The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

or in my case, books it would seem. I have not so much as held a needle in my hand this month. Instead I seem to have been constantly clutching the latest book that I have not been able to put down.

First there was A S Byatt - The Children's Book (fabulous if you are interested in textiles, ceramics, history of the V&A Museum and creativity at the turn of the 20th Century) closely followed by my third reading of Possession. It still sweeps me away.

Then there was Wally Lamb - The Hour I First Believe (centered around two characters impacted on by the Columbine killings and so much more).

For variety I fled fiction and opted for Chris Booth's wonderful sculptures in Woven Stone - this has me feeling a growing and urgent need to tour the country to see these sculptures in person. Just wonderful.

And now I'm in the grip of Steig Larsson - I fear this won't be over until the third book in the trilogy is finished.

Meanwhile the quilting schedule is taking a hammering. Such is life - such is the joy of books.

For light relief I travelled up to the Wairarapa for the day yesterday - my husband was taking part in a mountain running race up Mt Holdsworth - so post a delicious breakfast at the French Cafe I wandered through Greytown and spotted this... knitted things hanging from trees
and wonderful ironwork
I think I feel the stirrings of the need to be creative again....

The Start of Something New

As befits this time of year I've taken to new beginnings. I have been having what my family kindly call "a quilting frenzy" which means I've been enjoying my holiday at home by spending more time that I have in quite a while creating behind my sewing machine.

While I have a number of things I probably "should" be stitching instead, I've been having great fun building a quilt for a friend of mine who is facing more than her fair share of health challenges at the moment. So often I feel there is little that I can really do to help her out so I decided that what she and her five year old daughter really need is a quilt to cuddle under - and that is something that clearly I'm ideally suited to work on.

I'm quick to admit that I have had help - my cat Oscar has been keeping me company and giving me ideas for the quilt. This is the tidy corner of the sewing room!

I decided that I'd include on it all the things she loves and needs right now - friends to give her lots of hugs, the casting of magic spells to speed her full recovery, lots of cups of tea,

someone to help with the more mundane household chores, which don't stop just because you don't feel 100%,

and lots of friends, including a cheerleader to keep her spirits up and a coach to push her on.

There are also going to be lots of gardens that will never need weeding.

It's all coming together nicely - what I really need now is some more dodgy weather so I can stay behind the sewing machine without any guilt or feelings that I just might be missing summer. I hope that wherever you are, you are getting the time and weather to do just what you need to set you up for the new year.

Happy New Year!

Catching up for Chrsitmas

I've been increasing feeling like I'm running a very long race this year and it is only now that I can see my way through to the finish line. That's probably because a number of things are in the process of finishing up for the year and some time is actually opening up for other activities, such as getting organised for Christmas and updating this blog. Not before time, on both counts!

First up are the two companion pieces for the sneak piece that I showed last month - playing with curves and hand stitching. I'm not so enamoured with this one but this piece feels much more successful. I have used the curved crossing lines in quilts I have made in the past and it was nice to revisit them. They always remind me that we never know what might be around the corner in life - or as they put it in a chick flick movie I watched with my daughter a few nights ago - plan to be surprised in life.

I've had a few surprises this year, some good, some not so good and a few very good. I figure my ledger is definitely on the positive side this year - can't ask more than that! One of my most recent surprises was to open the latest edition of Selvedge and find myself quoted in it. I was somewhat speechless, while my daughter squealed (as teenagers do) to find her mother quoted in the finest textile magazine there is. They had picked up some comments from a post of mine back in April. Thanks for making my day Selvedge! It's another stunning edition.

And so the preparations for Christmas have finally begun in our house - the Christmas tree is up, the largest we have ever had.... It is filled with a combination of decorations the children have made over the years that I feel sentimental about, some beautiful handmade decorations that friends and my mother have made for me and others that I have picked up over time because of their special appeal. We have a tradition in the family that the children each get to pick one new decoration to buy from the biggest Christmas shop in town - there has been much laughter about how their tastes have changed over time. Overall we think it's a fine display.

Today a few presents found their way under the tree - wrapped by my daughter for the cousins, all labelled with Christmas angels and ready for giving.

One way or another the race is coming to its end - its starting to feel a lot like Christmas! Best wishes for a peaceful holiday to you all - may it provide plenty of opportunities for laughter, fun and the replenishment of creative batteries.

Sneak Peak

There's nothing like some new threads to get you inspired! This month the challenge with my small group of stitching friends was to do three variations of an image. I've stuck to something I love - the Andy Goldsworthy inspired river line that I seem to come back to so many times. This is the first of the triptych of pieces that I'm creating - my first variation on a theme. The background is a piece of old indigo cotton fabric which has a wonderful soft feel to it, while the foreground is a hand dye that I've been using up piece by small piece. Just love it.
But the star, in my mind anyway, are my new Stef Francis threads. Feast your eyes on these - nothing like a bit of fibre temptation.And then, for a bit of a giggle, I thought you might enjoy these. I found these with my friend who I stayed with recently in Auckland -they are baking measures with the top and bottom of each doll being a different measuring cup. We loved them so much we bought each other a set and had an early, impromptu Christmas together. Nothing like a little mutual indulgence! Such fun and having given mine a test run with the weekly biscuit baking I can give them the full stamp of approval - both beautiful and useful. A match made in heaven.

Monthly musings

There has been so little stitching going on in my life of late (apart from sewing scout badges onto vests - and yes, I know the boys are meant to do them themselves) that I've really struggled to post. That coupled with the odd computer glitch has left me absent for a long time.


However having confessed my lack of activity had just the effect required and I did spent a couple of hours behind my beloved machine on Friday and will soon have something to show, once the hand stitching is complete. What really launched me into action was getting my hands on quite a number of hanks of Stef Francis mercerised cotton - my all time favourite thread for stitching with. It is hand dyed, variegated thread in a wide variety of rich colours. When I discovered that Jenny Hunter had imported it there was no option other than to have a spend up. Heaven!

While I haven't been stitching I have been thinking about it and about art - just loved this sign I found on my travels lately. An excellent expression of the importance of art to us all.
And then grazing just down the road were these zebras which are made of corrugated iron.
The biggest excitement for me was when I found this Rosalie Gascoigne painting for sale in Auckland. I stood and gazed at it for an unseemly amount of time. You just know that when that have Price on Application on the catalogue that you shouldn't even go there. It was very cheeky of me but I snuck this photo - and then wandered straight down the road to buy the catalogue of her recent retrospective in Melbourne. It is wonderful reading.

The greatest thing about Gascoigne is the hope she offers us all - an internationally renown artist who was untrained and didn't start making art until she was in her 50s. There is hope for us all (maybe)!

Just to prove there has been some textile related activity I did purchase this fabulous small quilt made by Norma Slabbert from the recent Quilt Show and Sale here in Wellington. It's beautifully framed and is

now hanging above my phone. It brings a smile to my face each time I see it - what more can you ask from art?

Monthly Miscellany

Well it seems such a long time between posts that a monthly round up is most appropriate. I'm pleased to say that I have finally properly finished my stones quilt - that is properly in terms of it now having a hanging sleeve and label, it has had a trip to show and tell at Guild and, today it moved to its new home. I gave this quilt to my friend Carol as it reminded her so strongly of the colours in the landscape from her childhood home in the Ohakune in the volcanic plateau. It's turned out to be the perfect gift for her as in the last week one of her sisters has died and I hope that this will be a reminder of the memories she holds of their childhood.
I find it a little strange that I intended the quilt to be about one thing and it so appropriately was really meant to be about something else altogether. Such is the nature of life sometimes. On the back of the quilt I have written:

Rarangi maunga, tu tonu, tu tonu.

Rarangi tangata, ngaro noa, ngaro noa.

You have gone, but your mountain is everlasting.

Haere ra Jan.

I've been doing a bit of tripping around the North Island over the last couple of weeks, since its been school holidays here. The prize textile find of the holidays was this wonderful tray cloth which has been exquisitely stitched to commemorate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Of course I immediately thought it would make a great cushion for my daughter's friend who we recently made the quilt for, given she refers to herself as Queen Elizabeth III.
I really loved the detail in it - you might just be able to make out the Queen in her carriage below.

Yesterday I went out to visit the Craft Fair at Pataka Museum and the Maori Art Market which was also being held out there. Lots of wonderful creativity on show at both events and it was particularly lovely to meet Rochelle there and her friend Cleo. They both have me very inspired to try the organic dying techniques of India Flint - I'm thinking it will be a perfect activity for post Christmas when I have three weeks at the beach with lots of time for experimentation and access to the materials needed. I have resisted getting into fabric dying and printing for a long time as it all felt so messy and difficult, but this feels different - like an adventure that I am on the edge of. At the same time I have a few ideas for discharge dying that I want to try and which will be a great partner to this new activity. It's always so good to have something to look forward to - I feel a trip to Minerva for India's book coming on... Roll on summer!

The Best of Intentions

You might have thought from my last post that I swearing off bringing more things into my already crowded sewing room, but of course that isn't quite the way it tends to work. A couple of weeks ago I got a call from my sister in law to say that there was a garage sale close by that I needed to call into as there was lots of embroideries and linen there. I mean to say - what are you supposed to do when you get a call like that?

I must say I have never seen anything quite like it. The house was literally full up with treasures being sold and when I spoke to one of the men selling I heard more of the story - his mother-in-law had died 18 months ago and it has taken them that long to get to the stage they had. There were a number of rooms in the house at the time she died that couldn't even be entered as there was so much put into them - china, ornaments, dolls, records, books, toys, kitchen items, furniture, infact just about anything you can think of. He said that his mother-in-law had for many, many years visited all the local garage sales and without fail bought things that she then squeezed into her house until she could scarcely move around it.

I feel deeply for the family - what a burden to have to devote yourself to working through it all. And inspite of our recent experiences, which were nothing compared to this, I did the only thing I could and took some of the textiles off his hands and into my welcoming arms.

I have a real soft spot for breakfast tray clothes and was delighted to find this one. The woman carrying the coffee pot is so jaunty.
This lovely lady joins others that were already in my collection including this rooster, who is crowing - If you be wise 'tis time to rise. How irresistible!
And this dog who is ready to face the day.

Next time someone makes me breakfast in bed (or should that be next time I do it for myself) I really will have to use one of these. They bring such a smile to my face they would be a great addition to the pleasure of coffee and the paper in bed. And honestly - what more can we ask for at the start of the day?