Travels with Dolly

Here in New Zealand we are just getting to the last days of summer and heading into autumn. We've been making the most of the beautiful weather and scenery in our new to us caravan, who we have named 'Dolly'.

Dolly is a very simple little lightweight caravan with no power but going away in her has been so relaxing and lots of fun. We have lots of campsites close to us where we can just go and listen to the birds singing, take a walk in the bush and be laid back for a day or two.

To keep us warm in Dolly I chose my Garden Party quilt. This quilt was made from fabrics in my stash, using the Creative Grids Perfect Rectangle ruler. It was so much fun to make and it's a good size for keeping Carl's feet warm at night!

We visited a tiny little town in our region called Pongaroa, and of course we had to grab a delicious pie for lunch from the one shop that serves the entire farming area for miles around.

We love travelling in Dolly, but the one thing that was missing was my sewing machine! Enter Una, the hand crank Unity brand, cast iron machine. I am so excited to have her now I have even been out to the caravan in the driveway and had a little sew!

I learned as a teenager on my mum's hand crank Singer machine from the '50's, so only having one hand for controlling the fabric isn't new to me, but it has been many a long year since I have sewn like this. Also, this machine has the tension spring on the side instead of the front, but I think I'll get used to it.

What was the first machine you learned to sew on? Do you have a 'thing' for vintage machines, or are you strictly a modern miss?

 Sheila

PS If you'd like the pattern for Garden Party, you can get the pdf in my shop here