Remember the 70s?

Recently we visited the Dowse Art Museum to see “The Age of Aquarius – a 1970s Revolution in Fashion”.  The garments brought back memories and made us smile.  In the 70s I wasn’t much of a fashionista myself.  With two young children and a full time job my life was busy just keeping going, so there wasn’t much spare time or cash to keep with with the fashion trends.   I did have a peasant blouse though, rather like the one on the mannequin,  but would not have dreamed of wearing a leather mini skirt.

Casual wear from the 70s

Remember when trouser suits came along?  Yes, I had a couple of these.  However, it took me a long time to feel comfortable wearing a trouser suit to work, working as I did in an office environment.  It was dresses, jackets, stockings and heels back then.  Things are certainly different these days, aren’t they?   Not sure about that lime green little number though.

Denim dungarees were not my thing, but those denim bags would not look out of place today.

Denim dungarees and satchels

The men weren’t left out of the fashion stakes either, I can remember those close fitting lightweight knit shirts.  And just look at the size of the collar!

Men’s clothing in the height of fashion

As we looked around the displays, we decided that some of the clothes shown could still be worn today.  Such as these two outfits, they don’t look too dated, do they?

Lurex shirt with long skirt and evening dress

It was fun to reminisce and look back.  Some of the garments on show were from well known designers, while others were from trendy small boutiques, both out of my price range.  I was probably still sewing my own clothes, along with garments for my children, back then. 

Last Remnant night of the year

It was nice to welcome some new faces to our Remnant group on Friday night.  Town and Country Quilters had been asked to provide heart shaped pillows for Breast Cancer patients, and we were happy to rally to the call.  I’m sure all of us know of friends and family who have been touched by breast cancer, as have some of our members too.  The pattern was handed out last club-night with the request for the cushions to be in shades of pink.  Some had already sewn their cushions, as had I, and brought them along to be stuffed.  Others set up their sewing machines and churned out one stitched cushion after another. The Art Club rooms was a hive of activity as everyone worked together on this worthwhile cause.

My three cushions

Everyone working together

Bags of stuffing were funded by the Finance Committee, as were the plastic bags and ribbons for packaging each cushion individually.  Yvonne spent a lot of time doing this important task, and the pile of cushions kept growing as the night wore on.  The final count was 25 – and I’m sure more will arrive at our next club night.

Piles of pink cushions

The shape of the heart fits under the arm and takes pressure off tender areas after surgery, during radiation treatments, and from the car seatbelt, or in bed to give extra comfort when lying on your side.  The heart shape speaks of love as well as giving physical comfort from pain.

We had a veritable feast for our shared meal, seems that everyone decided to make our last night of the year extra special.  There were several varieties of salads, cold chicken and meat, stuffed curried eggs, cheese and biscuits, filled rolls, and two different kinds of  hot home made savouries.  Then there was dessert too, I had brought along a new recipe I wanted to try, a different type of lemon slice. Mary had whipped up a marvellous cream sponge – absolutely delicious, and so light it just melted in the mouth.  Kathy brought along a jelly-cake, that was completely new to me.  So I have since found out that a jelly-cake is a cheese cake with a layer of jelly on top – yummy.

Our wonderful shared meal

After the cushion frenzy had died down, some ladies took themselves home, while others stayed to work on our own projects.  I was doing a little more stuffing, on my reindeer’s head and hooves.  I’m not quite sure how to put my yo-yo toy together, even though I’ve read through the instructions.  Guess I need some more in depth research, or maybe find someone to sit with me and guide me through it!

Bits of my reindeer

Kaye was finishing off some coasters for a Christmas gift

Sandra machine quilting panels of her quilt

We had a wonderful night, and it was great to be working together making the heart cushions for a such a good cause.   They will be presented to the group who requested them at our December club-night, so it will be interesting to see what the final total will be.  Many thanks to everyone who came along to help, it was just like an old fashioned sewing bee with us all working together for a good cause.

For a little someone

I don’t know who will be getting my latest knitting finish – a little boy’s jumper.  But as I keep reminding my (grown-up) grand-daughters, I’ve got knitting tucked away all ready and waiting for the next generation.  The girls roll their eyes at me and say, “Nana, we are not having any babies!”.  Perhaps not straight away, but surely sooner or later a new little someone will arrive in the family.  I can certainly hope, can’t I?  In the meantime, the items in my baby box are slowly growing.  And just in case you think I’m getting much too clucky, I’m really just being thrifty, using up some odds and ends of wool that I have tucked away in my knitting basket.

Another one for the baby box

And I’ve just finished knitting up my two balls of bargain priced knitting cotton,  purchased from the Hunterville Co-op Craft shop last month.  I’m rather pleased with how my two new dusters turned out – they are so nice and white, it will be a shame to use them and get them grubby.

Two new cotton dusters

So, what shall I knit next?  I know – I’ve got a few balls of fluffy pink wool to make another little something, this time for  baby girl.  Don't get me wrong, I’m not a knitting fanatic by any means.  And I don’t do a lot of knitting all the time, but sometimes  it’s quite nice to have something to pick up while I’m watching TV in the evenings. 

Binding and Baking

I was pleased to have a day at home after all the rushing here and there lately to work on the Memory Quilt I’m making for a friend.  The machine quilting was finally completed, so it was time for the binding.  Looking through my stash earlier, I had selected some green batik for the binding, which would tone in nicely with the caravan print borders.  Sliced it into lengths which I stitched together, and pressed in half, I was good to go.

The binding prepared

Using my walking foot, I soon had the binding stitched around most of the edge.  But then came the tricky part………..for the life of me I just couldn’t work out how to correctly measure and pin that last seam to finish off the binding.   I know, I know, I’ve done it before, but this technique always seems to fox me.  But Mr Google knows everything and after I had typed in “how to join quilt binding”  it all became clear again.  Will I remember next time?  Who knows – but I do know how to find the answer again.  Is it just me, or do others have this problem too?  I’m one step closer to completion.  Next job is to fold the binding over, and hand stitch it all in place.  Then I’ll just  need to make a hanging sleeve and a label.

Binding stitched on

Don’t know what’s happening to the weather but today turned out to be cold, wet and windy, and we can hear the wind whistling around the front of the house.  Just the sort of weather that a nice warming steak and kidney casserole will be just right for our evening meal.  It just seems so strange to be cooking winter warming comfort food at this time of the year, after all, its practically summer.  While I was busy in the kitchen doing all that chopping, dicing and browning the meat as I prepared the casserole, I thought I might as well do some baking too.  There was a new lemon slice recipe  I’d been waiting to try, and I made a batch of afghan biscuits too.  When the afghans had cooled down it was a team effort - I slathered them with chocolate icing and Robin helped too as he  topped each one with a walnut half.  So that’s how I spent my day today.

Chocolate afghan biscuits, yummy

Ladies who Lunch

The Christmas break-ups are starting to come thick and fast – after all, it’s that time of the year.  Today was the turn of the Coffee Club, a ladies support group run by the Cancer Society.  I hadn’t been able to attend as many meetings as I would have liked this year, but was determined to go to this final meeting of the year, a lunch out at the Winemaker’s Daughter.  About 25 of us pooled cars and drove down SH1 to Te Horo.  We settled ourselves down at the tables and were kept busy pulling the Christmas Crackers, reading out the corny jokes, and making sure our Christmas hats were on straight.  Then we got down to the serious business of checking out the menu.

There was a surprise in store for us all when Anne, the leader of our group announced that the Coffee Club would cover the cost of the $10 main courses, with funds raised during the year.  Drinks, tea or coffee,  and dessert would be at our own cost.  The $10 menu had plenty for everyone to choose from, and I decided on corn fritters, potatoe  wedges and salad, as did several others on my table.

Not bad for $10.00

We had all been asked to take along a wrapped gift and we chose one from the big green bag which was passed around the tables.  All sorts of interesting gifts were unwrapped.  I received a pretty candle, and I noticed others unwrapping chocolates, always well received, a lovely box of Turkish Delight, toiletries, notebooks and a Christmas tree decoration or two. 

After we had finished our meals, drunk a coffee or two, and caught up with what the other tables were getting up to, Anne had an announcement to make.  “My gift to you all”, she said, “is a mini Christmas Cake”  What a lovely thing to do.  She came around each table with her basket of beautifully wrapped, home baked mini cakes.

Anne presenting us all with a mini Christmas cake

Just before we left, Margaret, one of the volunteer helpers  wanted Anne and the committee to be thanked before we all dispersed.  “Will you do it?”, she asked me.  Why not – guess I can be brave enough to stand up in front of everyone for a good cause.  So I grabbed a spoon and ding, ding, dinged on the water jug to get everyone to stop talking.  Then on behalf of everyone present  I thanked Anne and her helpers for all the work they had done for us during the year.  They put in many hours of voluntary work for the Cancer Society Coffee Club and it is most appreciated.  We ladies had a most enjoyable lunch.  

Kirks Christmas Shop

It’s that time of year again for my big trip into Wellington City to see and enjoy the Kirks Christmas shop.  Kirkcaldie and Stains department store is a Wellington institution, and has been around since 1863.  The beautifully turned our doorman was on duty, as he has been for many years. He opened the door for me, and I walked inside, and up two flights of stairs to reach the Christmas shop.

The doorman at Kirks

The Christmas shop was a riot of gold, silver, red and green, with people everywhere.  I heard one little poppet exclaim, “I can’t stop looking Mummy”.  I know how she felt, as I slowly walked around all the displays, I couldn’t stop looking either.  Here were some Santas, over there were reindeer, and further along were drummer boys, elves, fairies, and the popular New Zealand Christmas display showing Santa on his surfboard, kombi vans to hang on the tree, silver ferns and green koru fronds.

Lots of Santas everywhere

Youngsters were watching closely as the Christmas train went busily round and round the track.

Train set

As I  shuffled  slowly around all the displays, taking care not to trip over pushchairs or any small children who were beneath my field of vision, toys with motion sensors burst into life and sang their Christmas songs.  I was looking for a couple of Christmas decorations to buy for gifts, to take along to Christmas breakups which I will be attending shortly.  There was so much on offer, but I was  buying to a set price, not always easy at this exclusive department store.  But I finally found two items within my budget, so came away happy.

Gold and silver baubles

Lunching at Kirks Cafe is always a highlight, with the lovely food, and friendly helpful service.  The trick, I’ve found, is to get there a little before the  mid-day rush, so it is easier to find a table. (I fear I’m turning into my Mother, as she liked to lunch at Kirks too).  I found a Christmas gift for the MIL in another department, not easy to choose something for her these days as she has just moved into a rest home.

Shopping done, and replete from lunch, I walked back down to the Railway Station.  What’s this on the footpath by the State Insurance building?  Looks like the aftermath of an earthquake.  But no, don’t worry.  It’s a bit of city art, showing what might just happen when we have a big shake.

Art in the city, the broken pillars look so life like.

I didn’t get to ride in a train after all, as they had all been replaced by buses on the Kapiti line.  That’s a shame, I love train travel – there is no romance in riding a bus, is there?  I arrived at the bus with just a few minutes to spare, to find that there wasn’t a spare seat at all.  Bother!  After standing for a minute or two, a young man tapped me on the shoulder, and offered me a seat.  How kind of him, I really appreciated his offer.  Although I imagine that I looked as tired and footsore as I felt! 

Trains replaced by buses today

Quilts at the Library

Our local library is very special.  Librarian Linda Fletcher, who runs the monthly Book Club which I attend, has recently had a book launch there of her book “Horowhenua and the Great War 1914-1918”.   This is the culmination of a research project, begun in 2006, to identify all the casualties named on Horowhenua's war memorials.  The book details the lives of all 188 men from the district who died in the war, telling their stories through letters from the front and newspaper obituaries.

To complement Linda’s book launch, the library has been showing a marvellous  collection of quilts with a WW1 theme on loan from the very talented Erilyn McMillan of Palmerston North.  She has a particular interest WW1 through family connections and military service.  Erilyn feels that these stories need to be told, and has done this with her beautiful quilts.

“Dawn Service, Linton Military Camp, Anzac Day”.   The dawn breaks over the Tararua Ranges and lights up the sky.  The camp is portrayed by the iconic Phoenix Palms and a soldier in his lemon squeezer hat stands with his head bowed in contemplation. 

Dawn Service, Linton Military Camp, Anzac Day

“The Western Front – a snapshot of our darkest days”.  Made of of “postcards”, this quilt illustrates the use of tanks, gas, and the terrible knee high mud the soldiers had to live,  fight and die in.  Sadly, Erilyn discovered through her research that many of the soldiers died by “other causes”, by firing squad.  

The Western Front

“Lest We Forget”.  Memorials arouse deep motions, and the local war memorial says much about the beliefs and values of New Zealanders.  Figures of soldiers, arches, gates, obelisks and clock towers, even clock towers, all play their part in remembering the fallen.  With touches of green leaves and the fallen red poppies, this lovely quilt in tones of grey is a lovely memorial indeed.  

  Lest we forget

“The Nation’s Most Gallant Sons”.  The starting point was making the face of Victoria Cross recipient, Cpl Willie Apiata, the only living member, using just four fabrics.  Erilyn then decided to honour all of the VC recipients.  The first to receive this award was Charles Heaphy, the only VC awarded to a member  of the Colonial Forces during the New Zealand Wars.  Erilyn printed the faces of the other recipients onto paper towels, encased with netting, and the Victoria Cross was printed on organza, all stitched over a pieced background.

The Nation’s most Gallant Sons

“Gallipoli”, the title of this quilt is made up of daisy fabric, and represents the “Daisy Patch” on the peninsula.  As the New Zealanders prepared to charge, fellow soldiers asked, “You’re not going to charge across the daisy patch, are you?”    “Of course we are”, the Aucklanders answered.  “God help you”, was the reply.  Erilyn machine stitched barbed wire, sand bags, stones and wind, all part of everyday life for the men.

Gallipoli

“Private James Duncan”.  This quilt is made to honour Eriyn’s grandfather, who served on the Western Front in the Medical Corps.  His military story is pictured on body tags, and the medal ribbons are the original silks from his ribbons, which have been replaced with new ribbons.  This very personal piece of work features photos, badges, and buttons, and a copy of the Certificate of Service.  What a wonderful family heirloom.

Private James Duncan

The Last Post”  is a military bugle or trumpet call to signal the end of the day.  It is also played at ANZAC services and at military funerals.  The raw edges of the fabric were left frayed to convey the feeling of edginess, a shiver down the spine, and a tear in the eye, just as it can do at the Dawn Service on Anzac Day.  Erilyn made the bugler small we often only hear the music, and not see the musician.

The Last Post

“In Flanders Field” – what is more iconic than the images of poppies?  Erilyn depicts this so beautifully with her quilt.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below

In Flanders Field

Erilyn likes to work in this one particular size for her WW1 quilts and they are full of details and exquisite quilting.  She has ideas for a few more stories to be told in this series of WW1 quilts, she told me.  Then she will probably start on a WW2 series – there are many stories to tell from this time in history too.