Sydney and Hobbitville

I've been back from Sydney for a week and haven't had a moment to write on the blog. The house seems full again with tall young men home from university and school. They have been for a catch up round of doctor appointments, opticians, etc and I'm making a vest/waistcoat for one to wear to a school formal. We've had to hire a 'tux' and I'm making the vest. Yesterday I spent rather too much time making welt pockets which were successful after I fixed them when the welts didn't meet in the middle. I could have left the welt pockets off but I was challenging myself. I felt that my year learning costume construction should be put to the test!

Next year I might be studying again. I have applied to do a Postgraduate Diploma next year at Massey University so some of this week has been preparing a portfolio. The course is billed as part time with block courses and late classes which have to fit in with people who are working. At the moment it looks like I won't be working next year , which is a shame as it would have helped to pay the fees.

Wellington is in the grip of Hobbit fever. My kids went to see the parade of people on the red carpet for the movie opening, but I was in Australia. However on the way back I noticed the bag collection area at the airport has become 'Bag End'. They have built up the centre between the conveyor belts and it looks like windows in the Hobbit village with the lights on. Very cosy looking.

Now I realise I should have taken a longer view of the whole set up so that it was easier to understand.
Here is a link to a website with a selection of photos of Wellington in full 'Middle of Middle Earth' mode.

Other than coming back to Hobbit mania, in Sydney I really enjoyed the lace exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum. It is well worth seeing. The theme was lace but any media could be used from paper, steel and wire to video projection. I have been pondering whether the same could be done with quilting? Instead of specifying 'quilts should be made of two layers of fabric or fabric like materials' , the exhibits could just be an impression of a quilt in any media. I know that Quilt National has had some wood quilts in the past but most exhibitions do specify fabric somehow.

The lace exhibition talked about the importance of interconnections and how negative and positive space was just as important. With a quilt are we just talking about 'cosiness'?

Anyway, that is what I am thinking about at the moment.

I really took very few photos in Sydney but here are a couple of things that caught my eye.

I did a little shopping, walked through Newtown and Surrey Hills to look at the quirky shops. I enjoyed spending time in an anonymous room at the Travelodge where no-one asked me to take them anywhere in the car and I didn't have to cook meals.

I went to the Francis Bacon exhibition and was very taken with the photos of his incredibly messy studio. It makes my studio look incredibly tidy in comparison - I really must pick up all those pins that the cat knocked over by walking on the bookcase and finish off James' vest.
Clare