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The Wonders of Oamaru

At the end of last month Brenda and I travelled to Oamaru, on the South Island of New Zealand. I was teaching a class for the North Otago Patchers and Quilters for two full days, but we got some extra time to explore this lovely city on the day we arrived.

Oamaru is known as the Steampunk Capital of the world. The old town has been preserved and transformed into a gorgeous area with cobbled streets, and the old Whitestone buildings from the early days of European settlement, when Oamaru was a bustling port.

Beautiful buildings with quirky and interesting shops, including lots of craft shopping opportunities make this a great place to explore.

We ventured into the Textile Emporium - what a delightful place! Vintage sewing machines, looms and an amazing spinning wheel from the 1700's caught our attention, as did all the lovely samples. 

This weaving had been done by students at the Emporium.

 

There really is something for everyone in this shop - whether you love to...

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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...

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