Taking my quilts for a walk

It's a beautiful spring day here! As I drove to the foothills of the Tararua ranges this morning, I passed the quintessential New Zealand spring sight, a ewe feeding her twin lambs. What a great day to take my quilt for a walk!

I love my walks in the bush, I usually go alone and I enjoy the peace and solitude. It helps me revive and recharge my batteries before another week in the shop or behind my computer or sewing machine. Over the winter I haven't been getting out, and last week was my first walk for ages. I decided that it would be fun to bring my quilts along. So this week, that's what I did!

As I packed my backpack, I wondered how much the quilt would add to the weight I had to carry. Standing on the scales, I realised that the total of me plus backpack was still 6kg (about 12 pounds) lower than I weighed on my own this time last year, before I started my walking habit! No problem carrying that extra weight then.

This week my companion was Blue China, a quilt I made back in 2012 for our Shop Hop. It's a sampler quilt all in blues and whites - great colours for a blue sky day when the snow is still on the mountain tops

I took a few shots of the quilt when I stopped to look at the lambs frolicing in the fields

Then off to Kiriwhakapapa campsite, at the entrance to the Tararua Forest Park. It's only about a 20 minute drive from home - how lucky I am to have this gorgeous countryside on my doorstep!

On with the boots

And it was off into the peace and quiet of the trees. The track is pretty muddy at this time of year and the streams were running strongly with all the meltwater from the snow on the mountains.

A lovely thing about the ranges is that the water is pure and delicious, lucky for me as I had forgotten my water bottle!

After leaving the stream, the track turns uphill and it's a bit of a slog, but before long I reached the resting spot at the saddle between the Kiriwhakapapa and Mikimiki valleys.

The little orange triangles mark the walking tracks. Time to get the quilt out!

When I told people I was going to take my quilts for a walk, they looked at me as if I was nuts! It'll get dirty, they said, what do you want to do that for? Now I have tried it, I love the idea. Why not? My quilts are my friends. They make great walking companions. They don't disturb the silence, and if I got lost they would keep me warm!

Quilting and walking are my solace. They both revive my spirit. Having a quilt on my walk is just perfect.

Time for a cuppa. I might have forgotten my water bottle, but I didn't forget the thermos...

So after sitting in the silence with just the birdsong, it was time to walk back down the hill, through the mud and back to the world again - refreshed and revived.

Thank you for your company, Blue China quilt. Who will I take with me next time?