Sunny

Sunny 2006. 'Clickable' picutres. Just to prove I could do it.

Sunday walk (1)

Here's a new series.

The Sunday morning walk photograph.

This one is looking across the heads of Wellington harbour from Te Raekaihau, the penninsular between Lyall Bay and Houghton Bay. It was a beautiful day at 7am. It often is. Shame you couldn't join me.

Celebrating

I put on my new little black party dress* and went to the swim club Christmas party. A few vodka jellies, a little champagne, dinner and dancing 'til very late (early). Great fun! Look what they gave me. Me! Most Improved Swimmer! Me! We only have two trophies...the President's cup, for contribution to club spirit, and Most Improved. Me! Shucks, I wouldn't have done it without the encouragement, support, and friendship of my swimming buddies. Thanks. We were in the water at 8am this morning. Such dedication. The scrambled eggs were pretty good today!

*"Is it too little?" I asked my friend. "Don't be stupid", she said. "They see you in a swim suit at least 3 times a week". We got no secrets us swimmers, no secrets.

No. 2 son played cricket today and it was very exciting. They needed 6 runs, we needed 1 wicket to win. They got the runs before we got the wicket. A bunch of 10 year olds in their bright cricket whites, concentrating hard, encouraging each other, and putting their hearts into the game is a real joy to watch. Next I helped escort a bunch of 12 year old boys to a paint-ball birthday bash. No. 1 son has been friends with Duncan since they were both kindy boys aged 4. How cool is that? We're going to take Duncan out for dinner and to see a play in December. I'm looking forward to it. We've come a long way from pass the parcel!

I've tried and tried to get a 'clickable' photo of Sunny up here to no avail. I can't figure this out at all, at all.

I got mail

There's a large envelope in the letterbox. I recognise the writing on the self-addressed envelope. But they said they'd post the accept/reject letters on 26 November. Could it be early? If the quilt is in, they send a letter. If the quilt is out, the cd and photographs are returned. Heart in mouth, I can feel this envelope is not empty. There's a cd in there.

Rejected by the jurors for the National Quilt Symposium 2007. What are they thinking? This is a fabulous quilt! Never mind, Jude and Jules can have it now, in time for their first anniversary. The whole-view photo makes this quilt look less than square. I should've got the tripod out. I wonder if that had anything to do with it? Unusually, there are no comments included from the jurors, just "the quality of the images sent in for judging did not always do justice to the quilts".

It's kindof ironic that this quilt is rejected. It brings a little story, which I'm not telling, to closure in a way. Never mind little quilt, I love you dearly. I named it Joy.

Accepted by the jurors for the National Symposium 2007. Sunny. Hooray! It's a real honour to get something accepted. I don't envy those jurors. Sunny will now get some loving care to ensure it looks its best hanging in the exhibition in Palmerston North in January.

My third entry, the house quilt which you can get a glimpse of here was a collaborative project with a quilting buddy. The accept/reject news will have been sent to her, along with news of her own two quilts. She is out of town. The envelope will be waiting in her letterbox. We'll just have to wait for her to come home.

Periwinkle

Go see all the pictures at A Year of Colour

What's a girl to do?

Shave, wax, or leave it be? Advice, opinions sought. Does it depend who you're sleeping with? Hmmm?

New version of blogger? Yes or no?

Kiwi chicks, appearing here for no reason at all

Photograph by the Waikato Times

Red

Red collage for A Year of Colour.
The red chair pictures (from Christchurch Arts Centre) are by my friend The Sagittarian who really needs a blog of her own. Nice huh? 

One more Melbourne day

My third day in Melbourne was grey and cool. Plenty of fun to be had though. Out for breakfast (of course). I had the best scrambled eggs I’ve had in a long while, full of sun-dried tomatoes and herbs, with onion jam on the side. Fabulous. Somewhere in Brunswick Street, the place with the tree sculpture.

We explored a few Brunswick St shops, and went to the Rose St craft market. That’s where I bought the green silk in the previous post. Next we went for a drive to Northcote to a well stocked shop named 50s Flashback. Vintage fabric heaven. Okay, there were no bargains that I could see....but look!

Mostly vintage fabrics with a few reproduction prints. I bought that one in the bottom right hand corner. It's destined to be cushions for a black leather sofa of my acquaintance. Went back to Northcote later in the day to the beautifully restored movie theatre to see Little Miss Sunshine. Laughed and laughed. Great movie. Out for dinner (of course) to AOF’s favourite Thai, where I survived the chilli prawns, Thai style. Oh those Aussie prawns, they alone would be reason enough to relocate.

I love exploring Melbourne. But especially with AOF. She sent me home calm and sure of what I want, with a clear vision of the future. Everything has been falling into place since then. Thanks dear friend, for giving me the space to remember who I am.

Quilts of the Day

I washed two quilts today. Here they are pictured drying outside. It's a good day for drying quilts, overcast and a little breezy.

Double Wedding Ring (1998 or thereabouts). 1930s reproduction fabrics, worn and faded now, which adds to its antique look.

Blue Star (1999 or thereabouts). A classic 2-colour quilt in my favourite colour combo. I'm stopping myself from telling you what's wrong with each of them. Quilters always do that. I wonder if other artists do? We learn a little from each quilt we make. I'm still enjoying the learning.
Green yellow treasures, for a year of colour. More yellow in real life than my monitor is showing. A tiny bowl bargain from an asian food warehouse, and a shibori dyed piece of silk, from a craft market . The silk may get worn as a scarf, or maybe cut up and used in some art.

Melbourne (2)

On my second day in Melbourne I had tropical fruit for breakfast and walked into the city.

Note: you should not wear last summers shoes for the first time this summer when you are going to spend the whole day on your feet. You get blisters. It hurts.

I spent hours in David Jones. Hours. I had no idea what time it was, and the morning flew by. I met AOF for sushi, and she took me to Craft Victoria which has a stunning shop, and was showing a work with lacy curtains to wander through and clay dogs. You could add to the exhibition and make your own dog. It was a quiet afternoon in, early dinner at a nearby pub. "Pub" does not do it justice, there were crisp white linen napkins and the food was fantastic, the eggplant and zucchini chips particularly memorable. We got a DVD, I have no idea what it was called, and I slept through lots of it. Long long nights finishing that essay and the quilts sure caught up with me quick.still more Melbourne adventures to come! 

Golden Wedding

My parents have been married for 50 years. The far-flung family gathered in Christchurch to celebrate. We had dinner at Hay's, opposite the Casino. Pictured above, a corsage for my Mum, duck and asparagus crepes, salmon with cherry tomatoes, basil and beans, lemon curd pavlova. Clean, uncomplicated tastes. Beautiful.


We saw a rainbow trout swimming in the Avon river in the middle of the city. Christchurch was pretty as usual, calm and hot, unlike the wintery, gale-ridden Wellington we returned to. I'm going to live in Christchurch one day. Look, here's another Paul Dibble sculpture, Leaf, outside the City Art Gallery.

 

Someone's excited

Elton John is playing in Wellington on 6 Dec. He's not, I'm informed by youngest son, even staying the night in NZ. He's flying in for the show, then off again afterwards in his private jet. Hope Wellington airport is open. Wish someone had taken me to a big concert when I was almost 10.