What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I'm obviously much to busy to do too much knitting while we are on our road trip.  The only thing I've worked on is my pair of pink socks, mostly knitted while traveling in the car.  This pretty yarn was a gift from my daughter Nicky last Christmas, so I'd like to get them finished soon.  They are coming along, I think I'm just about up to the heels by now.   In case you don't know, I knit my socks flat, two at a time.

My pink socks

Not only have I packed my pink ...

 This blog is brought to you with help from Gemma.  She is excellent at holding the lap top bag in place while I'm tapping away.  And it makes such a good place to have a comfy snooze.

Gemma is a big help

Our four days in Christchurch seeing my son Michael had come to an end, so then it was time to hitch the caravan up to the car and travel slowly back up to Picton to catch the ferry again.  We had nearly a week to do this, so we planned several stops along the way.

One lunch ...

It was time for our monthly lunch with our Super Leisure Group (SLG) friends, and Calvin had arranged for us to meet down at Porirua.  That suited us fine, as on the way I could do a donation drop off at Paraparaumu Beach, on the way to Porirua.  So I packed up some goodies for Foster Hope, and we set off bright and early.  These had been finished some time ago, and were waiting patiently to be delivered.

Three draw string bags for toiletries or pencils

Three toddlers aprons, a woolly beanie and two pencil cases with pencils

Two quilts ...

 We've had a busy old time lately.  Robin had a hospital procedure recently, one of those which require drinking large amounts of horrible liquid before hand - I'm sure many of you have undergone this as well.  Driving up to the hospital early in the morning, he had his paperwork done, changed into a gown, and taken away.  While I waited I spent some time in the hospital cafe with my book, a cheese scone (not the best one I've ever eaten), coffee, my knitting, and my phone, waiting for the call to come and collect him.  The ...

It's been a long time since I have missed a day of blogging. Even when traveling on the Camino, I always managed. However, there is a very good reason I missed, and it's called -- lack of time. 

I was fast asleep in my bed (two nights ago) when I was awoken at 11:30 PM. What awoke me? It was the sound of SAWING. Yes --- it sounded like someone was sawing something. What could they be sawing, and where were they? I've no idea. But it sounded like they were right next door to me. So, sawing ...

Although I always seem to be busy with my projects, I have to admit that I’ve been flitting from one thing to the other over the last week.  So consequently, nothing really gets finished.  With my knitting, I've been working on the sleeves of my navy blue cardigan, then also on the button hole bands as well.  Then I’ve two pair of socks on the go, sometimes I work on one set, later I work on the other.  I've been doing a little machining here and there, working on a couple of projects.  So nothing much ...

It seems a bit strange to be talking about going away on the King’s Birthday Weekend, I find.  Especially after 70 or so years of the Queen’s Birthday, but I’m sure we will get used to it.  The particular date is staying the same, and we had a caravan weekend away planned.

But first, we had the firemen come calling.  No, not for an emergency, thank goodness.  They were coming to do several smoke alarm assessments at our village, and we were on their list. And here they come, the fire engine was parked a few doors ...

Happy Monday!!  Just when I thought my design wall couldn't get any more colorful, well I just added another layer!!  The Queen of the Nile from Pride and Joy Quilting is a new guest on the design wall as we gets started, just completely smitten with her!

I think I need a bigger design wall!!

But alas there is some custom quilting that must be done and it's a great wintery day to get that started.   But I will have the queen of the Nile peeking over my should as I quilt.

Did I tell you about my ...

I always have a list of quilts I want to make, but sometimes a rogue slips into the queue. Recently as I fossicked through my quilts and scrap parts I came across a 12 by 12 inch square sewn together scraps part that said beach to me.

I combined that square with scrap strips, an ancient fat quarter of unknown origin, painted color catchers, and organza scraps. I also used special leftover strips from a gift of painted fabric. My goal was to convey the feeling of hazy brightness I’ve experienced at the beach, not necessarily a beach landscape ...

We are heading back up the east coast of the South Island, making our slow way back to the Ferry Terminal.  Staying at Christchurch for a couple of days gave us the opportunity to catch up with son Michael again.  And I had so enjoyed our previous visit to Sign of the Kiwi Café on the Port Hills last time we were here, that we collected him from his home and went there for lunch.  It certainly was a long and winding drive up the road.  There were plenty of people there already there enjoying their lunches in the fresh ...

We went out exploring one afternoon, driving an oval shaped route from Gore and back through the countryside, a road we hadn’t previously traveled on.  And goodness me, on reaching Clinton we discovered this sign, we had just driven along the Presidential Highway!

This stretch of highway between Clinton and Gore acquired unexpected fame in the 1990s when Bill Clinton and Al Gore were respectively president and vice-president of the United States. When President Clinton visited New Zealand in 1999, a photograph of the road sign was presented to him by the United States ambassador, Josiah Beeman.

Hello, Mr ...

It’s been much too hot and sticky lately to do any hand stitching or knitting, so nothing to report on that.  But we have been having a great time driving around and exploring on our South Island Trip.  Here’s an update of our adventures.  Boxing Day at the Beach is a Kiwi institution.   The day was hot and sunny, but the cool sea breeze cooled the temperatures down while we were sitting on the golden sand at Marahau Beach .  There was plenty of action happening off shore.  Several people were enjoying para-sailing, with the wind carrying them along ...

Are you ready for Summer? Summer means the beach, and cook-outs, and for many of my friends, that means Lobster! If you

The post Lobster Quilt Block appeared first on Always Expect Moore.

We've enjoyed a few little outings lately, meeting up with friends for lunch.  In fact, last week was very social indeed, with two lunches in a row.  The first was down at Paraparaumu Beach – where I did a drop-off with a bag of donations for Foster Hope, a charity which helps children in foster care.  The children often arrive at their foster homes with very little indeed,  so Foster Hope gives each child a back pack with toiletries, pajamas, underwear, and whatever else they made need.  My donation last week was a selection of 18 draw string bags for ...

 I finally started the center section of my Stitch & B!tch Sampler.

After completing the roadmap for the Sampler, it sat on the design wall for a month; we left for Myrtle Beach and spent a lovely 10 days there, and the remainder of my vacation was spent doing other things when we returned home.  One of my favorite photos from trip:

Sunrise from our balcony; you can see the moon above

My birthday was two weeks ago.  The day before I spent getting a few more pieces of fabric for the background and a substitute for someone's clothing ...

This time there was no sewing. 

We headed to the east coast--Myrtle Beach has been a favorite destination for us for several years. The soothing sound of the waves held healing properties for me when my one of autoimmune issues was diagnosed almost 3 years ago. It helped me understand that stress is the enemy and it is good to stop and do nothing.

A week before we left I thought I would visit the local quilt shops, but since we flew and could not get a rental car, and Uber and Lyft rides cost double what they did when ...

Finally we are off on a caravan trip - the weekend was spent with our caravan club buddies, not too far away at Betts Farm.  Our previous caravan club rally had been cancelled due to Covid lockdown, as had our planned 3 week trip north.  So there was plenty of news to catch up with our caravan buddies.  The night ended with a lovely sunset, always so nice to see the gorgeous colours in the sky.

Lovely sunset

The weekend rally seemed to be all about eating and a little drinking.  Glenys was celebrating her birthday on Saturday so she rushed ...

Have to admit that only a little stitching has been happening, but every bit helps, doesn’t it.  Packed away in my stitching bag is a set of 12 pre-printed small Christmas panels, designed by Bonnie Sullivan, my new hand stitching project.  This was a gift from my penfriend Carol from South Dakota, and has some felt pieces attached.  Here I am working on block number one.

My new stitching project

Our tripping around continues, and it’s always exciting finding “new to us” places  to stay.  We had never heard of Te Anga, a small rural community along SH37 ...

Leaving Taupo behind we spent the next night out in rural Paeroa.  You may remember that we had discovered that the young Lone Pine planted behind the  National Army Museum had originated from seeds collected in 2012 from the Turkish red pine growing at Paeroa Golf Course.  We were so close – of course we wanted to see this famous tree.   So we drove off to see if the staff at the golf club could help us in our quest.  They were so helpful and we were kindly escorted over the greens to see the tree and the accompanying plaque.

“There ...