On Saturday the 6th July at precisely 07:30am (that’s actually 7:38am) the majority of the Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network set off north to invade Levin.
I was driving so thank you to Teresa for getting some pics on the way – wow was it really that dark when we left?!
Kapiti Island – photo by Teresa
We met our forward scout (Juliet) outside our objective.
Our mission: To take and hold the Levana Factory Outlet Store (“Open 1st Saturday of month 9am – 2pm”) and relieve them of as much of their famed merino as our car boots could hold and whatever other goodies took our fancy along the way.
But our carefully planned mission (in the works since February this year) was thwarted!
Due to their building having no power Levana was shut and would instead open the following Saturday, July 13th.
Sabotage!
Me, Juliet, Nikki & Wendy – sad faces!
Desperate phone calls were made, keys got locked in a car, a father came to the rescue, but no merino for us… 😦
Juliet, Teresa, Elisabeth, Johanna, Holly, Emily, Wendy, Nikki, Me
It was a long drive for no spoils but the WSBN are never without a backup plan. We retreated across the road to an op shop to re-group (and giggle at some truly terrible vintage knitting patterns) and then we continued on our way to make our lunch date at Petit Fours in Palmerston North.
Mmm! High tea makes everything ok!
The slice on the middle tier is kumara and maple with cream cheese icing, and at the bottom is a warm savoury, also made with kumara. I don’t like kumara, it’s not like peas for me, I actually avoid kumara. Teresa admitted she could take-it-or-leave-it too but we both agreed that these were delicious!
There were also mini afghan biscuits and lots of cute little sandwiches with yummy fillings, but I know you really just want to see the cupcakes!
(clockwise from top) Sundae, Key Lime Pie, Hershey Kisses, Double chocolate cupcakes!
Kumara savoury and teeny little sandwiches, yummy!
Lot’s of smiles!
Nikki, Wendy, Emily, Elisabeth & Johanna
Juliet and Linda gave our table some impromptu New Zealand Sign Language lessons.
I can now say I am a “sewing nerd” and that I am “married to a rock nerd” 😉
Amongst many others I know the basics like “please” and “thank you”, “yes” and “no”, I know the difference between “hen” and “chicken” (but not “flour” and “sugar”!) and how to say “stuff it, let’s do it!” See below for that one!
“Stuff it, let’s do it!”
Teresa, Linda, Juliet and I practise our NZSL – photo thanks to Nikki
Not much left…
The aftermath…
Oh my!
Pretties!
Then it was off to Arthur Toye where we surprised and entertained their staff for about 2 hours!
Oh yes, that’s right, they total your docket and then halve it!
That’s why we are all smiling so much, earlier disasters long forgotten now!
Also Arthur Toye in Palmy is about 3 times the size of our Wellington store (and their staff are not grumpy)!
My pretties: A lilac stain at top (for a coat lining), pink sparkly knit at the bottom, dark grey suiting with pink pinstripe/dot detail at left (this was a popular choice, I think maybe 3 or 4 of us bought some and at $6 per meter why wouldn’t you?!)…and some faux tiger fur…we’ll get to that in another post sometime soon 😉
I’d already visited Arthur Toye in Wellington the previous week, taking home a lush midnight blue velvet, some fuchsia ponte and a pretty blue wool so that is why my takings may seem a little restrained.
And then Juliet let us in on her little secret vintage pattern source, which shall remain secret…look at these girls go!
Like vintage patterns much?!
I ended up with two $1.00 bundles of snaps and hook/eyes, yay
And, well, that’s it! We stumbled back to our cars, divided up our spoils and set off back south to Wellington and dinner, and home 😉
I arrived at my doorstep exhausted but despite the initial disasters I simply had the best day. So much giggling, fabric stroking (and buying), pattern digging, and the delicious high tea.
Sure, we didn’t get to enjoy Levana (the whole reason for our 1.5 hour drive) but in the end it didn’t matter…and there is always next month! 😀
Thank you to my partners in crime: Amanda, Emily, Elisabeth, Holly, Johanna, Juliet, Linda, Nikki, Teresa and Wendy for an amazing day! xx
the curious kiwi 