The Old Drapery of Ophir

Tiny Ophir is considered one of the most authentic and significant settlements still surviving from gold mining days.  The town sprang up almost overnight back in the 1860s, but sank into near obscurity when the gold dwindled and the railway bypassed the town.  This probably helped to save many of the historic buildings.  The ladies of the area would have spent many an hour in this shop, The Old Drapery, buying their fabric, needles and threads.

  The Old Drapery

This early building was owned by Mrs Ellen Craig and rented out to tenants over the years.

A peek through the windows

The Old Drapery, together with many other buildings in the village, is currently being restored.  What a lovely little place Ophir is, well worth a stop and a leisurely look around.

Large stones holding the roof in place – a work in progress

The Hayes of Otureua

While our men-folk were immersed in the tools, machinery and fittings of Hayes Engineering Works, us girls looked around the lovely old homestead.  All the buildings on the property are administered by the Historic Places Trust.

  The Hayes Homestead

The family produced bricks for their new house, but work stopped on this project during WW1 and the bricks were hidden away.  Brick making recommenced again and the homestead was completed in 1920, taking two years to build.  The home is in original condition, right down to the wallpaper. 

The kitchen, with airing rods over the wood stove

The Dining Room

Ernest Hayes, a millwright, engineer and inventor, made sure that his new home was “up to the minute”.   It had the first indoor flush toilet in the area, and piped music in all the rooms.

   Child’s bed with hand made coverlet

Master bedroom with bassinet

It is always such a treat to look through an old home such as this, and I love to see the old linens and clothing. 

Cabinet of lace and embroidery

Hannah Hayes was a force to be reckoned with.  While her husband was busy in his workshop making a name for himself with his inventions, she helped out with marketing.  In the early 1900s she set off on her bicycle and travelled throughout Central Otago, Lindis and the Mackenzie Country seeking orders for her husband’s products.  You can imagine the state of the roads in these early times.  All this while raising a family too.

  Ernest and Hannah Hayes of Hayes Engineering Works

High Fashion at Glenshee Park

A trip from Naseby and on to the unsealed Danseys Pass Road brought us to Glenshee Park Fashion Museum and Gallery, another “must see” places on my South Island list of things to do.  The late Eden Hore, a sheep farmer, also had a love of fashion, and collected over 200 gowns during the 70s and 80s, with many of the garments being finalists in the Benson and Hedges Awards.  Mr Hore used to hold fashion shows on his front lawn, and converted his tractor shed into a display room for his collection.  It cost a very reasonable charge of $5 to enter the museum, which also houses a huge collection of Jim Beam decanters, much to Robin’s delight.  The gowns are housed in glass fabric cabinets, with most of them hanging up on hangers not unlike a wardrobe, so it is not always possible to view each gown in detail.

A cabinet of gowns

Wedding gowns

What I really loved was that most of the gowns were very feminine, featuring lace, beads, embroidery, and several with boa feather details.  Not like the entrants in the “Wearable Art Awards” these days which don’t, to my mind anyway, look like dresses at all.

  Pretty in peach

And another in blue

She looks like she means business!

Now about those Jim Beam decanters -  Eden Hore had collected over 450 of these, in all shapes and sizes.  For a touch of culture - how about this Opera series.

Jim Beam Opera series

There is also quite a large display of taxidermy.  All the animals lived on the farm, we were told, including the large woolly yak.  You don’t see many of these in NZ paddocks, do you?

They’ve been stuffed!

I’m so pleased that I can put a “big tick” beside Glenshee Park on my list of things to do and places to go.  Margaret Steele very graciously opened up the gallery for me and which I really appreciate.  So any one who loves fashion, next time you are in this neck of the woods, it is certainly worth stopping and taking a look.  The men will enjoy checking out the Jim Beam decanters while the ladies drool over the beautiful gowns.

Remember that you can keep up with our South Island Odyssey Trip on our Travel Blog on www.romanyrambler.blogspot.com

My Special Stitching Friend

It’s been so nice to meet up with my old school friend Merilyn, during our stay in Dunedin on our South Island Odyssey trip.  You know what it’s like with these special friends in your life, when we meet up after a period of months, or even a couple of years, it’s just like we have never been apart.  Merilyn hasn’t been bitten by the quilting bug (yet), but rather enjoys stitching candlewick projects.  She has made several little cot quilts over the years, and has a whole collection of pretty white candlewick cushions.

One of the pretty cushions

Merilyn proudly showed me the duvet cover she has finished recently – showcasing more of her skill with needle and thread.

Duvet cover

Close up of one of the designs

Must admit that I haven’t done a great deal of stitching  during this holiday, too much to see and do, and not enough relaxing time.  I’m making a herb inspired cushion for my daughter for a gift (luckily she doesn’t read the blog) and so far I’ve only stitched a few herb names.  But I’m slowly getting there, so that’s the main thing.

I’m stitching a herb cushion

Merilyn has done spinning for many years (not one of my skills) and loves to knit as well.  So it’s good that we share a love of candlewick and stitcheries together.  Wonder if she will ever take up quilting?

Two old friends, Merilyn and me

Oh goody – a Quilt Show

“There’s a quilt show on in the city”, our caravan companions told me, knowing of my interest in P&Q.  No, I hadn’t known, but made sure that our “city tour” the next day included a visit to the quilt show.  And there it was, right next door to the Information Centre in Dunedin.

This way to the quilt show.

The show had free entry, and there were several raffles on offer – a quilt, a gift basket, and a whole basket full of fabric squares.  Maybe I’ll get lucky, and I have put my friend Merilyn’s (local) phone number down just in case the organisers have to call me.  She came with me as we wandered around looking at all the wonderful quilts on display.  I’ll show just a selection of what caught our fancy. 

   Overview of the quilt show

I’m rather keen on what one can do with the humble (previously discarded) selvedge, so spent some time checking out “Selvedges Galore” by Debbie Pettinger.  I have a whole heap of selvedges at home and I am always looking for ways to use them.

Selvedges Galore – by Debbie Pettinger

“Celtic Poppies” was a beautifully stitched wall-hanging, hand appliquéd and hand quilted by Pam Larson.  What a lot of work involved in stitching all those curves in place.

Celtic Poppies – by Pam Larson

Black, white and a touch of red is always such a striking colour combination.   Lots of nine patches with vibrant poppies hand appliquéd over top.  This was made by Gaye Tetzlaff.

Poppy Dazzler – by Gaye Tetzlaff

There’s something about Baltimores, isn’t there, which draw people in to closely study all the lovely hand appliquéd blocks.  This beauty is called “Family want it”, and was lovingly stitched by Marion McLean and quilted by Alison Bufton.

Family want it – by Marion McLean

I really loved this Dunedin inspired Row by Row, look, there’s Larnach Castle, a pair of albatross, so you can’t get more local than that.  The quilt features a variety of native NZ birds and flowers, and is owned by Dianne Clarke.  Several others are credited with making this lovely quilt so I wondered if the group were all taking part ion a row by row, or perhaps it was a birthday quilt.  Whatever the story is, it is certainly a work of art, and my own personal “viewers choice”.   

New Zealand Row by Row – Dianne Clarke

And this optical illusion was my (non quilting) friend’s viewers choice, called “Faberge”, and stitched by Joy Fitzpatrick, a Jinny Beyer design. 

Faberge – by Joy Fitzpatrick

The Otago P&Q group are to be congratulated on their lovely show, it was well set out and there was so much to see.  Hope they pull my name out of the hat for one of those raffles!  While Merilyn and I were inside admiring all the quilts, our men folk were waiting patiently for us outside.

Study of a couple of patient husbands

Patchwork Shop and a Penny Farthing at Oamaru

The stylish creamy white stone buildings of Oamaru are a beautiful sight.  Built with local stone back in the days of prosperity, these classical buildings with beautiful carvings would be at home in many overseas cities.  This beautiful Opera House was built in 1907 and has hosted theatre, ballet, concerts, cinema and even boxing.

Oamaru Opera House

As we walked down the main street admiring one lovely stone building after another, I spotted the sign for Oamaru Silk Centre.  Mmm, wonder if they stock patchwork fabric?  Of course they do, there was a nice arrangement in the shop window.  And plenty more inside for me to drool over, it’s been a while since I’ve looked and touched any patchwork fabric.  The owner Graeme was very friendly and quite happy for me to take a few photos.  There was a wonderful selection of New Zealand fabrics, and quite a few newer designs which I hadn’t seen before.  They are very popular with tourists, Graeme told me. 

Lots of New Zealand designs

Fabrics of every hue

There was a good range of haberdashery lines, I noticed, together with a lovely bridal section.  Patchwork is very strong down here and the local club is North Otago Patchworkers and Quilters.  Staff member Ainslie was very helpful too, and as well as being a fellow P&Qer, she goes caravanning too!  This is a lovely shop, and you can check them out on www.oamarusilkcentre.com

Ainslie in the shop enjoys caravanning too

Now, about that Penny Farthing.  Oamaru likes to remind visitors of its history and Penny Farthings abound.  We saw several around town and those brave enough can pay a little money, take their life in their hands and climb aboard.

Penny Farthing outside a shop

Up on a Penny Farthing

I took the easy way out and climbed aboard this Penny Farthing in the Information Centre.  Luckily it was bolted in place so I didn’t fall off.  Mind you, I wasn’t going anywhere either.

Follow our South Island Odyssey adventures on our Travel Blog at www.romanyrambler.blogspot.com

It’s cold in them thar hills

I thought summer must have surely come to an end.  We’ve spent several days in the high country checking out Lake Tekapo, Mount Cook and Twizel and my summer garb of three quarter length trousers, sandals and tee shirts just don’t work at these higher altitudes.  So it was fleecy trousers, warm jumpers, socks and shoes to keep warm.  We even needed our woollen jacket, hats and gloves while out and about in the cool mountain air.  Now we are back to sea level once more in the sunny climes of Waimate, I can dress “summery” again.

The bucket brigade

And what can be more summery than doing a spot of laundry in a camp without much in the way of facilities.  There is no washing machine here, no hot showers, just plenty of cold water.  Here’s Dot and me hard at work doing a spot of laundry.  You can rest assured that next time we go to a camp with a washing machine, I’ll be first in line to use it.  Muffy’s not bothered much by all our activity, she just likes to sit around in the sunshine.

Now, what can I see from here?

You can keep up with our South Island travel adventures on our Travel Blog

www.romanyrambler.blogspot.com