars and stripes on the first American Flag? The answer of course is 13 stars and 13 stripes.

In June 1776, brave Betsy was a widow struggling to run her own upholstery business. Upholsterers in colonial America not only worked on furniture but did all manner of sewing work, which for some included making flags. According to Betsy, General Washington showed her a rough design of the flag that included a six-pointed star. Betsy, a standout with the scissors, demonstrated how to cut a five-pointed star in a single snip. Impressed, the committee entrusted Betsy with making the first flag.

Happy Independence Day to all those who celebrate this special day.