Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Side tracked

Yesterday I went to price the exterior of a weatherboard house and some remedial work inside. Often these days my camera is full of pictures like this...
Hmm nasty paint peeling of the ceiling, and who's smart idea was it to paint it pink?? but the house was set it a garden that the owner had been very busy working in and I could not resist to take a couple of photos of the spring flowers....
Spring means you can take bigger breaths and lift your face to the sunshine. Spring means you can leave your thermals behind (mostly) and enjoy the breeze on your skin.

Monday, September 22, 2008

A good night...

Last night we went down to the opening of the exhibition for David (and the Art Class) paintings. There were so many beautiful paintings. I wanted loads of them!!

But David... he did so well. He sold his Tamarillos, he won People's choice award (first and second) for his Peninsular Sunrise, and a lady from a neighbouring gallery at the Art Centre wants to talk to David about hanging his paintings in her gallery!

He was so happy and we were so proud! Well done honey. If you are in the Christchurch area, do go down the the Art Centre and look at the Art and Friends exhibition.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Sewing Progress

Just in case you thought that NO quilting is being done, well you are almost right!! I have been feeling so poxy that all my energy goes into working and at the end of the day I blob! But I did manage to sew the rest of my jelly roll strips plus a few extra 2 1/2 inch strips into a quilt for my neighbour who is going to be forty soon. Shenleigh has a brand new long arm quilting machine, so what a shame, she needs things to practice on!! Hurray it's all beautifully quilted, which is great. I'll post some picture soon.

Hurray for Cultural Diversity!


On Saturday we spent the afternoon at the town hall watching the Junior Kapa Haka competition. We watched three schools including our own Hillview Christian School. Our James has been doing Kapa Haka for seven years and has really enjoyed it. Because it is primariliy a Maori Culture event, of course the other groups were all maori and they did amazingly well. However in our group, the girl leader was Nigerian (Bearnice) and one of the boy leaders was from Ghana. The girl doing the poi was Asian, I also spotted amongst all the collection of blonde, white skinned children, children from the Cook Islands, England, Australia and of course Maori children. It was a real melting pot of cultures, but they were united in their passion to do well. It was fantastic!


And, amazingly they got Third! how cool is that? This is what it really means to be a New Zealander. It means all of us getting along and celebrating together.


Thank you to the Hillview Kapa Haka kids who demonstrated this so well.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Weekend in Auckland


My dear in-laws gave me a ticket to Auckland for my birthday so off I went on Friday. It was so nice to see the cousins again and just hang out with them. It was also nice to not to be cold and enjoy some sunshine! This is the Sky Tower which is a real landmark - I didn't take this photo!

Catch up!


The weekend before last I tidied my sewing room with a little help from my friends! You literally could not walk in the door...



but after a few hours work... it is a place to sew and create again. I got rid of LOADS of stuff. I gave away all my stamping and card making equipment. It actually felt good to release it to someone who will really love it. I haven't really used it since I had Reuben and it actually made me feel guilty, 100s of $$$ worth just sitting there.

I have not done any sewing for the last two weeks, oh apart from a wee bit on my day off on my birthday. Usually I potter away in the evenings, but I have NO energy at all and so nothing is happening. I was getting worried about my Stitching angel, but then I remembered I have a beautiful project bag that I made a while back so I think my Stitching Angel will be getting that!!


I'm not really complaining as its just part of being pregnant, but oh my goodness, I can't wait to feel better again rather than like this.....

Monday, September 08, 2008

Jane's Fabrics and Quilts

I don't usually do this, but Jane at "Jane's Fabrics and Quilts" is having an amazing give away for her birthday! click over and see. She has an interesting site and worth a visit!