The next stage of Hubbie's woodcuts. Finished block and first prints. He is still tinkering, so there may be a few more tomorrow.

More blocks completed for my quilt. The 4 fans are for the corners of the quilt and the whole dresden plate is for the centre of the quilt. Only 3 more blocks to go.

My first Kiwi Daffodil has opened up today. It feels strange to find ripe wild strawberries in the garden at the same time.

For the last couple of weeks during the night we have heard some really blood curdling screetches. Today I found out what is making all the racket. So I took some pics so you could see them too. For all you non Kiwi's they are pukeko .

We had a good day out at Napier on Friday. I wandered around the shops doing a ton of window shopping, while hubbie went to pick up his bleeper. I was really impressed by the Japanese design shop. It had a load of Japanese kimono fabric, which I would like to use for a wall hanging, watch this space for future developments. We then went round to Ahuriri, for Tea and Tinies at Port O'Call. These are some of the pics I took from the Broadwork at Ahuriri.

This morning's frosty daisies.

Noticed the cherry blossom is out today. Yesterday there was none and today the blossom seems to be everywhere.

Bee on a plant. Not sure what the plant is, but there are a lot of them about. I did try to google it, but only found bluebells. If you know its name please leave a comment.

A bucket full of daisies.

Just found this brill site and thought I should share it with you. http://www.quiltindex.org/index.php The Quilt Index is a list of American Museums that house quilt collections. All of these quilts have been photographed, documented and put on-line. This is an amazing resource for any of you quilters out there. Thanks to Laurel of
http://www.thimble.ca/ for the link.

My first film review is for the brilliant Confetti. Which I really totally enjoyed from start to finish. I laughed and giggled all the way through. Nothing to do with the glass of Sauvigon Blanc I was sipping (gulping you mean says hubbie). If you have the chance to see this film go. Be prepared though, one of the couples getting married is a naturist couple and nothing is left to the imagination, with the usual hilarious consequences. Here is the link to the website, it will explain the plot http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms/2006releases/confetti.shtml. The two main characters are played by Jessica Stevenson of Spaced and Martin Freeman from The Office etc. I am no expert just a member of Joe Public and I thought that both of them gave outstanding performances.

Daisy of the day. One of my friends and I were out browsing at a local junk shop when I found this plate. It cost me a whole $2.50, how could I resist. If you like junk shop browsing and have not been to White Traders in Hastings, you have got to go. It is an Alladin's cave of a wharehouse. Piled to the top with tons and tons of china, glass, linens, tools, cutlery and door handles to name a few. The only thing I could not find were any Honey Pots, which I collect. If you spot any in the Hawkes Bay area, please leave a comment.

Views off the morning mist (or smog) over the Heretaunga plains to Napier and snow on the ranges.

Today's daisy is a wood cut, hubby is working on, before it has been cut, I think it looks good at this stage. Will post a pic of the block when it is finished.

Sunset today in our garden, taken by my hubby.

Two more blocks I finished yesterday for the sampler quilt. Only two more to come from our teacher. Then I would like to do a quarter dresden plate for each corner. Which means I will have to do one more block, another applique, probably a daisy.

Spring at Keirunga Gardens

Tulips in a vase.








Cat in a bowl.

Camelias at Keirunga

Sunrise through the pines at about 7:30am this morning.

Today's daisies are one of my favourite paintings. It was painted by a scottish artist, Fiona McBryde.

Two blocks I finished today for the sampler quilt. Only four more to go. I am looking forward to getting the whole quilt finished.

We went to the beach yesterday to gather some pebbles. The waves were a little wild. The first view is looking along the beach to Haumoana, and the second is looking out to Cape Kidnappers.

Today's happy daisy pic.

Garden Now

As spring is in the air and the buds are starting to appear on the trees, I need to start thinking about our garden. As you can see from the pics it is nice but boring. Yesterday I trotted off down to the library and got out a whole load of gardening books. The first couple of pics are of the top garden and I have no idea what I am going to do with it yet.

The second two pics are of the bottom garden which we do know what we are going to do with. As it floods we are going to put in a raised broadwalk and a small deck. Then plant around with native flaxes and rushes. Then add in some irises, primulas and hostas.

I will post pics of the gardens as they change over the months.

A crisp fresh rose pic taken last christmas in our rental garden.

Daisy pic of the day is two of my nieces in the daisies at my wedding last year.

Winter tree down in the lower garden. I think this is a walnut tree, but I will have to wait until the leaves come back before I find out. If you know what it is please leave a comment to let me know.

This is our other cat Rana. She usually sleeps in this basket on top of my wardrobe. Rana and my other cat Buffy are twin sisters, but are very very different. A bit like yin and yang of the cat world. Rana is the hunter of the pair.

After last weeks flood, we have aquired a small beech. Well a load of sand has been washed down from somewhere and deposited on our lower garden. My youngest has been having great fun building sand castles. This is a pic of one of the beautiful shells I found in the sand. This sand is going to come in quite useful, as we can use it to level off that part of the garden. We intend to plant some native wetland plants down there, as well as some Irises and grasses. We would like to make a raised wooden walkway beside the stream, so we can wander through without always needing our wellies(gum boots). I will post some pics once we have completed it.

Daisies recovering from yesterday's frost.

Current Projects


At my local quilting group we are working on a sampler quilt. These are the blocks I have done so far. I have 6 more blocks to go. The blocks I have enjoyed doing most have been the applique ones. The blocks I have hated doing are the ones with circles or curves. I now know that I do not ever want to make a quilt using only curves.




I am also about to start my next Thimble Berries project out at the Quilters Cabin. These are the fabrics I am going to use. I would like to use this quilt as a table cloth when it is finished.