New Zealand Week 3

 I am one week into my tour, it's going fine.  The pace is pretty leisurely compared to how I normally pace myself, also the budget level for experiences and hotels is a lot higher so equally a novel experience for me.  We have made it all the way down the North Island to Wellington at the southern tip, and tomorrow we cross over on the ferry to the South Island. Today marks roughly the halfway point for my overall trip I think.

I visited the Te Papa Tonga Tongarewa national museum today and saw a couple of quilts or 'tivaevae' which their label said are important to the Cook Islands people living in New Zealand  being used for their practical purpose but also as decorations and presentati

ons on important ceremonies such as weddings, 21st birthdays etc.  One was a 2015 applique quilt made by Tukua Turia, the other is a 1992 patchwork quilt made on the Cook Islands by an unknown maker.

Walking up Cuba Street in Wellington, I came across Made Marion Craft, a nice multi-craft shop with a classroom area in the back.  From the notices, they do some interesting introductory courses to sewing, lampshade making, crochet etc.  They have small displays of yarn, fabric (I bought another Kiwiana FQ which I think is different from the ones I bought in Auckland), haberdashery, embroidery etc.

I was briefly excited in the old mining town of Waihi when I saw a large knitting store in a heritage building called Unravelled Yarn Store on our lunch stop. My hopes were dashed  by the permanently closed sign in the door however. I've seen a few shops advertising knitting as we drive along, and one tantalising sign for quilting and knitting supplies but I don't think the rest of the group would see stopping for that as a priority. I went into the library at Taupo while waiting for the bus to come back - they had a good selection of craft books but the knitting section was twice as big as the quilting section, so I don't know if that reflects the demographic here.  I've been looking at craft magazines in newsagents and bookstores - there don't seem to be any native NZ publications, they are carrying some American quilting magazines and British knitting and cross stitch mags.

I carry my knitting on the minibus and have turned the heel on my second sock on a few of the longer driving days.  In the evenings I've been working on the sashiko sumo panel that I bought in Japan.

New Zealand Week 2

 I've joined my small group bus tour now, we've had three days on the road and so far it seems fine. A more leisurely pace than I would take on my own, but they are driving me places that I wouldn't be able to access as a non-driver.   When I was still on my own, after leaving Napier I caught the bus to Rotorua which is a centre for the Maori culture as well as being extremely geothermally active. I enjoyed a couple of the Maori experiences that you can book, and learning more about Maori history and culture. 

Quite near my hostel was the attractive shop 'Cottage Flair' which is mainly a patchwork shop but also has some knitting wool.  There is a classroom at the back of the store and the sound of sewing machines whirring away made me a bit homesick for my own sewing room.  I enjoyed looking around, especially as they had a number of sewn samples made up from patterns to look at.  They feature a lot of Australian designers but also had ByAnnie and the British designer Love from Beth.  There were one or two NZ designers as well.  I only bought a small pattern from Australian designer Hatched & Patched to make a cute pincushion featuring a caravan.

I bought a cute teatowel featuring multi coloured kiwi birds which is too cute to use as a towel, I will probably make something else with it.

I was interested to see in a Rotorua bookstore, instruction manuals in English for various Maori crafts such as how to prepare and weave flax, woodcarving etc.  It's good to see that this traditional knowledge has been captured for the modern generation. 

Not exactly craft but the Jelly Belly store at the top of the Rotorua gondola run had pictures made entirely from real jelly beans on their wall. Also in the gift shop up there, I found a lasercut model Maori meeting house (forgot to take a picture) that I bought for my dollshouse collection.

In some of the museums I've visited, they've had examples of Maori weaving for clothing, often embellished with things like feathers.

In a craft gallery, I saw this teacup 'still life' which is quite cute, I own a similar one at home.

On the first day of our tour, we stopped at a bird rescue centre and I got to pet a kiwi, it's an educational bird rescued after losing a leg in a trap and has been toured around the country to schools and the like to raise awareness of this threatened species.  The feathers unexpectedly felt like coarse dog hair. He was quite happily rooting for worms while we admired him.

New Zealand - week 1

 I arrived into Auckland almost a week ago.  I've got about 10 days on my own and then I join a small group tour for three weeks.  So far NZ is really reminding me of the west coast of Canada where I grew up before I emigrated to England - all the greenery and water and the low rise timber buildings.

In Auckland I caught the train to the suburb of Penrose to visit the Ribbon Rose sewing centre that I had seen recommended online. By UK standards this is an enormous three storey craft shop that sells various needlecraft supplies including a wide range of knitting wool, art supplies, and a floor of fabric mostly for quilting.  They have all the big names from the UK and America/Europe like Rowan for yarn, and Kaffe Fassett and Tilda for fabric.  Once I had ascertained that they would be willing to ship to the UK for me, I was looking out for NZ souvenirs.  I got a couple of balls of 70% merino/ 30% possum fur - possum is a pest here that they are trying to eradicate and apparently its fur is really warm and cosy.  I found a couple of NZ themed cross stitch bookmarks as well.  I had mostly come to see their Kiwiana - NZ themed quilt fabric range.  They had just restocked so there was a

shelf full of Maori designs, kiwi symbols like the fruit and the bird, bird designs, ferns etc.   I got a long quarter cut of most of them, with some extra of the fern fabric to use possibly as the border for a scrappy memory quilt of NZ.  Super friendly and helpful staff and so much to choose from, a fun shop. It's all on its way back to the UK now.

The same day I was walking through the pretty shopping street in Parnell and came across another yarn shop on Parnell Road.  This one stocked more hand-dyed yarn, fun to look but I didn't buy anything.

From Auckland, I flew here to Napier which is a smaller town famous for its collection of Art Deco buildings.  Randomly, there is a well stocked Japan goods store in the centre called Raku with all kinds of wonderful Japanese and kawaii goods including many bolts of fabric.  I found some sumo fabric I don't have, and a fabric of Japanese woodcut pictures, and a couple of other pretty ones.  I think I am going to have to try to post a box from Auckland before the tour starts.

The Art Deco Trust maintains an attractive shop selling various vintage and repro goods, and I found a darling handpainted porcelain Nodder doll made by Colleen Crooks in Palmerston North.  It's like a little Frozen Charlotte doll except the head is separate and attached by elastic so it can move.  I took a walking tour run by the Trust to see many of the wonderful Art Deco buildings in the town centre.

Hong Kong

 I've actually just arrived in Auckland today, having left Hong Kong yesterday.  I had an evening, two full days, and 2/3rds of the final day in Hong Kong, so could only get a brief taste of what the city has to offer. I wasn't sure what to expect, between the vloggers rhapsodizing about HK on Youtube, to a couple of acquaintances who hadn't cared for HK at all.  It is certainly a hugely urban, hugely crowded city that goes 24/7 - so if you don't like crowds, constant road noise, and having to continually take evasive action for roadworks, scaffolding, shop goods spilling out on the pavement, trucks parked on the pavement, unsavoury messes etc. then you aren't going to like it. 

Having said that, everybody was very quiet and polite, no shoving or shouting, the underground stations were busy but quite quiet, and most people I interacted with were friendly and spoke at least some English if not fluent English.  Rundown dirty old buildings are right next to stark modern architecture, luxury good stores just around the corner from ragged street markets under tarpaulins stretched across the alley for shade, gorgeous tropical parks are an oasis amongst the relentless urban sprawl. A city of contradictions I guess. I got on fine and enjoyed looking around.

I did do a bit of crafty exploration, although I don't dare buy much because I'm only allowed one suitcase on my NZ tour.  In the Sham Shui Po area on the Kowloon side, there are a cluster of streets known for their gathering of related shops.  On Bead Street, there were several small shops just crammed with beads, jewellery findings, trims, ribbons, embroidered appliques, tassels - like little Aladdins Caves.  I picked up a couple of pieces of Hong Kong related fabric for .80p each.  

Button Street was more of a general street market but I did see one cavernous button emporium with floor to ceiling little drawers lining the walls.  Nearby streets are meant to be Ribbon Street and Leather Street but again mostly filled with general street market stalls but admittedly I wasn't looking too hard, I was just enjoying the atmosphere.

There's also an enormous flower and plant market. One shop had crocheted flower bouquets, very cute.

The next day I was over across the harbour in the Hong Kong central business district, full of modern skyscrapers like Canary Wharf in London, only going up steep hills.  After riding the historic tram up Victoria Peak and hiking down, I did a self guided walk through  the traditional Sheung Wan neighbouhood which finished at the renovated 1906 Western Market.  Here I was delighted to find the first floor full of fabric traders selling all kinds of fabric on the roll.  One of the women assistants said they get a lot of tourists shopping for quilting fabric (which was cheap but they didn't have a lot of selection) and also women buying up fabric to have their tailors back home sew their seasonal wardrobes for them.  I bought a bit of dragon fabric from her, I think it's polycotton but will do for lining, and from an old gentleman across the way, two half metres of rayon brocade that he said is bought for making Chinese dresses and the traditional top and trouser suits .  Gorgeous stuff and only GBP9.50 a metre.

Bon Voyage (to me)

 My last blog post before I head off to Hong Kong on Tuesday, on my way to New Zealand.  I plan to blog occasionally on the road if the technology cooperates.  Hopefully I have packed everything I will need, and fingers crossed my suitcase arrives with me. Wish me luck!

I've been working on the Lori Holt My Happy Place quilt although I'm not going to get it finished before I go.  But the design wall is filling up a lot more.

This is Week Eight

And this is the first half of Week Nine.

I've been making a bit of a push on my Latvian mitten and have crawled my way up past the thumb position (thumb stitches are indicated by the white horizontal line of waste yarn). I still don't really know what I'm doing with four colours in a row, but at least having only three colours in a row now seems easier by comparison. My tension continues to be pretty wobbly but I know that will improve when I wet block the finished mitten.

The kitchen in the Japanese dollshouse is not finished yet but I've put back the items I was accessorising. You can see I've simulated some tiny dishes on the two food trays with a sequin, a metal finding and some tiny hole punches that I cupped with an embossing tool.  The Japanese kettle was I think a present from my friend Anita.  The tiny spoon, oil pot, the two white jars, the little white dishes, and the baskets were purchased at the Tokyo dollshouse shop in 2019.  I have other accessories I want to make but it will have to wait for now.

I finished putting together the Japan travel journal, it feels good to have got that off my 'to do' list.  I also spent a few hours printing off colour photos from the slides I saved from my clear out a few weeks ago.  I had saved the relatively few  colour slides from the early 80s that included pictures of me.  I have an ancient scanner (it may well be older than my adult son) that will scan coloured slides but it took me about an hour to work out how to scan the first slide and then to convince my new Canon printer to print the whole photo at a reasonable resolution (and not cut half the image off etc.).  Once I had a process, the remaining dozen or so were fairly straightforward.    I have so much more decluttering to accomplish but it will have to wait until I'm going to be home for a period of consecutive weeks.