I had a bit of a hair raising trip back home to Brisbane today . There were major accidents on the range and then on the highway coming home. But I have had a wonderful three days away with friends and the stitching was just fantastic.
My class was a "white work" class with Jenny Adin-Christie. Jenny was trained at the Royal School of Needlework and was part of the team that worked on the wedding dress for Kate Middleton to wear at her wedding to Prince William. I can not speak highly enough of her wonderful skills in needlework, teaching and interpersonal interactions. You go to a workshop thinking you will learn one or two things. This workshop had me writting down at least six or seven a day. Jenny is only a young woman of 34 years but with skills that most of us only dream about. The world will gain so much from her skills and her creativity.
These are some images of her work (which she has designed and stitches) that are on her business cards. The first was for a commission the remaining ones are all available as kits.
I have ordered some of these kits so it looks like I am going to learn Goldwork.
Later in the year I want to go and see Myanmar. Up till just lately this has been closed to tourists but now the doors are open. I would usually travel unguided but I am looking at a Textile Tour this time. I am still not totally mobile but should be by September when I plan to go.
The two things I want to see are the White Elephants.
And I would book a balloon ride over the temples.
I don't think I want to go out driving again for a while. The trip down to Sydney took 13 hours of driving and the trip home another 13 hours, although I stopped for the night at a motel on the return journey. The trip home seemed longer than the trip down. Big trucks, road works, accidents, dangerous drivers, I had them all. I think I might have to replace my windscreen as it has so many chips in it. But having said that I love the feeling of gliding along the road with the countryside flashing by.
I had a great time with my family and my niece loved the owl sweater I made for her little girl. I also saw that a skirt I had made for my nephews daughter had been passed down through all the girls and the two year old was swirling away. Now for some sleep.
This serious soul (Sinead) can smile and she is the most gorgeous child.
I have spent most of the day trying to work out how to get my photos from one computer to another with no success. My laptop has a much better program for making slide-shows so I have been playing around with that. I had put my sewing machine in for service before I went away and it won't be ready until Monday so I can't do that. Not a very productive day at all.
Playing with my photos I found that my little Sony point and shoot takes some great photos and when I put the panoramas into a slide show they worked like a video, which I'm really please with. It was cold and wet in Dunedin but that didn't detract from the beauty of the place. On one day I just wandered around the streets near my accommodation. Here I found a little house I would love. I don't think it is in a fashionable area but I like it. It sits on the side of a steep hill, at the back of the brewery overlooking the harbour.
It is vacant at the moment and opens directly onto the street at the rear. You can see the view through the window.
The gardens is the surrounding houses are wild and unkempt yet the flowers are beautiful.
I found this link to a beautiful garden in London on the Guardian site. Looks a lot warmer there than here.
I am finally home in front of my own computer with WiFi access, you beaut!! I thought that I was coming home to the warm but it is chilly here, though not as chilly as Queenstown. Still I have my cardigan on and have had to put gloves on to warm my fingers. The thing is we are set up for the heat not the cold. I might have to look at buying a small radiator to warm me up.
I had a wonderful time at the Quilt Symposium, it got the creative juices flowing and I always enjoy the company of our New Zealand cousins. (They are so cheeky, just like those Keas.)
I stayed with three other girls from Toowoomba in a unit next door to the Catholic Church. The church had a postcard of the view, much better than my photo, showing the Remarkables behind covered in snow. The snow wasn't this thick when I was there but it was as white and cold and clear.
After all the trauma of getting home, (I do not like travelling on standby), I need to wash my clothes, organise my quilting purchases and get some sleep. Then I have to workout how to transfer all my photos from the laptop to the desktop. (I hope the more up to date photo editing program comes over with it.) Oh the joys of technology.
It is strange going to sleep and waking up in another country. The plane. rose out of Brisbane airport and the sky was dotted with clouds like you would see in a children’s painting. Everything was bright and clear. You could see the curve of the waves on the beach and the boats heading out fishing. Then we turned left and headed out into the Pacific. After a while the clouds bunched together until they formed a carpet. It was as though I had passed into another reality. Almost like losing touch with my life. This is when I fell asleep.
When I woke I was looking down at the snow on the mountains and we were making our descent through the clouds into Dunedin. But, those clouds weren’t giving up that easily. They closed in again and rain ran across the windows. Good thing planes has navigation because these clouds were hanging on like grim death and we didn’t break through until we were just above the runway.
Dunedin airport is only small with three customs officers. We had lots of small babies on the flight who also slept all the way and were now ready for business. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to get into the city but found a shuttle bus at the front door. The driver asked where I was staying and wrote this down. I had expected to be dropped off at the depot in the city and then I would find my way to my accommodation. But no. All the passengers in the bus were dropped at their front door, for no extra cost. I had a wonder tour all over the city as the driver dropped off his passengers one by one.
I am staying in a backpackers called Hogwartz. It is in the old residence of the Catholic Archbishop at the top of a very steep hill. It isn’t the Ritz but it is clean, I have a private room and bathroom and share the kitchen, lounge and dinning room with all the young travelers from all over the world. A lot less stuffy than a hotel. The kids all helped me carry my bag up the narrow steps, asked if I would like a cup of tea and then we started to swap war stories of our travels.
One thing I haven’t mentioned is the change in temperature. It was 30 degrees C in Brisbane, 5 degrees C in Dunedin. I thought I would freeze but I find that I am liking this chill in the air.
The door is locked at 7pm and then you have a code to open the door after this time. I lost mine within the first 10 minutes and I would have trouble seeing the numbers on the keypad anyway. (I have to have my eyes tested again as soon as I get home.) I made sure that when I went out to dinner that I got back before 7pm. Oh that hill! (pictures when I have better reception)
Dunedin is so like Scotland only it is at the other end of the world. The mists are the same, the trees, the colours of Autumn, the people, which isn’t surprising as this is where most of the settlers came from. In some ways it is similar to Edinburgh. It is a University town with that same feeling. It even has a statue of Robbie Burns!
I tried to upload this entry last night but the internet is very slow and not cheap. I went to bed fairly early but couldn’t work out how to shut the window so had this freezing little draft wafting over me all night. Luckily the bedding is warm and I snuggled under the blankets. I worked out how to shut it the next morning.
So the very good this time is a new point and shoot camera. A Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V, well that is what it says on the box but I think it is the same as the 9V model. It has 16.2 Mega pixels 10 x optical zoom Full HD movie and 3D sweep panorama.
It is so good I'm considering not taking my D50 Canon with me on this next trip. This is so light and easy to put in my pocket. Of course I have been snapping everything in sight.
The kitchen in 3D panorama,
A spider web using the Zoom,
I haven't worked out how to shoot a movie as yet.
And the very bad, I got an email from my son saying that I can not travel on the dates I have booked. He works for an airline and I qualify for staff travel. Great for saving money but being bumped like this is part of the cost. I went straight into a tail spin. It is the NZ leg of the journey that is the problem. I have decided to get into NZ a couple of days early via Dunedin. Have a day in the city and then take a train and coach up the back-way to Queenstown. Actually this could turn into a positive, but it is going to cost more money.
Now if I was suspicious I would be on the lookout for another day like this.
I have spent the morning trying to pick up my husband from the airport and after much toing and froing we are home. And, all the washing is done. Plus I have a lovely new porcelain plate.
The card that came with it said that according to legend from ancient time, the Vietnamese people are descendants of a Fairy and a Dragon. This image is a combination of dragon and phoenix, which represents the combination of dragon and fairy. Because the Vietnamese Nation was formed from many different ethnic groups, these are represented around the edge of the plate. I think this is going to be the inspiration for a new quilt.
