Scout Conference

I spent the weekend at a Scout Conference where they launched the new brand, logo, slogan etc. They had some good speakers and we all came out energized and ready to sort out the world, or at least out little scout areas/groups/troops anyway.

Now that is out of the way I can concentrate on getting ready for the New Zealand Quilt Symposium. I was a late ring-in as a tutor because I thought I would be more involved on the organising committee so didn't apply to be a tutor but was added to the list later. Consequently I have very small classes so we should be able to spread out and take over all the tables.
I still have to dye metres of blue fabric for kits and find stuff for a class I am taking myself with Ann Fleeton (felt making). Clare

Gardening day

I have had the best day. I pulled up a load of dying tomato plants and put in cauliflowers, lettuces and onions. Then I made a 1 metre square wire cage to go over the top to stop the birds from digging all the plants up again.
It was a great relief not to be forcing information into people's heads but instead doing something soothing like gardening. I can't believe I never discovered it earlier in my life. Now to deal with several kilos of green tomatoes and several more of red ones.

The Great Craft materials garage sale

We did well. 5 of us successfully managed to rid ourselves of boxes and boxes of craft materials and did not let it all back into the house/garage or studio again afterwards. Now I just have to go to the Scout hall and load up the remains to take it to the tip recycling shop, the second hand book shop or a school.

Angry Whopper

What's it like when it's not angry?

patterns

Some things catch your eye and in a blink they can be gone again.

Life gets in the way

I was on a roll, I had ideas and I was making things. Then I had to go back to work. I shouldn't complain as I had last week off which was great. But this week I am teaching first aid because they couldn't find anyone else to take the course. So much for me not working very much till after Easter. Then went straight from the course to take James to a piano lesson and from there we had about three bites of dinner before hading off to Venturers where the kids saw a presentation on Venture which is a big 'Jamboree' type camp for Venturers (older scouts). So the new quilt is just hanging there, all forlorn and untouched, just waiting for me to have chance to get back to it....

Confessions of a Shopaholic

I am making a series of long thin quilts at the moment and I got stuck on the current one, so in my usual way I decided to go shopping but then got distracted by the movie, 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'. In spite of its terrible reviews it actually has a bit of a message, didn't work on me though as I went straight out and bought fabric after the movie. I bought plain white fabric so that I can dye 3 metres of pale blue sky fabric for kits for people who have ordered them for my 'Cabbage tree' class at the Wellington Quilt Symposium at Easter. It is unheard of for me to buy only three metres of plain white fabric, I normally buy a whole bolt, but after paying my accountant to do my tax return and then having to pay tax, I am too broke to buy a bolt of fabric. isn't that a vicious cycle. Maybe the movie did work after all - at least I didn't buy the fabric on the VISA.

Painting Fabric

Today I finished the Websearch article I write for New Zealand Quilter magazine and then painted lots of fabric. I use heatset screen printing ink and just kind of slosh it on and work out if the fabric is useable after it's dry. Mostly I find I use the weirdest smudged stuff first. I am working in the garage as its really windy outside, I have run out of space to hang the fabric so now it's draped over the car. Hopefully my son isn't expecting a lift home from Scouts. Tomorrow I might buy a fish and post a 'how-to print with a fish' then the title of this blog will make sense.

A real person's studio

Probably this is part of the reason I can't always get a lot done. I know I am lucky to have a room to work in, and not just a corner of the dining room table like some people but I wish I was better at dealing with clutter.

Diversions

Just when I thought I was on a roll last week, actually getting into the sewing room and making 2 small quilts and starting a 3rd larger one, quilting has been sidelined again. I had to write a newsletter for the Keas, Cubs, Scouts and Venturers, start off a fundraiser selling spring bulbs (seems weird to sell spring bulbs when its still the tail end of summer), go into my work and pick up paperwork to teach a new course on safety in the workplace and I need to write my regular article for New Zealand Quilter. All these little bits mean I haven't made it into the sewing room/studio at all. Why is it that I don't seem to be able to work on my stuff until I have completed everything for everyone else? Does everyone else have this problem or do they just get on with it? Did I mention the 10 kilos of cherry tomatoes that are sitting waiting to be dried and the pear and ginger jam?
Blocked by the details
Clare

Jack the Cat

Our cat Jack always seems to lie down in the most awkward place. Here he is lying on the train tracks. He is a very insistent Burmese and he has all of us under control.

spiderwebs

Here is a spider web which I photographed when we were stuck in a long traffic jam. I had to wait till my husband had inched the car forward to get the light coming from the right angle.

Artichoke flower and Bumble Bee

There don't seem to be any honey bees around this year in my garden but at least we still have bumble bees. This one was positively drunk on pollen in the artichoke flower.

Here is a recent quilt which is currently in an exhibition in Nelson until the 7th of March. The exhibition is called 'Changing Threads'.

This quilt was inspired by the weather on a day last year when it was pouring with rain and flooding over a lot of the country. It is part of a series inspired by the weather and global warming. New Zealanders are obsessed with the weather and what it is doing. This is a small country in the middle of a big ocean so we get a lot of weather! Not only that but my husband is a climate change scientist so the weather is always a topic of conversation in this family.

Blogit

I have succumbed to the blog. I hope someone is out there.....
I hope to post a few 'how-to's' like 'How to print with fish' and a few photos of my quilts as I finish them. I hope to also comment on New Zealand quilt shows and exhibitions. In the meantime I have to work out how to add photos to this blog and set it up nicely. Clare