Heart Warming Quilts

I had a spare 15 minutes this afternoon, between leaving work and collecting kids from school. I think I spent it very wisely on a flying visit to the Hawkes Bay Patchworkers and Quilters "Heart Warming Quilts" exhibition at Hastings Community Art Centre. I am always amazed by the standard of work on display, and the talent of the quilters in Hawkes Bay.

The venue for the exhibition is Hastings community art centre. An art deco building that was originally the china department of Westerman's Department Store (I think). I really like the way that some of the quilts are just thrown over the balcony.

Daffodils

This daffodil quilt is absoultly stunning. My photos do not do it any justice at all. The work invloved is mind boggling. Have a close look at the quilting can you spot the spider's web.

Hexagons

I really liked this quilt, I loved the idea and the fabrics used. It has all been handpieced. I would like to know how it was done.

I always have template issues when I do hexagons.

More Quilts

Some more quilts I liked from the exhibition. Wish I had taken pictures of them all now.

Today's Daisies

Today's Daisies are plaid quilted daisies from the Hawkes Bay Quilters exhibition. I am inspired by this quilt and would like a shot at a pattern like this.

More Daisies

More quilted daisies from a class I went to last year. My version of this daisy quilt is still not finished. I could not manage to do the pattern as directed. I had to change the layout. Which means that I still have 40 odd little daisies to do for the edge strips. It might be finished for the next exhibition in 2009.

Down at the creek today

After a few days of heavy rain the creek has burst its banks. Not as high as the flood last year, that brought us a 2 inch layer of sand to the lower garden. And not to bad compared with the flooding in some areas of Hawkes Bay. Thank goodness our house is on the high part of the garden.

Generosity

Thanks to Katherine, yet again (remember the helpful loan of a fridge while I waited for my new one to arrive).

The curtains I am using in my bedroom do not quite meet in the middle. They were originally made for one of the kids rooms in our last house. And really if there is one room where you want your curtains to meet it is in the bedroom. Katherine happend to mention she had a bit of the same fabric if I wanted some. So by next week I should have some fully functioning curtains.

Strange human hen coops

On one of my morning walking routes, I found these strange little houses that look a bit like human hen coops. I would love to look inside one.

Two weeks ago they weren't there. A couple of months ago there were trees here in front of a nice house.

I hope they will look a bit better when they have been finished off and aclimatised with their surroundings.

Today's Daisies

Today's daisies are in a vase with some beautiful violets.

Up our road

Up at the end of our road it used to look like this.

But now it is starting to look like this. In about 10 years time this view will be gone, and this road will look just like the rest of Havelock.

When I walk there now the views feel like they belong to me for a brief few minutes while I stroll along. But once the houses are all built the views will be theirs not mine.

Not that I am objecting to people building, but I will miss it when it is gone. I will just have to walk further to feel at the top of the world again.

There are some section owners who are are even getting their gardens pre manured.

Today's Daisies

Today's daisies dripping in the morning mist.

Misty Views

My misty garden this morning and a view up my street. The mist soon cleared and by the time I got home from my walk it had gone.

Photogenic Flowers

Some flowers are just so photogenic it is impossible to take a bad snap of them. Here is one of them flowering just outside my bedroom window.

Pressies

I have been sent this brill book as a pressie from my mum. It has a section on quilt as you go, the technique I attempted to use on Peter's Mum's quilt.

Dedication

Check out this link to the New South Wales quilters show. The best in show quilt pictured above has got to be the most dedicated quilt I have ever see. 17000 hours of detailed work, incredible.

Today's Daisy or yesterday's daisy

Another late Daisy, a tiny early cosmos growing in a pot in the garden. We went out for tea yesterday and there was no time to post the pic. Had a brilliant mexican meal at Katherine's, followed by one of Keriann's supurb pavlovas, yummy. Had a really fun evening.

Spring or Winter

In the UK Daffodils are spring flowers. Here in New Zealand they appear to be Winter flowers. That is one of the best things about Winter here in Hawkes Bay. Even right in the middle of winter there are still lots of green trees and flowers. Winter is not a bare colourless season.

Heading for the Snowy Mountains

After a couple of very cold days and a lot of rain, we woke up to sun this morning and snow on the hills. My youngest is desperate to play in the snow, so we thought we would just drive until we found some. We had no idea where we were going. We just pointed the car in the direction of the snow. Every few kilometers there was a new awe inspiring view of the mountains, and I had to stop to take a picture (much to the annoyance of my youngest son).

We kept driving and driving, but we did not seem to get any closer.


The stunning views made us keep going on and on and on.

Nearly there

Not quite there yet. But still getting closer,

and closer,

and closer,

and nearly there.

Not quite close enough

We got closer,

and closer,

and closer,

but in the end the snow was just too far away.

Ruahine Forest

Although we did not reach the snow, on our short walk, the forest was beautiful. We so wanted to go further. Next time we will be more prepared to go tramping.

Today's Daisy

Today's Daisies are wet Daisies.

Today's Daisies

Some daisies my youngest picked for me today. The stems were a little short for a vase so we floated them in a bowl instead.

Monarch Butterfly

Found this monarch butterfly today having a good feed on the pansies. Not bad for the middle of winter.

Yesterday's Daisy

Yesterday's daisy had to wait until today to be posted, there was no time yesterday. Yesterday was one of those perfect days, which was good after the fridge fiasco. The day started with a long lie in. Then a walk up the hill for some fresh air. After a month of rainy weekends the sun was shining, and I spent a few lovely hours out in the garden tidying up and pottering. To finish the day off we went out for a brilliant meal with good friends at Keriann and Ian's house.

Disaster Number 3

Hopefully disasters come in threes. First there was the cooker that slowly died element by element and had to be replaced. Next the dish washer that flooded the kitchen and is slowly falling apart. Then on Friday night the fridge gave up and stopped working. Now I can do without the dishwasher, but I can't do with out a fridge. Off we went on Saturday to visit every electrical store in Hastings. We ordered a new fridge but it will not be available until wednesday. Luckly Katherine, who had just flown in from Calafornia, came to our rescue and lent us a spare fridge. Thank you Katherine. Her little fridge looked so lost in the gap left by the big old one. This has kind of spurred Peter into redesigning the kitchen!!!! Will post some pics as the changes happen.