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Gail's Quilting Blog

Wellington/Minerva/Ann Scott

Wellington - Unique New Zealand

Wellington - Unique New Zealand


Anne Scott is the publisher of New Zealand Quilter magazine and the owner of Minerva in Wellington. Here, Ann shows off one of her quilts, that was part of the traveling exhibit, “Made in New Zealand”.

Wellington - Minerva

Wellington - Minerva


Anne’s shop has tons of quilting and fiber books as well as a gallery with rotating displays.

Wellington - Welcome to My Pacific by Carol Newsham

Wellington - Welcome to My Pacific by Carol Newsham


“Welcome to My Pacific”, another quilt in the traveling exhibit, was created by Carol Newsham

Wellington - Dolls

Wellington - Dolls


Minerva had a doll exhibit during our visit, big ones, tall ones, short ones, small ones.

Wellington - Funky Dog

Wellington - Funky Dog


But, this is the little fellow who stole my heart!

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The Black Swan

Rotorua - Black Swan

Rotorua - Black Swan


Lake Rotorua hosts a population of the Australian Black Swan, one of only two species of swans that are not white. There are seven species of swans in the world

Rotorua - photos of swans

Rotorua - photos of swans


Since the tour was now well-indoctrinated into my passion for all things feathered, they were pretty darned excited to see and photograph the black birds.

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Te Puia Geothermal and Cultural Area

Rotorua - Carving at Te Puia

Rotorua - Carving at Te Puia


Once our weaving class ended, we were treated to a tour of the Te Puia geothermal area.

Rotorua - Te Puia Hot pool

Rotorua - Te Puia Hot pool


Te Puia - Te Puia Geyser

Te Puia - Te Puia Geyser


Te Puia - Suphur Pond

Te Puia - Suphur Pond

Te Puia - Female singer

Te Puia - Female singer


We stayed for dinner and were treated to Maori traditional dances. This woman had the most amazing voice, like that of an angel. Note the flax skirt around her waist and the second one around her shoulder.

Te Puia - Maori dancers

Te Puia - Maori dancers


Maori men performed warrior dances

Te Puia - male Maori Dances

Te Puia - male Maori Dances


They invited their visitors up onto the stage to learn the dances too. Not as easy as it looks.

Te Puia - Madeline

Te Puia - Madeline


Madeline took it all in.

Te Puia - Madeline and Karen dance

Te Puia - Madeline and Karen dance


The two brave ones in our group, Karen and Madeline, got up on stage to dance the woman’s dance using these swinging balls, again much harder than it looks. After a great dinner, we headed back to our hotel near stinky lake Rotorua.

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Te Puia

Te Puia - Woven Flax dress

Te Puia - Woven Flax dress

Te Puia is the heart of the Maori Cultural World. Their mission is to be the centre of knowledge and excellence for the preservation, presentation, education and growth of traditional expressions of Māori arts, crafts and culture. This woven flax garment is simply incredible.

Te Puia - Woven Floral arrangement

Te Puia - Woven Floral arrangement

Their gallery features some incredible weavings, all done from flax leaves, including the floral arrangement.

Te Puia - Flax weavng

Te Puia - Flax weavng

We took a weaving class, so we too could learn this art form. Looks pretty easy in this picture, where our teacher, Teresa Murray, whipped out this sample in no time at all!

Te Puia - scraping flax fibers

Te Puia - scraping flax fibers

Teresa showed us how to score the flax leaf and then use a paua shell to remove the fiber.

Te Puia - Rolling the flax strands

Te Puia - Rolling the flax strands

Once the fiber was removed, the remaining strands were rolled along the leg to form a twisted rope. It takes hundreds of these strands to make each grass skirt. Our team got started! It is not nearly as easy as Teresa made it appear. In fact, I toiled for two hours, inadvertently destroyed several flax leaves and, finally managed to get two strands done.

Te Puia - Teresa Murray

Te Puia - Teresa Murray

Next, we all went down to the boiling pool, to boil our flax. Teresa showed us how it was done.

Te Puia - Dave

Te Puia - Dave

Dave was one of her helpers.

Te Puia - removing flax

Te Puia - removing flax

Karen, a New Mexico native, was the other helper. Here they are removing the boiled flax. This is the collective work of 18 students! The lesson that I learned here is that if you ever want to own a grass skirt, just pay whatever the asking price is! It will be worth it!

Te Puia - Colorful flax weaving

Te Puia - Colorful flax weaving

Flax weavings hang beneath the roof along the walkway at Te Puia.

Te Puia - Kiwi feather cloak

Te Puia - Kiwi feather cloak

We saw this ancient Chief’s cloak and woven skirt in the gallery too. It would have been used by a Maori chief and was adorned with real Kiwi feathers.

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Rotorua

Rotorua - Sulphur Flats

Rotorua - Sulphur Flats


Our hotel was located at the southernmost end of Lake Rotorua, in an area known as sulphur flats. (read stinky). But once you got used to the aroma of rotten eggs, the birding was rather good! The inland lake has a good population of Black-billed Gulls, a species that frequents inland lakes and is the most threatened gull species in New Zealand. Good numbers of Pukeko were present foraging among the gulls. Check out this funky PukekoMania blog with lots of humorous images and not so funny hazards. We saw Pukeko in wetlands throughout New Zealand, a truly gorgeous blue rail with a bright red bill, and legs.

Rotorua - Lake Rotorua at sunrise

Rotorua - Lake Rotorua at sunrise


Sunrise was spectacular!

Rotorua - Bird Sign

Rotorua - Bird Sign


Sulphur Flat is home to many endemic species, including New Zealand Dotterel, White-fronted Tern, and Black-backed Gull.

Rotorua - Tuatara

Rotorua - Tuatara


At Rainbow Springs, we visited a Kiwi breeding facility where eggs are removed from nests located in the wild, hatched and reared in captivity, and then released near their nest sites when they are large enough enough to defend themselves from stoats, rats, cats, and possums. We also got to see the native Tuatara, the ancient reptile, unique to New Zealand.

Rotorua - Betty and Dave

Rotorua - Betty and Dave


Dave and Betty, who hail from Wisconsin, posed in front of the giant kiwi at the park.

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Sheep and Working Dogs – the Agrodome

Agrodome - Mr Merino

Agrodome - Mr Merino


Meet Mr. Merino, one of the most desired breeds for the production of wool. New Zealand is renowned for its sheep and the working dogs that are part of the team.

Agrodome - Dogs

Agrodome - Dogs


At the Agrodome, in Rotorua, we watched a demonstration of the different breeds of sheep and the different kinds of dogs that are used for herding.

Agrodome - Lenelle

Agrodome - Lenelle


The show was entertaining and educational with hilarious parts, such as when a dog was herding ducks, and the audience was invited up to help milk cows and bottle feed lambs. Lenelle, the Australian on our tour, enjoyed the photo opp.

Agrodome - Judy

Agrodome - Judy


Judy, a proud octogenarian, handles the just-sheared wool.

Agrodome - Cora

Agrodome - Cora


And, Cora, who LOVES dogs, got a chance to pose with her handsome new friend. Cora missed her new puppy who stayed home in California, under the care of her hubby.

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Hamilton Quilt Guild Meeting

Daphne Phillips

Daphne Phillips

That afternoon, we visited the Hamilton Quilter’s for their monthly meeting, featuring Daphne Phillips, an octogenarian, and one of the most prolific quilters ever! Daphne shared many of the quilts she had made over the course of her quilting career. Most inspiring was her ‘can do’ attitude, not to mention all of the quilts she had made.

Hamilton Quilt Guild meeting

Hamilton Quilt Guild meeting


Ellen (in the flying goose jacket) checks out some of Daphne’s handiwork.

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Donna’s Quilt Studio in Hamilton

Donna Ward Design

Donna Ward Design


The next morning we visited Donna’s Quilt Studio. Noted for her funky quilt fabrics, friendly staff, and fun quilting classes, Donna specializes in contemporary fabrics and original designs. Donna, and daughter Ashleigh are the go-to girls for the “something different” you’ve been trying to find.

Ashleigh Ward at shop

Ashleigh Ward at shop


Here, Ashleigh helps ring up sales for our group! One of the interesting phenomenons about our tour was when the group of 18 quilterly types, excluding Mike and Dave, descended en masse on a quilt shop.

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