The Only Story in Town

There really is only one story in the whole of NZ at the moment - the worst polar storm in a decade. Here in wellington that's meant snow. It has caused big excitement in my house, which will no doubt sound odd to some.

However to put it in context - we haven't had snow in the Wellington hill suburbs since 1995 when my now 16 year old daughter was only 3 months old. At the time my husband was so excited that he wanted to get her up out of her cot to show her the snow. Ever the spoil-sport I woudn't let him! This time the children were all up and couldn't be held back - hard to tell but this is them sliding down the hills at the park next door on their boogie boards. It was almost the best thing ever to happen at home to them.And if that wasn't enough, today it snowed to sea level - right through the main streets of Wellington. It was quite surreal to sit on the 14th floor looking out the window at the snow coming down on Lambton Quay. Those who have lived in colder climes were finding the Wellingtonians very amusing. Tomorrow the schools may well be closed and I have already decided that I won't be going anywhere, except perhaps to my sewing room once I have got some work out of the way. My sewing room has not seen me for two months, except for me to deposit things in it. It's long overdue for a bit of activity - as is this blog....

We had a week away in the South Island over recent school holidays and stayed in a lovely cottage in Nelson that was built in 1860 - it had the perfect curtains for a holidaying quilter in the dinning room.I also found the most wonderful shop in Nelson, Eclectic Antiques, which had lots of textiles, vintage clothes and highly desirable jewellery. I threw caution to the wind and came home with a few treasures. Apparently I now have a "problem" with handbags to add to my well know "problem" with embroideries and textiles. I think diversification is a good thing - after all it would be dreadful to be too predictable.

Moving on .... to the shiney, shiney

The label is on the quiltand the binding is looking great.

It's even been shown off at Guild, so it's time to pass this onto it's new owner and for me to move onto my next project.

In the meantime I have managed to very successfully distract myself with some lovely shiney things that I found on Trade Me. Today the parcel finally arrived in the letter box, revealling

many beautiful ribbons and belts,

adorned here and there with wonderful vintage buckles,

and lots of shiney, sparkly things. My friend's don't call me a magpie for nothing! My daughter is still to arrive home from school but I have a feeling something from this parcel could well end up adorning her new ball dress.... I'll keep you posted.

The Inevitable Delay

Just when I thought I had a clear run to actually finishing this quilt I have struck a seemingly immovable obstacle - our cat... The family tell me I am just too soft - but who could move him?

It's a long weekend here. I am eternally hopeful he will move - if not I'm planning a trip to Asian Gallery for a wee browse. After all, I haven't been there for almost a month. This time I will try to remember to take the camera....

Happy, Happy, Happy

I feel its somehow not quite proper to say this... but I'm feeling very pleased with myself. After so many weeks of gnawing anxiety the quiting went like an absolute dream. No puckers, no wrinkles, no need to restretch or repin. Couldn't have possibly hoped for a better result.


The lessons I have taken from this quilt (because there are always lessons to learn - even after 20 years) is that pinning to within an inch of quilt's life works, that stitching through the joins of large pieces works and (probably most importantly) using loosely woven wools on the backing may create more work than it is worth, even if they look and feel divine.


I'm left with an awful lot of ends to stitch into the quilt - but that happens when you really want to quilt lines in only one direction in one part of a quilt.

And after all, there are so many worse things to be doing in winter than sitting in front of a fire stitching threads into quilts.... At this rate I will be able to gift it several month's in advance of the recipient's next birthday - always good to keep the gifts within the calender year in question! All makes me feel happy, happy, happy.

My heart is in my mouth

I think on of the reasons that the kimono quilt I am currently working on has taken me soooo long is because I've been dreading getting to the quilting. Last time I tacked something similar it was a shambles as it kept moving - here's a wonderful reminder of just how awful it was.... A living nightmare I can't face again.I think I had to restretch and repin this three times in the course of quilting and it still wasn't marvellous. Fortunately the recipients weren't that familiar with quilts - either that or they were just far too polite to comment.

Anyway I've been dreading having to go through it all again and was determined that this time it should be different. So I've started by putting more pins in this quilt than I ever have before... I have used practically every safety pin I own - and that's a fairly considerable number.

My second strategy has been to quilt in the ditch through every seam line in the quilt in the hope this will hold it a bit more stable. So far I have only put in 10 lines of vertical quilting, so the jury is still out - in the meantime I have my heart in my mouth.

If this doesn't work I'll be swearing off quilting big pieces with stretchy wool kimono fabrics for life! Famous last words.....

A Voice from the Past

I've had this sampler for a little while but this week was the first time I'd really started researching the background to it. As you can probably see it was made by Florence Shilling in 1895. It was made at Donaldson's Hospital - I've always wondered what this was but discovered this week that it was / is a school in Edinburgh. Founded in 1851 the school focused on the education of poor children in the city and specialised in education for deaf and mute children. Since 1938 the school, now called Donaldson's College, has been exclusively for deaf students. The building the school was originally in was just amazing, although ultimately unsuited to educating children. During WWII the school was used as a prisoner of war camp which housed German and Italian prisoners. The building was recently sold and in 2008 the school moved to a new purpose built facility.

The original building is now being developed into apartments - and to think my little sampler has found its way from this extraordinary place to the other side of the world, to a house where there is another principal of a special school (my husband) who has just been able to open a new facility for his students. Clearly serendipity at work here.

And by way of warning - see if you can spot the image of part of the sampler in the photo below. It's the cardboard that the sampler has been sitting on for an unknown number of years. If you look closely you can see how the acid in the board has leached colour out of the sampler leaving an image on it.

Needless to say now that I know more of its history and condition I'm on the case so it can be framed in an acid-free environment. Hopefully it will then last another 116 years and Florence's creative voice will continue to be seen and heard.

Slowly, slowly wins the race

Well I know I certainly wouldn't win any races at the moment but just to prove to myself that I can inch towards completion here is the next step in my kimono quilt - the top is completed - and I am rather pleased. Particularly with this segment of it, which appeals to me for a reason I can't quite put my finger on... I think it might be the floral chrysanthemum next to the more structured fabrics.

And just to show that kimono still have a hold on me here is a beauty that recently moved to my house from my favourite kimono shop, Asian Gallery. The owner told me that he thinks it would have been made in the 1920s or 30s and was designed to be worn under other kimono as a layer for warmth. Most interestingly is the fabric that the body of the kimono is made from - it has a heavy woven cotton exterior which is quite slubby, while the reverse of the fabric has a brushed warm feel almost like a well worn flannelet sheet. Just fabulous - and of course with beautiful silk sleeves. Just fabulous.... and who of us can honestly resist a bit of fabric fabulosity?