Sculpture by the sea..

Yesterday in the early evening we went to a very cool sculptural exhibition held every year at Currumbin beach. The weather was coolish with brief showers and just a little windy which all added drama to the photos taken of some of my favourite exhibits. I love this one of the word 'Mum' with all the people running around in the wind trying to get a photo quickly and the dramatic sky and breaking waves in the background.

This was one that first caught my eye as the wind made these 'jellyfish' sway as they hung in the tree which is how they would look in their natural setting under the sea.

An exhibit that needed to be viewed from front to get the full effect of what it was. It was interesting to see how each feature placed in exactly the right position made up this comical elephant.

This dragon was very cool and quite cleverly made from what seems like chains joined together.

A very simple idea but definitely not what you expect to see on the beach. Once again the wind blowing the washing around and the dark clouds hovering over the cityscape on the horizon gives this whole scene a little drama.

This beautiful lion was my favourite exhibit and was very cleverly made from chicken wire. The details were amazing and I can only imagine the number of hours put in to create this exhibit. He was very tactile as there seemed to be a constant flow of children around him making it difficult to take a photo of him on his own.

And I couldn't help but take another couple of shots of the sea and the darkening sky.

Good things take time....

So about a year ago I sold these chairs to a lady in Auckland who was redecorating her house and was hoping to have it featured in the "Your home and garden" magazine. Since I hadn't heard back from her regarding the magazine feature and it had been so long ago I had kind of given up on it ever happening let alone a picture of my chairs being included. About a month ago though I received a brief email from her asking for my business details and this month my chairs have been included as part of the feature of her redecorated home.

Sorry about the quality of the photo but here are my chairs looking very at home in their new owners house don't you think ;-) It's a very cool feeling to have something that I spent hours creating be featured in a beautiful magazine like this....

Little piles of inspiration....

I have a wee project that I started last Friday afternoon which involves the above pile of bright and colourful scraps taken from my overflowing scrap basket. When I was searching through my scraps for the right mix of fabrics for this particular project I couldn't stop myself being inspired by the eclectic mix of fabrics I was sorting through so.......  

 .......here is another yummy and pretty pile of fabrics that I put together for a future project yet to be designed. Quite a few of these fabrics have been in my stash for a while so I think it's time they were brought out and made use of  :-)

This pile of green and pink fabrics have been gathered together, sitting on my sewing attic floor for a couple of months now whilst I finish other projects and decide what it is I'm going to turn them into. I'm thinking they would be perfect for a little girls quilt.....what do you think???

Buds of spring hope.....

I noticed this week that my garden is starting to show signs of spring. I picked this bunch of snowdrops, winter cheer and the first 2 daffodils to bloom to go on our dinning table yesterday. After noticing all the buds emerging here and there I had to take a few shots to share with you here.

 This has to be my favourite to emerge so far. I love the delicate pale pink of these petals. 

Can you see the bee hiding in one of these flowers?? I didn't notice it until I uploaded the photo on to my computer. I think the best thing about flowers at this time of the year is their beautiful fragrance.

We've just had two weeks of school holidays here and during the last week we did a girls road trip down to Wellington to catch up with friends that we hadn't seen for 3 years. Fortuitously for us they were house/dog sitting for family who just happened to have a lovely home in Paraparaumu right on the beach with the above view from the lounge of Kapiti island. 

I finished up these colourful zippered pouches before we went away. They were a custom order for a lady from church who wanted them for a stall to raise funds for Parkinsons disease. As you can see they are all made from scraps and embellished with a variety of machine embroidery stitches...so much fun to make and I love each one equally. 

 

I have some more sewing to show you and lots more planned in the coming months plus I'm looking forward to learning how to upholster furniture. I have plans to eventually do something like this, this and this!! 

Going in circles.....

A little sneak peak of what I'm working on this week, a project that contains lots of circles which I have very nearly finished working on tonight so you'll only have to wait till tomorrow to see what it is :-)

In the meantime here's some of my favourites that are inspiring me on flickr recently...

1. Crochet cotton afghan, 2. dqs11, 3. ...with a favourite vintage eiderdown!, 4. Liberty Love Pincushions, 5. Bird House, 6. ❀, 7. super duper spring flowers, 8. 10 | 365, 9. Fabric Bundle Springtime in Turquoise, 10. presenting the tuffet!, 11. Colorful Crochet, 12. Buttons & Thread, 13. Baby Rippe Quilt Front

Enjoy!!

A belated Happy New Year post.......

Vintage embroidery from my Mother's collection on my newest vintage leather suitcase

I don't usually do a New Years post but I'm kinda glad last year is over and I'm looking forward to 2013 being a lot more positive, and filled with lots of possibilities of good things coming our way in other words a "a glass half full" attitude :-)
I can really related to these sentiments on Kate Spain's New Years post which you can read here.....and yes I'm going to try to live with the awareness that every new day is truly a gift to be savoured.

Source: katespaindesigns.blogspot.co.nz via Catherine on Pinterest 

Love the messages on this poster..........

My Christmas present to myself this year was the above lidded glass jar filled with vintage cotton reels that I bought over here. I have to say it was the cotton reels that I was drawn to not really the jar but I like it anyway.

And I also caved in and bought this vintage leather suitcase which is in pretty good condition considering its age.... plus as a bonus I had the option of taking the middle suitcase in the photo below for free.

It is now full of all my Christmas decorations keeping them safe from being damaged.
The vintage embroidery shown in the first photo was meant to be a part of this post but I think it deserves a post of its own so I'll be back in a couple of days or maybe even tomorrow with some more photos of what is in that pile.
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and hoping that its already off to a good start for you.

Monday mosaic....

Some pretty photos to inspire you at the start of the week...........Enjoy :-)

1. Gorgeous fabrics for the next Tampa Modern Quilt Guild block workshop!, 2. abc quilt top, 3. stacked coins quilt top, 4. Buttons, 5. yoyo pillow, 6. Lilis Quilt 9, 7. Red and Pink Embroidered French Knot Color Study by Sarah Hennessey 2, 8. Bow Tie Quilt, 9. Button Stash

Work in progress....

 I've been working on getting this quilt pinned and ready for quilting today. I laid out the layers of backing, and batting last night taping them to the lounge room floor pulling them taunt as I went, then I laid the quilt top down on top and realised that 2 of the rows were around the wrong way. Very annoying but I'm thankful I noticed before I had pinned all the layers together. So I left the backing and batting taped to the floor overnight and this morning I unpicked the 2 seams and sewed them the right way around. Now it is all ready to quilt with straight and diagonal lines I think....although suggestions are most welcome :-)

It was such a beautiful sunny day today and I must say it was hard to stay inside and sew but this afternoon I took a walk around the garden and photographed some flowers that have just begun to bloom. The name of the flower in the above photo escapes right now but was grown from seed by my green thumbed Father. I have a few of these in pots. I hope they all come out as pretty as this one. 

Sweetly fragrant signs of a spring to come....

After what seems like weeks of rain it has been a nice change to finally have some fine weather and get outside. I had a walk around my garden on Wednesday afternoon just after yet another heavy rain shower and was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few things blooming in my garden. Several Camellia's are starting to flower and the above one is one of my favourites. 

The first Rhododendron in our garden to flower is this one with the little trumpet flowers catching a drink of water from the rain.

These Hellebores are growing right over a path that leads down the side of the house but they are just covered with flowers and buds so I haven't the heart to trim them back.

These Grape Hyacinth's grow in numerous places around my garden but they are one of my favourite late winter/early spring bulbs so I don't mind them spreading themselves around a little. 

I picked a good sized bunch of these sweet smelling violets yesterday and have them in a little vase on my kitchen window sill so I can enjoy their fragrance while I do the dishes or prepare meals.

I just love the smell of Daphne and used to have 3 Daphne shrubs in my garden but sadly one that I'd had for years and had actually moved from a previous garden died earlier this year so I'm down to two. This one has such a strong fragrance that can be smelt from quite a distance away.

When our garden was made-over 3 years ago a half a dozen deciduous small trees were planted in different spots that seemed quite pointless to me as they just had leaves every summer with no sign of any flowers. A neighbour at the time told me they were Magnolia trees but I didn't really believe her as the leaves were quite different to other Magnolia's that we did have in our garden. Well I'm pleased to say she was right as they are all covered in buds this year and are just beginning to show their beautiful white/pale pink blooms.

Every afternoon Caitlin lets our hens out to have a roam around our garden. They especially seemed to enjoy my freshly mowed lawn on Wednesday afternoon so much so that they escaped their fenced off enclosure the following afternoon, thankfully after they had laid an egg each. I'm really not sure how they got out but they were just pecking around our garden so I didn't have to search too far for them. Phew I had visions of them walking down the road! They now have both their wings clipped. Thanks Mum!

1. mini hexi garden quilt, 2. Wreath #2, 3. Slow, 4. playhouse, 5. window seat, 6. O que os olhos veêm, o coração sente!!!, 7. Hairclips, 8. oilcloth bag, 9. Sampler Tree Embroidery

And here is a nice little mosaic of some pretty inspiration I have found on Flickr recently. One day I intend to tackle that Sample Tree Embroidery. The pattern can be purchased here.
Wishing everyone a great weekend whatever you have planned :-)

Thankful......

 

Three small things are making me smile and feel grateful this week. A good friend quickly dropped by on Friday with an extra bunch of Chrysanthemums to brighten our home. She had been given 3-4 bunches and had thought that we would appreciate one of them. 

 

I love having fresh flowers in my home but at this time of the year finding some to pick in the garden is hard. Chrysanthemums are so simple and pretty and last so well in a vase I think they will bring a smile to my face for quite a few days to come.

 

This little guy was given to my eldest daughter Amelia when she was born, from some Japanese friends of ours who occasionally read this blog. It is made from fabric from a vintage kimono I think and has always been on display in her bedroom as it was too special to play with. I noticed a couple of months ago that a couple of it's buttons that hold it's limbs on were quite loose. I took it up to my Sewing Attic for a quick repair but dropped one of the buttons and couldn't find it. I tried to buy a replacement button but didn't have much luck in getting one remotely like it's lovely original wooden buttons used. Happily the other week whilst moving furniture around from one floor to another I found the missing button! 

Now it is all fixed and in pride of place in our newly decorated entrance room downstairs. I take my hat off to all you bear makers out there as it was not easy re-sewing on those buttons. I had a long needle specially for this sort of sewing but it wasn't quite long enough sometimes. 

We are very blessed to in our street to have lovely generous and helpful neighbours. When we came home from a weekend away last Sunday afternoon my neighbour on one side who had kindly looked after our cats and hens came over with a large bowl of  delicious pumpkin soup for our dinner. This is the same neighbour who sewed new covers for my window seat squabs and who also bought over a dinner of home-made fish and chips one night as she knew I had been working hard all day painting and correctly thought I would not feel like cooking dinner.

It is a beautiful sunny but crisp day here today and while I would like to get out in my garden I will go up to my newly organised Sewing Attic and finish off another half started project.