Blue Quilt Progress.

Enough about holidays for now I think. I have in fact been carrying on making hexagons for my blue backed girlie themed "I Spy Quilt." ( for those who have been visiting here a while it is the same as the black backed boys quilt I made) This one is going to be slightly larger. The rows across have 15 (58.5" ) then 16 ( 62.5" ) then 15 etc hexagons per row . So far shown here I have completed and sewn together the first 9 rows. These are sewn by hand then machine quilted then sewn together by hand in rows ; then rows sewn to rows. ( lots still to go )

Today 2 young guys came to put ECO wool insulation in the half of our roof / ceiling that had none. So for NZ$900, the bedrooms and office and bathroom should be much warmer - I'll let you know about that.

I have added a couple of photos I liked from the holiday that you haven't seen. One is a huge Oak tree in Hagley Park in Christchurch - how come walking through all those leaves was wonderful but walking through leaves off my own Oak tree crowding around our back door is NOT!

The other pic is of wide open spaces in Otago - neat eh? ( all photos are enlarged on clicking )

Meggie and Shirley Will Know.

Some are under the water. Some are under the sand. Some are in the banks. Some are nicely exposed. They are the Moeraki Boulders , on the East Coast of the South Island at Moeraki which is south of Oamaru.

If you read Meggie's Blog you will have seen photos of her with her children years ago sitting on the same rocks. Shirley lives quite near them.

They are granite and are I suppose harder than their surroundings hence there durability. We had to wait for most of the other folk visiting to drift away so we could get some shots of the rocks naked and in the raw. One shot shows a rock cracking and starting to disintergrate. That's me ( for a change I handed over the camera ) with the red shoe on a rock.

Pt. 4. Underground.

When we got off the schooner we got back on the bus for the return journey to Lake Manapouri. The scenery looked different in more light and later in the day.
At the West Arm of the lake is the Manapouri Power Station. A little of it is above ground - a switch yard and 4 huge transmission lines to the National grid. The rest of it is below ground!

The bus pulled up at the locked gate and the driver punched in the code to let us in. We then drove 2 kms down and round ( not that you could tell ) in the tunnel, dug into the granite, till we reached the power station set176 metres below the lake level. This power station was built between 1963 and 1971 and was a huge engineering project. People from around the world worked on it's construction.

( anyone nervous could have waited at the top )

Turning the bus around down there was quite something! Most of the electricity produced goes to run the aluminium smelter at Bluff. It was very warm in the huge room looking at the generators as the heat gets trapped under the rocks.

What an awesome thing to see, what a feat of engineering brilliance ( don't think earthquake )! There is no direct road access to this power station only water.( so worker either stay on site or travel as we did daily. So do supplies! )

The discharge ( used water from the generators) goes in a tunnel out to Doubtful Sound.

That was the 2 nd furthest ( strange word that ) under ground I have ever gone. The furthest was in the 1960s when I went down a coal mine on the West Coast - much more scary as it was in a cage basket in the dark straight down. I remember the sensation of the air rushing past. ( the guys who worked there did it daily ! )

We then boarded the launch and fairly barrelled back to Manapouri as the weather was closing in and turning nasty. That day out was expensive but worth every bit of it . DH agrees.

*An aside. I have been continuing to sew blue backed hexagons by the fire most nights - the number is growing. Photos of that progress soon.

Pt 3. On Doubtful Sound

At deep Cove we boarded the Fiordland Navigator a 38 metre long schooner that can sleep 70. Normally this vessel does the overnight cruise but as the day trip vessel was off having it's annual overhaul we lucky ones got to go on the big vessel! I have certainly never been further West anywhere in NZ ( would be near impossible to go further )

It is 40 kms from Deep Cove out to the entrance to the ocean, ( this is visible in one photo - the gap on the horizon ) making it the 2nd largest Fiord. It is part of Fiordland National Park and a World Heritage Area. We also explored the coves and arms of the Fiord. ( it was wrongly named a Sound in the first place ) It is one of the wettest places in the World! Moist air streams come across the South Tasman Sea. Deep Cove has a mean average rainfall of 5,290 millimetres. It had rained 48 hours before we were there so there were waterfalls just everywhere. The most spectacular one being Lady Alice Falls. The Captain did his party trick of nudging the front of the vessel right up to the base of the falls; the fiord is SO DEEP and SO STRAIGHT DOWN having been ground out by glaciers about 2 million years ago.

I spent my time with the camera of course ( not as trigger happy as one lovely Japanese lady - she had to take every waterfall ) and eating my yummy packed lunch ( could have had hot soup too if I'd had room ) and talking with the others and generally being overawed by the sheer majesty and slpendour of this probably once in a life time expereince.

The next post will be about the final 2 parts of this big day out.

Part 2.

This road over Wilmot Pass is one of the remotest in NZ and was built in the 1960 to transport heavy equipment when building the Manapouri Underground Power Station.( we are going there later ) The road winds for 22 kms through dense rainforest ( huge rainfall here ) and at the top the view of Doubtful Sound is breathtaking. The only vehicles in here are the bus; a road grader and some service vehicles , as there is no road access. ( only water ) We now descend to Deep Cove to board our Vessel and spend 3 hours cruising Doubtful Sound ( Patea ).

Lake Manapouri to Doubtful Sound. pt 1.

Come with me on the biggest day out of our holiday.

We left our deserted Hotel ( of my last entry ) and drove the 22 kms to catch the first leg of our adventure. At a place called Pearl Harbour at Lake Manapouri, we collected our packed lunches and boarded the Motu Rau along with only 10 other folk. ( Yes, they would still do the trip for just 12 passengers - lucky us ) The day didn't look promising it was dull, but we were assured that it would change several times in the course of the day - which proved to be true. We cruised across Lake Manapouri with the clouds misting around us, but could still see numerous small islands beaches and coves. It is NZ's 5th largest lake and was ground deep by glaciers many years ago.( 440 metres ). We all helped ourselves to hot drinks and got to know the other passengers - quite a mixture. As we reached the western arm of the lake the above ground part of the Manapouri Power Station came into view ( more of that later. )

We got off here at the visitors centre and boarded our bus for the journey over Wilmot Pass. Every now and then our most friendly, funny bus driver would stop for photo opportunities. He gave one of the best commentaries I have heard; just enough facts and lots of jokes. DH was the first to notice the unusual cooling grill on the back of the bus cut out in the shape of small Kiwis. The bus we discovered was made in Tauranga ( our area ! yeh )

( to be continued ) ( this all takes place on the very South West part of the South Island of New Zealand )

Travelling in the OFF season.

We found lots of advantages travelling at this time of the year. There was little need to pre - book anything. There were generally just enough people around to make it pleasant, but we had one really funny experience.

The photos here are of Lake Te Anau; we stayed 2 nights at a Hotel on this waterfront and one shot shows the lovely view from our window. It was a huge 2 storied building, with corridors 100 metres long.( R paced it out ) We were on the upper floor. We found out later that there were in fact 9 guests at the hotel ( somewhere ). We decided to have dinner in the hotel the first night. There we were the 2 of us in a dining room that could seat 200...just us and our young waiter James. Of course he was so bored he spent a good part of his time talking to us ( just for the company ).

We said " Do you know what this reminds us of ? "

"No, what ? " he replied.

"Did you ever happen to see a movie called The Shining?" we asked.

"Oh, yes I did," he said. "Ooh my."

"I have been watching for Danny on his tricycle, " I said.

The Shining was a Stanley Kubrick horror movie in the 1980s, based on a Stephen King book of the same name. It starred Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall and was set in a snow bound hotel in the Colorado mountains in winter. Their little son Danny cruised the long empty corridors on his tricycle. ( Nicholson of course was weird as only he can be )

For the rest of our stay we had a feeling of deja vu......I think young James did too. We ate out the 2nd night!

Yet More ( part 3 )

More photos.( part 2 )

The sky really was that blue. The shot through the rails is going over a viaduct!

We met a lovely farming family from Tasmania, who have visited us here since we got home. That's their teenagers William and Madeline at the Hindon Station ( shed ). we plan to keep in touch. And what about that brave little tree on top of the rocks....talk about One Tree Hill.

Clickerty clack, Clickery clack......

No! Not the sound of busy knitting needles but my train trip !

Yep, I was a passenger on one of the World's Great Train Journeys ( says so on the pamphlet ). It was great fun and oh that rugged scenery. Guess where I spend almost the entire outward journey.......at the very back of the train with my arm wound around a railing for safety; my camera at the ready. I'm really glad I did because the light was all wrong on the homeward leg.

The Taeiri Gorge Railway was build by hand over 100 years ago, cut through schiest rock, straddling deep gullies with wrought iron viaducts. What an engineering marvel.

We set out from the historic Dunedin Railway Station and climbed to 250 m above sea level to Pukerangi. ( means hill of Heavens ) We travelled through now almost deserted places called Slope Gully and The Notches and The Larches, Christmas creek and Mullocky Tunnel. Because it is now nearing Winter there was a mere handful of passengers on board that day so we had the run of the train. We met some lovely folk all enjoying the sunshine and different era transport. I will post more photos on the following blog just in case blogger drops some off. If you would care to have a look at Official website. Click on the view photos of trip on the right.

Fabric, Quilts and Samplers.

While I was on Holiday I did 3 things Quilty / crafty. One planned, the other 2 lucky surprises.

I caught the final day of Quilters and Patchworkers of Otago Inc. 2007 Exhibition. A far greater percentage of the quilts were hand pieced and hand quilted than I am used to seeing, but that is good. The work that most took my eye was a wall hanging of flowers and butterflies on black. Quite stunning and would look good wherever it was hanging.

I also stumbled upon "Stitched in Time," a display at the Otago Settlers Museum of the samplers they have cleaned, restored and preserved. 54 samplers. The oldest from the 1780s! Wonderful detailed work by girls aged 7 - 14years. ( yes 7....imagine that! ) as they were all under glass in low lighting taking photos without reflections was a challenge. ( click on my image to enlarge ) This exhibition is on till 24 th June if anyone is nearby.

As I had often noticed the advert for Catlin Quilts in the NZ Quilter mag, I gave DH early warning that I wanted to stop at that shop. I was the sole customer and we were the only car stopped in Owaka that afternoon. How does that become a viable business ?( Maybe more customers stop by in Summer ) From the smallish collection of fabrics on display ( compared to what I see up here ) I choose 6 FQs that were typical of that part of the South Is. The little blue penguins and Kakas ( NZ Parrot ) and the ponies will be good for my I spy quilts.

I do so hope some of my regular readers come back and say Hi or leave a comment, I'm feeling lonely here with nobody calling by!

Flying South.

The Kiwi is a flightless bird, and that pretty much usually describes me!

But Mother Nature heard that this Kiwi and DH were flying South so she really turned on warm temperatures and cloudless sky for us. From the plane (a Saab 340 T prop )I could pick out all the landmarks along the journey over the North Is. As we flew over the Tongariro National Park, Mt. Ruapehu had just a light dusting of snow and away in the distance I could see Mt. Egmont ( Taranaki.) We changed planes at Wellington and flew down to Dunedin on a Boeing 737.

The tall building is the hotel we stayed in the first 3 nights. Our room is on the top floor at the front corner - from it we got a 270 degree view of the city. On the second night someone set fire to an old uninhabited house and we had ringside seats as fire engines rushed in and flames leapt....blimmy!

I'll continue my holiday on my next blog entry.We just got home in time as the TV News tonight showed storms and cold had hit the South ; snow is falling on the very places we have just seen.

I have been busy processing my 160 photos ( trigger happy! ) washing, etc so have hardly had time to realise that today is my special day of the year where that number changes to the next.

My holiday was a great present don't you think. Good to be home all the same.

Just One More Sleep.

Thank you to the 5 friends who left such interesting and useful comments on my previous post. I know it is a controversial topic and everyone's situation is different. It seems quite a few folk are giving it thought and that's where change will start. Small and tiny but a start. So Valeri, Anne, Molly, Vinda and Lynda good on you....keep at it! I am so glad to meet you for the first time Lynda (granny k).

Now to completely fly in the face of all that tomorrow DH and I fly South on holiday. For us this is quite a big deal as it doesn't happen often. In fact you could count on your fingers the number of holidays we have had in the last 29 years, since we have owned an orchard. Usually we think we are lucky to go away for a weekend. This time 2 years ago we went to Sydney area for a week and that was the only time either of us has been out of our own country. Folk keep asking us when we are going to UK ( our younger son lives there ) and that we must go while our son is there. Then they usually say you couldn't think of going for less than 6 weeks. So of course that doesn't happen. Strange how friends have such opinions about what we should or should not do!...........Anyway I usually reply we haven't seen all of New Zealand yet; we have to do that first. And that is what we hope to get done this holiday!

The Kiwifruit is picked and we have some slack time before Winter pruning, all we needed was someone to feed the cat, watch and clear the big drain that blocks, collect the mail and do a security check. All our neighbours are away or are new to the area - so that was posing a problem.

One night last week we were out to dinner with friends celebrating their Anniversary and they volunteered. They live a little way away but said they would be happy to do it for us. We double checked they really meant it and then got on the computer and began checking things out. So we are off tomorrow. Flying from Tauranga to Dunedin, where we have the first 3 nights booked in the city and tickets for the Taieri Gorge railway. On the 4th day we pick up our rental car and follow our noses, stopping when are where we fancy. Neither of us has been this far South before so there is plenty to see and do. Lucky us. [ if fuel supplies in the world are going to run out I have some travel catching up to do before it does!]

Therefore dear blog friends I might be a little bit absent from the comments section of your blogs till I return! Yes of course the camera is going with me and the battery charger and spare cards and most important some warm, warm clothes.

Stop Climate Change - Who me?

During the winter when we have our fire on this faithful nearly 40 year old Corningware coffee pot (with removable percolator )sits on top heating water so I save electricity. This fire is our winter heating as we have our own firewood( which we grew )
Any changes or savings I make will not include water as we have our own stream supply and heaps of rain. Our water free flows downhill from the stream into our huge tank where it freeflows to the orchard if needed ( not often ) and also to the house. We maintain the pipelines and the filters we buy and clean regularly or replace.
Here are some things I already find useful to do (that work for me)
- dry washing only by sun and wind ( or on hangers on airing rail in laundry or by fire )
- make all trips to town multipurpose , and as few as possible.
- have bins in boot of car for grocery shopping - refuse plastic bags always.
- refuse packaging ( leave in shop )that is unnecessary and re-educate shop owners - ( not always popular! )
- Make compost. Chip trees that are removed, to use as mulch and return to the soil.
- grow own vegetables, fruit and nuts ( we have a slight advantage here - space )
- as we don't get rubbish collection we have had our own recycling centre on the wall of the shed for a long time. We crush tins (cans ) in the wood splitter; we sort and then take a truck load to the recycling centre in town with bottles; paper; plastic that is recyclable. )
- write or email supermarkets about your thoughts on packaging.
My 4 Rs: reuse; recycle; return or refuse
( packaging , clothing ,books, paper, household goods etc etc. )
5 new things I will aim to do;
1. Extend # of days I change and wash bedsheets by 1 or 2 - Keep are record( or I won't remember ) ie Mon this week ;Tues. next etc. or next fine day after that.
2. save washing to bigger loads before doing it.
3.Extend time between mowing lawns ( same as #1 above )hope to save petrol.
4.Do less ironing ( hehe )
5.make bright cloth bags and give to others to use for shopping - altho that will take power to do.
Look at the following - more insulation in ceiling and solar panels. ( there are some new thin sheet ones coming soon )DH has to agree here too.
There are things I could do but am not prepared to at the moment like not using the computer, not having TV on, not using the sewing machine, dishwasher or washing machine. ( it may get to that in the future? )
Articles and References.
Some of the best advice I read was given by older folk in UK who lived through the depression and war. Rationing!( consumption of fuel, power, food and other goods ) and how they managed.
websites worth looking at : www.zerowaste.co.nz
www.bagtax.org.nz
Articles in the New Zealand Listener - ( May 19th -25 page 36) and ( May 26th -June 1 page 34 ) and many more. Read about E waste the fastest growing waste section. How USA's E waste is polluting water ways in Giuyu in China with lead. SO be warned recycling isn't always green!
Now a question. How do we stop paper wastage on advertising? ( it funds our rural delivery mail service. ) I don't wish to receive real estate ads with my newspaper. I think most forms of advertising are a worry! ( imagine a world without it - oh yes! )
Finally a wee story.
As a little girl I lived in the country. We had a windmill on a rise behind the house for power; heated water and cooked on a wood stove; kept meat, milk etc in a safe; my Dad grew all our own vegetables and fruit. Then when I was 7 or 8 wooden poles were cut from trees on the farm and strung down our long driveway so we could get electric power. I remember the wonder of the new spin dry washing machine and fridge and other new labour saving devices. The number of those items we have today has become huge. Do we need to look back, take some of the previous systems of doing things put a modern eco friendly spin on them and think again.
Do you have any thoughts ( or actions ) on this huge subject?

Quilted and Bound.

Over the weekend I managed to finish quilting and binding the Mended Hearts Quilt. ( just a label to add now ) NOBODY warned me how tiring it would be to machine quilt this 80" by 54" top! ( on my Bernina ) No wonder folk buy long arm quilters. What a marathon.

I started by stitching in the ditch across each row of hearts. Fine. Then I decided to zig zag across the top third of each heart and on to the next; then across the bottom third. It has made quite a good pattern on the backing - sort of diamonds hanging on a line. But oh that twisting to go the other way really gave me a work out. ( maybe I was doing something wrong????) I think I imagine more "quilt as you go," projects in the future if they are this size.

Anyway it is still the fastest quilt I have ever made. Some fraying on the raw edges has begun with all the woman handling while quilting and I think it will add to the look of the quilt. ( semi chenille ) It looks good on one of the spare beds anyway so will get used.

Soozii and Sheila I haven't forgotten your subject.( please go check out their blogs readers ) It is giving me huge angst - it is such a big subject with so much to think about. We have had some extreme cases reported in our Newspaper, which is very off putting. People behaving quite irrationally at huge detriment to themselves and probably not achieving what they hope. I have decided I have to look at it from a personal view rather than a Business / Orcharding view which we are already doing and being audited on for Eurepgap.( try googling that! )

Today it is drizzling so I have been doing office work - GST ; documents for the accountants ; Orchard diarries; filing etc...ooooh goody my favourite things - not. I have accomplished heaps so guess that's what matters.

Treasure in my Mailbox.

Lucky, lucky me!

I walked down the drive to the mailbox and there was a package for me. Lovely, lovely. My new blog friend Viv in Minnesota sent me a signed copy of her book. It's a real delight. ("Thank You for Giraffes," by Vivian Husnik )

The photo shows one of my favourite pages with funky flowers. If you have any little folk in your lives I'm sure they would enjoy this book.( there are little creatures within the pictures to find.) Isn't she clever using quilts as the illustrations. Do visit Viv's blog to see her quilts and her books. What a busy creative lady she must be.

PS. The book smells nice too....I love new books that smell great, it adds to the reading experience.

Part 2 - Kiwifruit Harvest.

Today only the fruit stalks remain. The odd fruit that has been missed will gradually get picked by us , ( they will extra ripe and tasty ) the birds will eat a few. The whole growing cycle will start again.

Kiwifruit Harvest.( part 1 )

The Kiwifruit harvest on our Orchard for 2007 is complete! Here's how it happens.




2 fine days. (The pack house has told us we are to be picked ) The machinery arrives ( 4 tractors and 4 bin trailers); the truck driver brings in 2 loads of empty bins[18 bushel size this year ], the 20 pickers ( 2 gangs ) arrive; the outdoor office is set up under the Pohutukawa tree for me the admin person; DH has the staplers ready for putting the cards on bins, food and drink is prepared to sustain us , so let's get going.



Each gang wants their tally kept separate ( they get paid per bin they pick ) and all seem happy pickers this year.( only 1 female picker this year ) A driver and 2 tractors each towing a bin trailer carrying 3 bins go with each gang. The pickers fill the bins from their picking bags till the first tractor load of 3 bins is smoothed level and full then the driver brings that load back to the loading area and the pickers begin to fill their 2nd 3 bins on the 2nd tractor.
The tractor driver carefully tilts the bin trailer and the full bins slide off, where DH staples a card on each. The driver rolls 3 empty bins onto his trailer then back off down the orchard to his picking gang and pulls in behind the tractor with the bins they are filling. So they go on round and round all day. Both gangs are doing this so 6 full bins arrive every 10 minutes or so. My job is completing the paper work - the cards for the bins and a running total from each block for each gang. After the bin cards are on the bins the forklift driver stacks the bins 3 high and loads them onto the truck for their journey to the coolstore. He returns with more empty bins.
As we have good keeping fruit (that had the best high dry matter to date ( for us ) ) the fruit is not to be packed yet but will be stored in the coolstore at between 0 and 4 degrees c , till later and then packed and shipped.
This production line goes on till all our fruit ( they miss a few ) is picked, then the whole show packs up and drives out the gate to the next orchard where they start all over. A hush descends over our property after all the hustle. We clean up and put gear away the heave a huge sigh of relief - it all went pretty smoothly and the worst that happened was a flat tyre on a bin trailer and one stuck tractor against a hedge, (cause a picker got impatient waiting for the bin trailer when it got a flatty and took it upon himself to move the other tractor along - he should not have touched it - as he was not an experienced driver ) Strange how one little incident leads to another. One embarrassed picker!
We picked slightly more than last year and it will probably be our 2nd biggest crop ever. 2004 being the record so far. That was the 25th crop of export kiwifruit from our orchard, so we are quite used to it now, but things and systems change, so there is always more learning to do. Part 2 has some more photos.

Feijoa Muffins.

A really quick post; as I should be in bed ready for an early start. If it is still fine tomorrow the kiwifruit picking gangs arrive. The gear ( bin trailers and tractors are all lined up ready ) bins and pickers will arrive tomorrow More about that then.

Today I made Feijoa muffins ( never made them before ) as we have lots of lovely juicy feijoas. Apparently they don't grow in other countries very often...wonder why? These muffins were lovely and light ....they had sour cream and some little chunks of cream cheese in them.

The other great work of the day ..... I did the first part of machine quilting my Hearts top. It went really well. Yesterday at my P & Q group several ladies all helped me pin baste it on top of 3 big tables pushed together. We did another friend's top first. Oh, what a wonderful idea with all those hands to help. Thank you ladies! (I guess you all know about using a spoon to close the pins to save ones finger tips.) You can see the blue fabric I am using as the backing in the photo, rolled on the right hand side. More about that another day too.

Oh may it stay fine tomorrow and Monday if we need it!

234 Hearts

Do you remember 2 posts ago I showed you the photos of the Hearts class I took at Retreat? ( Ooey Gooey Hearts by Natalie Murdoch ) Well I have completed the single bed size top!

Now that is fast. Fast for me anyway. I think I know why; partly because I have been able to sit at it for a couple of afternoons and just sew. Secondly ( stop laughing you lot ) it is all done on the machine....unusual for me.....

I don't care for that name for a quilt so I will call mine " Mended Hearts." ( 234 of them! )

Tomorrow DH has an eye appointment in the city so I will go too and get the batting I need to complete this.

There are several firsts here for me...... first quilt I have made so fast. First time I have ever used raw edge in anything....( it will turn the edges into chenille eventually; more quickly if it is washed ). First quilt that I have sewn entirely on the machine ( I intend to quilt it myself on the machine too ) That could be interesting!

Good News. The brix (sugar levels ) on the kiwifruit shot up over the weekend and is way in now. ( over 7% soluble solids ) The man on his quad bike ( the" official," sampler ) came this afternoon and collect 100 fruit sample from all the blocks to do the dry matter test. So things are moving along there. Yippee!