Today I:

• wrote 2500 words for my essay which is due on Friday (why don't they ever make them due on Mondays so a girl can have the weekend to write some more?);
• learned more about speed cameras than I ever thought I needed to;
• chaired a meeting of 40 people;
• wrote another 1000 words for the bureaucracy;
• had 2 lovely telephone conversations with people who live too far away and who I need to have more of in my life;
• ate far too much chocolate (food nazi you're gonna have to teach me (again) how to detox;
• added some more stitchers and knitters to my list of fibre filled blogs. Go look at the Modern Quilt Along. Don't you think that's a great pattern for me to use those hand-dyes from a couple of weeks ago?

Can I go to sleep now?

On a Clear Day

I went to see On a Clear Day. It was fun, it made me laugh. A movie about a swimmer! How could I resist? I'd wait for a DVD though, if I were you, rather than use precious movie funds.

Quilt of the day

Harry Quilt. For obvious reasons. Hung at the National Symposium in Christchurch in 2003. From the collection of Jack J. The crazy pieced style shows up the thrills and spills of quidditch.

I had great fun whipping this up. There are lots of glittery fabrics in there, which have held up well to constant use. I like how a quilt that hung in a major exhibition now hangs out on the sofa and is used constantly.

Innocent until proven guilty

Front page news today from the Dominion Post (Wellington, NZ)

The three men acquitted of raping Louise Nicholas will stand trial for the sexual abuse of another woman.

It can now be revealed that Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards and former policemen Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum face further charges relating to alleged sexual offending in the 1980s.

The existence of the second complaint had been suppressed since the men were charged in March last year, but The Dominion Post has won a court battle to make the information public.

Rickards, Shipton and Schollum were acquitted in March of 20 sex charges relating to Mrs Nicholas, who said she had been raped, and violated with a police baton, as an 18-year-old.

Well, we must let justice run its course I guess.

Power pylons

More lacy power pylons. These ones are on the Desert Road, centre of the North Island. Am I becoming obsessed? Definitely art in there somewhere.

The weekend that was

I travelled with my team mates to Levin for a masters swim meet. This was my first swim meet for over 30 years! I think I spent about 4 minutes in the water. There was swimming, there was....err.....celebrating, with dinner and dancing.....a little coffee in a cafe the next morning... a visit to the lingerie factory shop (don't know that I'll ever go shopping for lacy underwear with quite so many men ever again).....there was golf.....and there were cows. The cows weren't much help. That's our coach up there with the cheesy grin. He was celebrating good health and fast swims. Most of these people swim like they're sixteen, they swim better than they dance. Everyone was pretty happy with their times. I swam my 100m medly 5 seconds faster than my trial time. 5 seconds faster. Whoo hoo!! Shame about that former Commonwealth Games gold medalist who swims in my age group.

The Otaki golf course is beautiful. A bunch of us followed the golfers around 9 holes. The tui were singing their heads off and chasing each other around. I love these lacy power pylons disappearing into the distance. There's an artquilt in there somewhere methinks. Oh yes, the golf was entertaining too.We stopped by this beautiful church, the oldest Catholic Church still in use in New Zealand, St Mary’s Pukekaraka Church built in 1851.

It was a great weekend. The next swim meet is in October.

It's almost the weekend

Another long hard week is nearly dealt to. Just one working day before the weekend. Here's my philosophy for Friday.

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!~Dr. Seuss

Quilt of the day.
The hand of friendship. Stitched in total, unbelievable secret by my quilting friends for my 40th birthday (ahem) a while back. Love the blue and white, love the stripes, love the symbol. It will always be treasured.

That's more like it!

This is Bella. I went to her house on Saturday, and on Sunday morning her human and I got up bright and early, dyed a little fabric, went for a walk around a nearby lake......

had beautiful carrot and cashew soup for lunch, washed out the fabric......

Fun, fast, fabulous!

Aren't they delicious?

It was a wonderful soul-restoring weekend. I am sorry I left it so long between visits.

Why is it....

that blogger sometimes makes pictures 'clickable' and sometimes does not? I do not understand, and I cannot figure out how to control it. Help!

Oh, the places I go!

I went to Dunedin today. Instead of catching the bus, I caught a plane or two. You'll be pleased to know I was on time today. The flight down was magnificent, a few snowcapped mountains, rolling hills unfolding down to the sea, but alas, I didn't take my camera. I went to the Dunedin City Art Gallery. It was on route between meetings, really it was. I hung out with this guy. Wouldn't you love to have a laugh with him?

All’e Same t’e Pakeha (1905) Charles Frederick GoldieMedium: oil on canvas. Goldie usually dressed his models in traditional (un)dress, but the theory is this guy is in his own clothes.

I really enjoyed a large exhibition of the photographs of Arns Westra. An immigrant to NZ, she has photographed Maori with extraordinary sensitivity for many years. She's also been at all the protest marches for many different causes, and photographed many notable New Zealanders.

Arns Westra Opening of meeting house, ‘Arohanui Ki Te tangata’, Waiwhetu marae (detail)September 1960 Photograph.

Here's the results of my very first home dying experiment from the weekend. I washed them all out after the minimum two hours, because I could see it wasn't going well.

The following lessons were learnt. Fabric is not necessarily 100% cotton just because Spotlight says it is. Trust your instincts. Poly cottons dye nice even solid colours, like it or not. Navy and golden yellow make great greens. Poly cotton dyed with navy blue is not at all nice, it looks cheap and nasty. Poly cottons dry really fast! You definitely need gloves but you don't have to make a mess so go ahead and dye in your kitchen. It's easy to scare off the boys from their continuous search for food if you threaten to dye them yellow.

Saturday again already?

It is Saturday again already, after another fleeting week full of work. I missed a plane to Auckland and had to catch the next one. I got to the check-in 15mins before the flight, but they wouldn't let me on. I blame Osama. Such fun to fly to Auckland and back for the day. I went to a hui and a general meeting. I met some truly inspirational people fighting the good fight against methamphetamines and other drugs in their communities. Thank goodness for them and their staunch hearts. The best thing about going to a hui of course is the singing. That alone was worth the trip. Oh yes, there was also some studying, and lots of swimming too, but no stitching.


Quilt of the day. Note how a quick snapshot is not good enough to use as the photograph required for entering an exhibition. In reality this quilt is very square and hangs straight and flat. Once it travelled to Queenstown to hang at the national symposium exhibition 1999. My first entry, and my first acceptance for the national symposium. I made the first block in a class with Jenny Hunter. Jenny writes and designs for NZ Quilter magazine.

Now I am thinking about what to enter for symposium 2007. Step number one is complete....I bought some soda ash and some procien dyes. Next I think I need some fabric.

The house is full of boys tonight. Happily, one of them is cooking dinner, and two are downstairs in a bedroom up to who-knows-what pre-teen mischief that undoubtedly trashes the room. One is playing his guitar very pleasantly within earshot. I have not one, but two, bottles of super-cheap ($7.00), very very very drinkable pinot from the supermarket. "Quaff winery of the year 2006" says the sticker on the label. Ha! Quaffing while blogging sounds good to me. A refreshed glass will accompany me to bind the heart quilt.