Botannics

Here is Noa wearing her little sleepy suit last night.

It had been a long day, and we couldn't coax a smile from her, but I think she liked being wrapped in it's warmth. Thank you all so much for your great comments !

Last week, on the last day of our holiday we spent an hour walking around Wellington's Botanic Gardens.

This is the walk that runs alongside Tinakori Road.

A succulent garden that has recently developed.

I love visiting Wellington and I especially enjoy the public gardens there. I visited another favourite place in Wellington that day and I will save the telling for another post very soon.

Something for a Hobbit

Well, I am home again after ten days away in the North Island. We had a wonderful time catching up with friends and family and of course the highlight was the James Taylor and Carole King Concert in Auckland. I had to pinch myself that I was really there listening and seeing JT himself, after practically living out my life with his songs as the backdrop to everything I have experienced over the last forty years.

The driving long distances in the car became quite tedious, and I kept pushing on with the knitting of Noa's possum wrap. Today I have finally finished it, and have had to resort to trying it on Teddy as little Noa lives more than an hour's drive away and I won't be seeing her until tuesday. I did think that Teddy made a rather hobbit-like model for the wrap.....what do you think ?

I didn't enjoy knitting this very much and I think the reason for that is the rather unclear instructions...especially for the tie closure. I think I might remove the crochet cord tie and sew a button on instead, I shall see what Noa's Mum thinks.

However it is a beautifully soft and cosy garment and I hope Noa will enjoy her sleeps wrapped up in it.

Holiday

A very happy Easter to all of you. I hope this year has been full of fun times with family and friends.

I have been spending these last few days with my family, little ones and big ones.

and today I am packing a suitcase and sorting out the knitting and sewing projects I want to take with me...... fun, fun,fun !

Tomorrow we are on our way crossing the Cook Strait on the ferry, and driving up to Whangarei to see some friends and then the four of us are going to the James Taylor and Carole King concert on the Saturday night in Auckland.

The next day we drive back down the North Island, stopping for a couple of days in New Plymouth and then Wellington to visit the newly marrieds and Sarah.

I have been really looking forward to this for so long, but yesterday when I was having a little cuddle with Noa, I felt bereft at the thought of not seeing her for ten days.

Hopefully, when I return I will have the baby wrap finished, that I am making for her in possum wool, and then I will go mad with the camera. These first few weeks see such changes in growth and little familial baby expressions, she is sure to have changed yet again when I see her next. !

I shall be away from the blog for a few days, but I look forward to catching up with you all when I am home again.

Fern's flowers

My granddaughter Fern is spending the day with me today, and first thing on the list is running out to the garden to collect some flowers.

and finding a pretty jug to put them in.

Sometimes, around this time of year, other nice surprises can be found in the garden, if you look very quietly and carefully.

My colours today

Some patchwork, easy piecing together 2 and a half inch squares, because I felt like it.

Some spinning, because I had run out of handspun wool for my blanket.

Some James Taylor and Carole King because soon, very soon I shall be listening to them LIVE, and I am VERY EXCITED every time I think about it.

I hope you all have a great weekend with lots of crafting and good times.

Nature

It's not often you come across something very large and wild when you are taking a gentle evening stroll at the beach. This huge sting ray had come into the shallow water and was waiting to be able to swim out again when the tide turned.

I got in very close with my phone and shot a couple of pics, thinking they probably wouldn't be much good,

but I was quite surprised when I downloaded them....

he was just inches away from me, and he had two very big eyes and a very long tail, and I was thinking that he seemed to be as interested in me as I was in him, because as I walked along the beach he followed alongside, and when I turned to walk back the way I had come he did the same. I was quite sad to say goodbye to him, I hope he made it back into the ocean safely.

On the way home I took this pic of the sunset with my phone as well. It was quite a memorable evening all in all.

This Saturday night our orchestra is playing the first concert of the season.

The music is all about 'The Great Outdoors'.

It opens with the Aotearoa Overture by Douglas Lilburn and I wish I could give you a great recording on you tube to listen to, but sadly I only found two videos of the music, one of them is filmed at Te Papa and has lots of background noise and the other is performed by Westlake College and has good sound but is very poor visually.

Lilburn wrote this in 1939 and it is quite nationalistic. We all get very stirred up when we play this. It means something different to each one of us. For me personally I am transported into the native bush of New Zealand, I hear the birds and see the mountains and the rivers...I love it. I find it very 'hand on the heart' stuff !

We then play Weber's Clarinet Concerto, which should be fun, it has been a while since we had a soloist to perform with us.

Finishing with Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony which is always a favorite and exciting to play, especially during the 'storm'. I think of Beethoven writing this when he was happy and on holiday in the country.

Some great music to mark the beginning of Autumn and the start of Easter.

Phoebe's Quilt

Zinnias in the garden,

and the Bougainvillea outside the back door are giving me lots of pleasure, with their pink blooms,

and this too has given me much pleasure this week.

While I was waiting for Noa ( thank you all so much for your kind words on her birth ) to arrive in the last few weeks, I needed to be close to the phone and was able to spend quite a few hours in my sewing room.

Phoebe's quilt is finished ( yay ) and I can now think about the design and fabric for Fern's quilt.

Just lately the ideas keep coming (especially in the middle of the night) and I wish I could closet myself away in my sewing room and work, work, work, until I have them all worked out of my system.

Do you ever feel like that ? It can sometimes be overwhelming and also fustrating when I am unable to work on my ideas...they become suspended in my head in limbo, then jump to life in the dead of the night, and I lie awake wondering if I should get up and go to the sewing room and start cutting fabric feverishly.

Invariably I fall asleep again when I try and count all the quilts that have been started and remain in waiting for their turn to be finished.

Sarah, if you are reading this, take heart....I found the blocks for your quilt the other day and have started working on it again.