So here is the quilted masterpiece sans binding. Hmmph – while I can live with the overall effect, the quilting does not bear up to close inspection. I have learnt that quilting STRAIGHT and PARALLEL lines over long distances is actually a very tricky thing to do. I tried not to obsess about it in […]
Encounter with King Neptune
While swimming around the rocks this morning, I got to follow an enormous blue groper for several minutes. See the Australian Museum website HERE for images of this magnificent creature. And we also have a new SMBE (smallest mouthbit ever) record – so small that my digital camera can’t cope with a closeup of this […]
New Zealand Quilter
When Annie Smith described me as a “New Zealand Quilter” on her podcasting website, Annie’s Quilting Stash, it provoked a brief identity crisis on both a personal and artistic level. I grew up in Warkworth, a small town on the main highway about an hour’s drive north of Auckland. At least, it used to take […]
Shapes in Nature
After yesterday’s long post, you will be relieved to know that I am reverting to my usual blog style of fewer words and more (but not excessive) pictures. Here is the “M&A” (“mouthbits” and abalone) part of David’s shell collection: “Mouthbits” is a technical term that we apply to the hard parts used by shell […]
Home Exchange – FAQs
April 2008 Update: This September and October we are off to Tourettes Sur Loup (in the Cote d’Azur hinterland) and Poitou Charente on two home exchanges arranged via the website www.homeexchange.com. I am certain we will have a wonderful time. The following commentary pre-dates our first home exchanges in 2006. You can read more about […]
Early Memories
One of my earliest memories is of a family excursion one Easter. The trip involved staying with friends at their empty lot (“section” in kiwi parlance) near a surf beach in New Zealand. My parents, baby brother and I spent the night snuggled up in our kaypok sleeping bags in the back of the family […]