On The Edge

Last night I attended the opening of ‘On The Edge’ a new Art Gallery in town.
I was invited to the opening by Textile Artist Francien Bot, as the gallery is showing several of her works.

Francien & Nymph

Francien works mostly with cotton fabrics but also incorporates more difficult fabrics such as silk, velvet, & organza. I especially like her subtle use of beads and metallic threads, they enhance her pieces without overpowering them.

On The Edge Gallery is upstairs at 69 Walton Street, Whangarei (across the road from the ASB).
Please take the time to visit the gallery, I'm sure you won’t be disappointed. 

Slide Show of Coastal Sew ‘n’ Sews Quilt Show

Tess from Coastal Sew n Sews (Ngunguru quilt group) has sent me a link to a slide show of their recent Exhibition to share with you all. I didn't get to go to the show as I was in Hamilton so I really enjoyed the slide show. Click on the photo below, to take you to see the Exhibition.

The Country Yards Exhibition

Last Saturday I went out to the Country Yards Exhibition. It was a great show well worth seeing even if the weather wasn't very kind. I did manage to stay dry in between the spring showers though!
I took at few photos of items that appealed to me, to share with you all. So here we go.

I loved this it looks like it's straight out of a picture book.
Wall hanging by Ngaire Fleming.

I love kiwis and all things kiwiana so loved this. Wall hanging by Susan McRae.

The quilting is special too. Click the picture for a closer look
 to see how the tui's tail is quilted in, and the palm's trunks are extended

This stitchery/applique wall hanging by Racheal, was Lynette Andersons Button Mystery. 

This was a group quilt made for Leeanne's 40th Birthday (no not me!)

This Leeanne is the from http://quiltmekiwi.blogspot.com/ check out her blog it's good.
I thought this was a good idea for a gift quilt, with everyone making a bag block.
(sorry for the side way's photo as it was in a tight space!)

There were a lot of beautiful cushions, this one is made by Noeline.

And this cushion is made by Leeanne of quilt me kiwi blog (link above)

I was praised for this cushion, as several people thought it was mine, but I did put them right and say it was the other Leeanne's work!

This quilt is a sample made to showcase these fabrics for the shop.
It was very popular, and the cushions added a lovely touch too.

The Last week has been a blur…

....days have just run into each other, but I thought I would post a few photos from my trip.

Warning this is more a family/trip post not much Quilty stuff going on.

If you look at my photos you may think I've been overseas to India & Italy or maybe even China. 

But no I've been to Hamilton, New Zealand. (much cheaper option!)

We had some time to spare so decided to go to the Hamilton Gardens as this may be our last visit to Hamilton for a while (more on that later).

     

 This is a close up of the floral carpet in the Indian garden. 

Indian Char Bagh Garden

The 'Char Bagh' garden was beautiful. The flowers are planted close together so it makes a living 'persian carpet' and the colours were so vibrant, specially when they are contrasted with the pale walls and tiled floors.

Through the Pavilion's archways you look out on to the Waikato river. And when you look up there is this beautiful ceiling (picture below). With these designs I was 'putting my quilters eyes on' and seeing quilt borders in the freeze, interlocking designs and of course colour!

Pavillion's celling & freeze.

Italian Renaissance Garden

We all decided that the Italian garden was our favourite. It was very tranquil with the formal structure and the sound of the water. Everything just looked perfect.

Hubby lying down to photograph trellis roof. Silly I managed to get a good shot standing up! 

My photo of the trellis roof (taken standing up!) 

 There was a Juliet balcony too 

My turn to do something silly.

Path in the Chinese garden.

I really liked this path, but I think it looks too complicated to use as a quilt design!

Youngest Son's turn to do something silly (giant bamboo in China garden)

Mark - Birthday boy

This is the reason we were in Hamilton. We were celebrating our eldest Son's 21st Birthday. The Party went well, and Mark was pleased that several of his High School friends came down from Whangarei too.

This will be our last trip to Hamilton for a while as Mark is moving to Sydney in December to start working as a software engineer for Google.

All Blacks after winning the Rugby World Cup.

Of course there was another major event last weekend, the Rugby World Cup. 

We watched the final with Mark and his flatmates. It wasn't the exciting game I had hoped for, but it was nail biting! 

This was probably my favourite bit of the Rugby World Cup, Sony Bill changing his ripped shirt. 

The shirts are so tight that help is needed to take them off, and put them on! 

I think this 'event' got the largest cheer from all the ladies in the crowd too!

Excited Children!

Back at work (primary school) we had some exciting news. The School has won a competition for 'Backing Black' and will be receiving $5000 of sports equipment! 

The best part is it will be delivered to the school by some of the All Black team. 

All Blacks doing the Haka

So I'm sure there will be a lot of Haka practise at school next week. The kids will want to be ready for the All Blacks.