Sew Wot Tuesday and Goodbye dear friend

 It was a Sew Wot Tuesday with a difference this week, Helen had arranged for us to meet  at Fox's Cottage quilt shop.  This is my favourite LQS and we are always warmly welcomed once we step through the door.

It was a nice sunny Autumn day

Believe it or not, there was not a single item for Show and Tell this week.  But we made up for it by checking out the shop, and most of us purchased a few goodies.  I had a very small list, I needed more pink thread to continue with my machine applique on my secret sewing project.  And I was also looking for some poppy fabric for a border on a small Anzac wall hanging I'm planning.  I didn't care for the several fabric choices with a black background, they looked much too dark for what I wanted.  And then Helen produced a pretty poppy fabric on a lemon background.  Seems this one had fallen behind all the others and was just recently discovered.  That one will suit me nicely, I decided.

My poppy fabric purchase

The staff at Fox's Cottage love it when the Sew Wots come, as there is always plenty of goodies for them to eat as well.   They sat down and joined us for morning tea.

Plenty of morning tea for all

Here we all all, with one absence

That evening I received a very upsetting phone call.  My long time childhood friend Merilyn had passed away suddenly.  That was hard to believe as I had just been chatting to her on the phone in the weekend, and we were talking about us both turning 80 this year.  We met in primary school, and I remember going away on several Christmas camping holidays with her parents.  We grew up, married and had babies, and then she moved down to Dunedin in the South Island.  Over the years we have caught up when she travelled up this way, or we had a South Island caravan trip, writing letters in the early days  and many phone calls.  When we talked, it was just like we had never been apart.  I feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful friend for practically my whole life, and will miss her terribly.  This really hit me hard, as I'm still struggling with losing Robin too.

Merilyn and I at a beach camping holiday

A lifetime of wonderful memories

Out and About

 I've been out and about lately.  The other day I traveled down to Waikanae to visit my friend Trish who had recently moved from the Hutt Valley to her new home.  Rather than drive I took the bus down, which is free for oldies like me.  This bus route only travels on Tuesdays and Thursdays, departing from my home town at 9.00am then leaving Waikanae Railway Station  at 3.00pm.  Many locals take this trip down to Waikanae to then get the train into Wellington.

Trish collected me from the station and drove me back to her  new home.  Being brand new, everything is fresh, bright and airy, it was lovely indeed.  After a look around, we had coffee outside on the patio.  The day was glorious, fine, warm and sunny, a very pleasant  Autumn day indeed.  The village Trish has moved to is still under construction, and we watched as builders were climbing up and down the scaffolding with ease, obviously all fit young men with good balance, well used to working at heights.

New Summerset Village

Trish was keen to take us out to lunch at the cutest little pink bakery/cafe I've ever seen.  You could tell it was very popular with the locals as there was a steady stream of workers coming in to get their pies, bread rolls, sweet treats and coffees to take away.  This business was close by the beach so I could imagine workers sitting in their work trucks enjoying their lunch watching the waves roll it.  

Olde Beach Bakery

We sat in the courtyard to enjoy our lunch.  I was going to have a bread roll but they were huge, big man sized rolls for a hungry workman to devour but I didn't think I could manage one at all.  So we both ordered a French pastry and a nice hot coffee, chatting away under the shade outside.  Several customers had their dogs with them in the courtyard, the animals were well behaved sitting quietly at their owners feet and no bother at all.

Al Fresco lunch on a lovely sunny day

Then we drove down to Paraparaumu to the Mall to have a look around the shops.  Goodness me, a nice light jacket jumped into my bag and came home with me!  This is the same shopping mall I got lost in and couldn't find the correct exit last month when I took the coach tour trip to overnight in Wellington for dinner and a show.  Luckily Trish has a better sense of direction than me and we made it safely back to her car, and then drove back to Waikanae for me to get the bus home again.  I had a lovely time out and will certainly use the bus again in the future.  I may even hop on the train for an adventure, next time, that would be exciting!

The previous week I booked a seat on the Health Shuttle to Palmerston North -  it was time for my annual mammogram.  I was a little early so I sat and did  some knitting to pass the time.  These thick wooly socks hadn't seen the light of day for quite some time, so I was pleased to progress them a little further.  

Cozy socks for winter

Once the mammogram was done, I just sat and waited a short time till the shuttle collected me to take me back.  This is a wonderful service to get to health appointments, most people go to the hospital, but drop offs are made to other health venues as well.  All for the price of a donation.  Robin used to have a regular slot on the Heath Shuttle timetable and really enjoyed his time there.  

Stitching Yellow

Yellow is the RSC colour of the month, and I've done a little  stitching for my  block sets.  Not much yellow at all in my bag of 2.5in squares to make my framed four patches, but it just had to do.  I'm using those squares up, not cutting new ones.  And I cut some yellow strips for my black and white blocks.

Yellow RSC blocks

I enjoyed a lunch out with friends this week, I have known these ladies for over 40 years, so we go back a while.  Robin and I have been meeting up with Shirley and Robyn about every three months for lunch.  Their husbands have passed away, and I joked that "Robin was the last man standing" in our group last time we met last November.  Little did I know that his time was drawing near, and we only had 8 days left together.  This time, Trish joined us for lunch as well.

Trish, Jenny, Shirley and Robyn

We enjoyed a tasty lunch, reminisced about our younger days, and put the world to rights.  Trish had brought along some lovely apples off her tree for us all, and while decluttering had found several candles to pass on to me.  I had told her that I was lighting a candle in the evenings for Robin.

She had also brought along some photos from our SLG days.  I said I'd look at them when I was home, just in case I got tearful seeing them.  What a treasure trove of memories.  This one was taken in the 80s I think, not long after we were married.  We all had dark hair back then

Jim, Trish, Jenny and Robin out for a bush walk

This was taken at in 1994 at a Vice Versa party

Such a lot of special memories in the envelope of old photos.

A little more Blue

 I've finished the last of the blue sewing for RSC this month.    I'm on a quest to use up the last remaining few selvedge strips this year and found a small handful of blue ones.  So, another double handed oven mitt was created.   Just like the pink  ones I stitched last month, there were just enough strips to use on the top of the pockets, and I used dark blue fabric for the rest.  Insulbrite and toweling in the middle, and hessian (sacking) on the back.

Blue for February

So that is two oven mitts I've made so far, and I have selvedges in several colours to use up during the year.  I'm quite pleased with how these are turning out, and will probably keep them for gifts, my daughter and two granddaughters are all keen cooks.

What else have I been doing?  I met up with a friend for lunch during the week, and sad to say I got a little lost finding the place.  As I tell people, I'm sometimes navigationally challenged, even when I've been somewhere before.  Robin used to do all the driving, and I just sat back and did some knitting, not really taking too much notice of where we were.  Luckily, I found the cafe at the end, parked up, and look, there is Trish in the car beside me!  She had only just arrived too, so that was good timing.

Harrisons Garden-world

Harrisons has a cafe attached and we debated where to sit, deciding on the indoor area.  There was plenty of space outside under sun umbrellas, but the morning had been rather drizzly, so we decided not to risk it and stayed indoors.  We had a nice lunch, and a good catch up.  Then we had a look around the shop.  Look what I spotted, the resident cat, tucked up nice and comfy in his basket.  Trish couldn't resist giving him a pat.

Hello, puss

I purchased some candles, as I'm lighting one each night for Robin, and wanted to have a few extra.  These sounded very nice, lavender and vanilla scented.  

After a pleasant time out, we said our goodbyes, and went on our way.  I was heading north, and Trish was driving south.  That pesky drizzle had stopped, and the sun had come out, so it was a pleasant drive home.

What's on the Table

 This tablecloth dates back to 2012 when we traveled to the South Island with three other caravans for a three month trip.  I took along some pre sewn  rail fence blocks made up of strips of New Zealand inspired fabrics alternating with pale grey and my Micron ink pen. 

Table cloth documenting our mammoth South Island trip

 Our old cat Muffy was 16 years old back then and we had always placed her in a cattery when we traveled.  But I worried that at her age she might die while we were away, so we took her on  her very first caravan trip, and what a long one it was.  Although she was very unsettled during the ferry trip, she settled down surprising well.  Within a week of being on the road she was reasonably comfortable with the big change in her life.

And here we all were, full of excitement,  traveling down on the Inter Islander Ferry with our friends. Sadly, Robin and Geoff C are no longer with us.

Robin, Jenny, Dot, Pauline, Eileen, Geoff T, Derek, Geoff C, way back in 2012

And what a time we had,  Each  night I would get my Micro pen out and write down, where we stayed, the places we explored, and special sights we had seen.  The writing has faded now over all these years, but the memories are still there.

Writing on the blocks each night

We drove down the east coast,  stopping at all sorts of interesting places and reached Invercargill.  This was quite memorable for our old cat Muffy, as she found some cat nip growing where we were parking up overnight and rolled on the warm concrete in ecstasy!

I think Muffy overdosed on cat nip

We traveled back through Central Otago, and over to the West Coast, back over to Picton, and finally taking the ferry back to Wellington. The scenery of the South Island of New Zealand can only be described in superlatives, such as majestic, stunning, and sensational. With vistas of mountains, rugged peaks, glaciers, rain forests, fiords, rivers, lakes, hot mineral springs, wild coastlines, streams and estuaries, and rolling farmland, each day brought us more wonderful views to marvel over. Each of these wonderful places was faithfully recorded on the rail fence blocks, and the memories will live on each time I use my  table cloth, completed in June 2012.  Eileen had donated me the colourful kiwi fabric which I used for the backing, border and binding.  I think her original intention was to use this fabric to make something for her grandchildren, which never happened.

Completed in June 2012

Our Toyota Land Cruiser towed the caravan 3973km around the South Island, and then we drove a staggering 3413km without the caravan on the back,  tiki touring around.  A grand total of 7386kms for the trip, and we used 1417 litres of diesel.  And all this travelling cost us $2292.17 and our fuel consumption averaged out at approx 18 litres per 100 kilometres.  Goodness knows what the cost of the fuel would be these days, 14 years later.

A Little Show and Tell

 My friends Robyn, Shirley and myself take turns hosting a lunch every few months.  Sadly, their husbands have passed away, but the six of us used to get together in earlier years.  Robyn was the hostess this week, so it was us three girls plus my Robin.  The last man standing, they joke.

After our tasty lunch and a good catch-up we had some show and tell.  Robyn and Shirley both do a little quilting and Shirley had brought along a couple of things to show us.  She had recently finished this top featuring nine patches and snowball blocks on point, a donation quilt.  I must remember this design, it's very nice and simple, and would use up all sorts of bits and pieces of fabric lying about.

Donation quilt top made by Shirley

Next was a child's quilt with the individual blocks made by members of Shirley's quilt club.  Shirley took it home and did the binding - another donation quilt.

Shirley did the binding on this one

And I had  brought along my two recent finishes.

My recent quilts

Robyn then brought out the nine patch quilt she is working on for her daughter.  Another great use of scraps.

Robyn's quilt top

Then she showed us the lovely quilt on her bed, no we hadn't seen this one before.  Lovely restful colours and I'm always rather partial to stars.

On Robyn's  bed

After a very pleasant afternoon we said our goodbyes and dropped Shirley home.  It's always so nice to catch up with these old friends, we go back quite a long time.

Then in the evening I went to my quilt club meeting.  We were asked to bring four strips of fabric, 14 in by 4 ins to make "No Sew Christmas Stars".  The club member showing us how to make these was very patient, a lot of us were all fingers and thumbs as we struggled with our strips of folded fabric.  But we got there in the end, and here is mine.  I think the secret is to keep the strips pulled up tight.

No Sew Christmas Star

Watch out for Pirates

 Watch out - the pirates have arrived, rattling their cutlasses and flying the Jolly Roger Flag!  These pirates were a RSC start in January this year.  I had a piece of pirate fabric and cut it into squares to make Happy Blocks.  All the colours of the rainbow were not represented in this fabric, so I made blocks bordered with green, red, yellow and light and  dark blue.

Pirate blocks bordered in green

As the  months rolled by the other blocks were made in the appropriate colours, and then I had fifteen.  It was time to assemble them this month, I decided.  I also had another piece of fabric featuring pirate ships, so used that as a border.  Both of the pirate fabrics were given to me from the stash of my elderly neighbour Dorothy, when she was moved to a rest home a couple of years ago.  It's good to put some more of her kiddies fabrics to good use.

Pirate top assembled and the binding made

I'm pleased with the progress, now have to get this layered up and quilted.  Hopefully in the next few weeks or so.

Spring has sprung here is New Zealand, and our clocks have moved onto Daylight Saving time.    Some people are opposed to this, but I think it's great, meaning even longer Spring and Summer twilight time.  Trees are in blossom, Spring bulbs are flowering, the birds are singing, what could be nicer.

My friend Dot and I checked out a newly opened and refurbished cafe on a rather wet morning this week.  The building was the old Court House from many years ago, and is surrounded with lovely rose gardens.

Courthouse Cafe

The cafe was certainly busy, full to overflowing, and I imagine many people were like us, checking it out to see what it was like.  Our morning tea was very nice, people kept coming and going, it was a  very busy place indeed.  The only downside was that there was no off street parking available, so we had to find a park on an adjacent street and walk over.  Not so  bad for us, but elderly people using walkers or sticks may find it a bit difficult.  Yes, we decided, we would go back again.

Beanies and Donations

 I've been (slowly) knitting beanies using some donated wool from a group which does knitting and sewing for those in need.  Beanies for men were needed so from the big box of wool I chose some brown and a smaller ball of cream.  This group does good work for the community but the day of the week they meet doesn't suit me so I've decided not to join them after all.  But of course I needed to pop in and return the beanies to them.  I managed to get three large and one child's beanies out of the wool I had, with just a tiny bit left over.  So I'm really pleased with that.  

Beanies for donation

I've also donated the remaining two unicorn cushions I made earlier, these are going to Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, and I'm sure a couple of young girls will enjoy them.  The drop off point is a wool shop in Paraparaumu Beach, which worked out well, as we were traveling down to the area to meet friends for lunch.

These two will be finding new homes

We met our friends at Club Vista, a place we hadn't visited before.  The lovely big windows in the restaurant have a great view over the Returned Services Memorial and Kapiti Island in the background.

Club Vista and the views from the 1st floor restaurant windows

We enjoyed a wonderful meal with our friends, a great lunch, and it's always so nice to have a good catch up with old friends.

High Tea

 What a delightful afternoon we had.  My friend Dot and I attended the Daffodil Day High Tea, a fundraiser for the Cancer Society.

There were raffles on sale, so I purchased tickets in several gift baskets, they always look enticing.  And there was a sales table too, manned by the volunteer ladies from the Cancer Society.  I bought two jars of homemade jam, plus some shortbread biscuits.  All for a good cause.

The beautifully decorated tables soon filled up.  

Fancy cups and saucers were set out at each place setting.  And a little later, the food arrived.  Sandwhiches, and savouries first, then the fancy tiered cake plates arrived with little dainty cakes and slices.  Plus scones with jam and cream, and delicious sticky chocolate eclairs.  We certainly didn't go hungry.

Lots of tasty goodies

Pupils from the local High School were busy refilling our cups with tea or coffee, and brought the food out to each table.  

The tea and coffee brigade

Our Mayor, Bernie Wanden was MC for the afternoon.  He spoke of the dedication of the Cancer Society volunteers, and everyone else who helped with the food, raffles, kitchen duties, and thanked us all for coming to support the fund raising afternoon.

Dot and Jenny

It was a lovely afternoon indeed.  And as for those raffles - no luck at all, I didn't win a thing.

Happy Birthday Socks

 Now they have been received, I can show the birthday socks knitted for my long term friend from my schooldays, Merilyn.  These were rather special as I used Merilyn's double knit cream home spun wool which she had sent to me, plus a commercial sock yarn.  These two yarns knitted up to triple knit, or 12ply, and make a lovely cozy pair of socks.  This is what remains.

The left overs

I've hunted high and low for a photo of the completed socks, to no avail.  But I can show this one, looks like I have just finished the heels, and was now starting on the feet.  I knit my socks flat, two at a time, and when completed, stitch up the side seams.  The coloured sock yarn knits up as little specks of colour throughout with Merilyn's cream home spun, quite a nice effect.  Sometimes you just don't know how the colours will turn out till you get started.  

Birthday socks for Merilyn

We had a nice chatty phone call, and she is thrilled with her socks, they fit perfectly, she said.  That's a relief, I made them to fit me, and as we are a similar size, just hoped our feet were too.  Here is a photo of us together earlier in the year, when Merilyn and her hubby came up to Wellington for her brother's funeral.

Old school friends together

As for my other knitting, it's coming along slowly.  I've two pair of socks on the go, plus a blue wool cardigan for me.  I had wanted to do an easy lacy pattern, but try as I might, it just didn't work out.  I'd knit the lacy row, and find out I had an extra stitch somewhere along the way, that just doesn't do in lacy patterns does it.  After unravelling my knitting for the fourth time, I'd had enough, and decided to do a simple textured pattern instead.  I just wanted a design simple enough that I could sit and knit without thinking too much in the evenings, or while knitting in the car.  This will be a long term project - after all, I will have to keep knitting socks too, won't I.

My new knitting project, the colour is more blue than shown here

Unicorns for Charlotte

 You may remember that I stitched pretty little quilt featuring unicorns a while ago.  It started like this, a cute panel that was looking for a new home, courtesy of Sew Wot member Helen.  The unicorns popped into my bag quick smart - I was sure that I could do something nice with them.  Gemma thought so too, as she inspected the panel.

Approved  by Gemma

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.  Serpentine quilting finished off the quilt,  and then I enjoyed sitting and hand stitching the binding down, always my favourite part of the process.  

Our friends were visiting a month or so ago and Trish spotted the unicorn quilt on my quilt rack.  "My great-grand daughter loves unicorns", she exclaimed.  So it was packed up for Trish to pass on to Charlotte.  I was happy for the quilt to go to a little girl who loves unicorns.

Charlotte drew me a picture as a thank you, how sweet was that!  Trish has mentioned several times that Charlotte loves her "blanket".  It's a quilt, I gently remind her.

We have a monthly get-together with these long term friends.  In the old days when we were all so much younger and fitter we would climb hills, go for long walks, and explore all sorts of interesting places.  Over the years our numbers have declined from 12 to just 5.  These days we mostly "do lunch",  and they joined us for lunch during the week at a local cafe.  Yummy food, and plenty of chatter, putting the world to rights. 

Jenny, Helen, Calvin, Robin and Trish

Then it was back to our home for coffee and cake, and even more chatter.  The day was a lovely calm and sunny winter's day, although certainly getting cooler.  Gemma came to see who the visitors were, wound herself around peoples legs, then jumped up onto Robin for a cuddle.

Robin and Gemma

It was a lovely relaxing day, catching up with old friends.