Stitching in the Antipodes

Phew! A post about stitching! At long last. So happy to be able to tell you that although my laptop is deceased, all my data was recovered from the hard drive and transferred to my new laptop. (and yes, I do realise how fortunate I am to be able to replace it, had this happened 10 years ago there would have been no chance of that.)

So be prepared for a long post and LOADS of stitchery photos. Here we go then.

On a drive up to Mangawhi, about an hour north of Orewa, we stopped off in Warkworth at The Apple Basket Patchwork Shop, which we had all noticed last time we were in NZ. It was such a pretty place and the owner was more than happy for me to take photographs.

                                             Krissie checking out the knitting patterns.

I bought some variegated perle threads, some wool felt, and a couple of fat quarters of New Zealand designed fabric. We all had a really good look around and chatted at length with the owner.

My third quilt shop find of the holiday was River Ranch Designs, which we found in the township of Te Kuiti, on a day out from our stay in Otorohanga. Te Kuiti is the 'sheep shearing capital of the world', and is real Kiwi heartland in the Waitomo district. We fortuitously strolled down a side street and came upon:

Owned by Sharon Bradley, who also runs classes and retreats at her River Ranch Studio, not far from the Waitomo Caves. One of her prize winning quilts hung on a wall, and has been featured in quilting magazines there and in Australia.

A close up, it was difficult to photograph as it was hung quite high up. One of the really nice things about finding this quilt shop was meeting Sharon's manager, Hilary Blamires, who I spotted straight away was from the 'old country'! Coincidence after coincidence emerged, as we discussed our careers, mine starting in the Queen Alexandra's Naval Nursing Service at Royal Naval Hospital Haslar, and her's in Occupation Therapy, at the same hospital but about twenty years later! Then her husband popped in and it transpired that he was ax- RN himself, as is my husband Jim. Hilary works part-time at the shop  as her own 'therapy' and lectures part-time in Hamilton. Fancy journeying all that way from home only to find people whose lives have run almost parallel to your own, albeit two decades or so later. It was lovely to meet you, Hilary, and I'm looking forward to using the felted wool I purchased!

The rest of my stitch-related photos were taken in Orewa. Beccie and I planned one of her applique cushions when she was here in the UK last summer. This is her favourite, comfy cushion.

She chose the fabric herself when we were in Devonport, Auckland. I bonded the shapes on and stab-stitched round them for speed. Had I had more time I'd have done needle-turn appliqué, but we are both happy with the results. There was sufficient fabric left over so I made another cushion cover for her; all hand-stitched as there wasn't a machine available.

The urgent stitching job that was waiting for me when we got there was the repair to Dylan's quilt. This has been so well-loved and used by the whole family - it has such a lovely feel to it I was tempted to steal it away home! Just a few places where the motifs had lifted, and a couple of holes worn into the fabric.

The repair is the circle in the centre of the cross, there was a small hole. It hardly looks like a repair, does it?

Just some shots of the quilt blocks. I think there must be hundreds of versions of this quilt, world wide, it's a very popular pattern, one of Jan Patek's, I think.

And the other item I worked on during our Down Under holiday, was my top hat topper, mark 2! This time made totally from black wool, with a mixture of felt, wool felt and felted wool for the motifs. I really enjoy working with these materials, and am planning some cushions in the near future.

So there you have it, I hope you are all still awake!! But I had to prove to you that I DID do some textile related activity during the four weeks we were away! We had the most wonderful time, being with the family, meeting some lovely people, and seeing some wonderful sights. We have already been making plans with Kit and Krissie for our next visit in 2015.

We have just about re-acclimatised ourselves to UK weather, and are beginning to enjoy the good things about living here, driving through rural Norfolk, being in touch with our UK family members, and catching up with our lovely friends. And tonight I shall be off to two of those friends to indulge in a few hours of MUSIC MAKING!!! Oh I have missed it so much. Next time I should have some exciting news on the Melodeon front, but for now, hope you've enjoyed the photos, and I am enjoying catching up with all the blog-posts I've got out of touch with. Catch you later!!

A spot of Sight-Seeing

                                               Dappled shade in the Herb Garden

Just a quick post today, mostly photographs, as I've been up to my eyes writing some other stuff for Somewhere Else!The sunshine encouraged me out into the garden, where buds are unfurling, blossom is springing and the greenery is amazing.

I love these Columbines, Granny's Bonnets, or Aquilegia depending where you're coming from.

 These are a very old fashioned species; I helped myself to a handful of seeds from the overgrown garden of the dilapidated house my brother-in-law inherited about fifteen years ago. They have self seeded themselves all over our garden and are so at home here. I love the colours.

       These lovely blue, spikey flower heads of the centaura cheer me enormously every year.

Oh, and the sage flowers are JUST about to burst forth! I would grow this herb for the flowers alone, though I do use the leaves in cooking and for sore throats, with honey!

 Here are some succulents. I popped them in for Marisa - not a patch on her multi-hued varieties.

Someone else was out and about today - and not just OUT, but UP! Yes, invited by our builder to check out the chimneys, J was up the scaffolding before you could say vertigo. Or even acrophobia. With his trusty little camera in his mitt. When he re-appeared on solid ground he presented me with a load of roof-top views' for your blog'. Gotta love that man. So here they are. Well, some of them.

                                                        Up the lane to the church.

                                                                Down the lane.

                                                                        Our back garden

                                                           Looking left from the back.

                                               Looking right from the back.

                                            And finally back round to the church.

Gosh, I hadn't realised I live in such a pretty place! It's all the old stone and greenery, isn't it?

And last but not least, here is the quilt pattern I promised you in my last post.

I'm sure you'll agree it's a corker, and well suited to those gorgeous Japanese Taupe fabrics.Not the best of photos, I'm afraid the 'large' view unfortunately had the shadow of my bosoms along the bottom, so I thought I'd delete that one! There is an outer border of diamonds. I'm all fired up to start it but feel I should really keep going with the small squares that surround the Jan Patek blocks already finished and waiting. AND.......there is K's quilt.............
Enjoy the sunny sunny sunny weekend! (I'm so thrilled we're having one I had to triple it!)

Japanese Fabric Collection

                                             Some of my Vintage Kimono Pieces

Whenever I feel embarrassed about the size of my fabric stash, I justify it to myself by 'reframing' the situation. That is, I call it a 'collection of collections'. There, you see! From indiscriminate picker-upper-of-cloth I instantly become transformed into a Textile Collector. Sounds a bit grander, doesn't it?
But truthfully, amongst the piles of fabric there ARE some distinct groupings, and the one which is interesting me particularly at the moment is my Japanese collection. This is broken down into sub-groups. (OCD? Moi?)

                                                             Unadopted hexagons!

First there are the small pieces of vintage kimono, which I pick up, a few at a time, whenever I go to Quilt Fairs. I started to cover hexagons with these some time ago, with no real idea what to do with them. They are so small and delicate I almost don't like to cut into them. They would make lovely Suffolk Puffs (Yo-yos) .

Next are the gorgeously textured woven fabrics. These are a much heavier weight, and include some lovely indigo dyed cloth. I buy these because they remind me of the wonderful "Boro" about which I could write a whole post. Much better that you go and read about them yourselves, and see these incredible examples of patched and re-patched working clothes. I'm eternally saddened that I didn't make it up to York a couple of years ago to see the travelling exhibition. Friends tell me it was amazing.

 There is a definitive book. Boro: Rags and Tatters from the Far North of Japan ed Yukio Koide & Kyoichi Tsuzuki, researched by Chuzaburo Tanaka. This is even more expensive than the Edrica Huws book was ; I don't think I will ever own a copy. And talk about coincidence; having written the bare bones of this post two days ago, I bought a copy of Quiltmania magazine today - and there they have an article on....Boro! Headed, no less, by a poster depicting the very book I've mentioned above.

Then there are my Taupe fabrics. And the reason I began collecting them was  reading the blogs of Jan at Be*mused and Marisa at Quiltotaku. You can find their blogs from my blog list. They have some stunning photographs.These girls have a fascination with Japanese quilting and I have learned a lot from them. I first read about the quilter Yoko Saito in their blogs and from there it was a small step to buying a few(!) books and starting to collect taupe fabric. I mostly buy them from EuroJapan LinksLtd, an English firm who attend all the big quilt shows and fairs, and who also sell on-line.I buy my indigo fabric from them as well.

Now Taupe, as we all know, is another word for...let's face it....beige.  And I do have a friend who can't get her head round the fact that not all taupe fabrics are....er....taupe. Originally they were, or close variations of the hue, but then Yoko began her own line of fabrics which all had the same greyed effect overlaying other colours, which somehow pulled them all together. Other designers followed suit and a whole new contemporary genre was born. Usually woven, these fabrics are often textured and embellished in something similar to intarsia - you can see the floating yarns on the reverse side.

                 A quilt from her book 'Past and Present: My Quilting Life by Yoko Saito

For a few years many of the quilts hung at the Tokyo International Quilt Exhibition were in the Taupe category, which, along with the meticulous stitching and attention to detail, marks them out instantly as Japanese quilts.

                                  'Times Passed Away' by her student Nobue Ishimori

About eighteen months ago, I spied an old English medallion quilt on-line. I fell in love with it and wondered how quickly it would take some enterprising designer to come up with a new pattern for it. Sure enough someone did. Corliss Searcey brought out her lovely 'The English Basket Quilt' and I bought the pattern, thinking I would love to use my taupe fabrics to make a pared down version of my own , I decided I didn't want to make it as large, nor use all the templates. I mainly want to make the baskets of flowers! Because of various domestic events, plus sewing for the craft fair, I've had to delay making a start, but it's now back on the to-do-soon list! Foolishly, in my hurry to photograph the fabrics and pictures for this post, I clean forgot to take one of the Basket Quilt. And I've not got time to do it now so will rectify that next post.

                 The squares are still in strips, I haven't sewn any of it together yet.

In the meantime I have finished four chunkier baskets, designed by Jan Patek, using many of the non-taupe Japanese fabrics, which are another little collection all on their own. I'm going to surround each block with myriad small squares. Just to make life a little more difficult. And no, I haven't forgotten K's quilt!

                             Can't begin to tell you how many more squares I've got to strip!

             These baskets are more naive than those in Corliss's quilt, but I loved stitching them.

Unfortunately, now that you've made me get all these lovely fabrics out to show you, I'm having a quiet drool here, and can feel that impatience to begin that basket quilt nibbling away there....no, too much other stuff to be going on with. Resist! I hope you've enjoyed the show!