PLAYGROUP AT DEVON

It has been a long time in the planning, but Maureen and Catherine - and their lovely DH's Graeme and John - are finally here on Norfolk Island!

We first met at the CrazyQuilting Retreat in Canberra over six years ago, and have kept in touch via the net ever since.

We have all been looking forward to this visit so much.

After a few days of concentrated sightseeing, it was time for the girls to get together and play, while the boys went off to try a bit of fishing.

And what better than a session of "Chicken Scratch"??

Up in the attic I have had these bags of special scraps for ages. They are offcuts that were passed on to me by the family of a lady (who has since died) who used to sew for theatre and opera productions in her younger days. There is more than I could do justice to in several lifetimes....

 And they are full of glitz and beads and embroidery and sequins......

 Catherine will hate me for putting this photo in, but it was exciting stuff, and lovely to be able to share!!!

 Then we had a session sitting down and ooh-ing and aah-ing over my collection of ATC's, and stuff from Round Robins I have been involved in.

It is just so great to share ideas and techniques...

 The next day we decided to venture into "Marbling." I had prepared some Carrageen liquid, and treated fabric scraps with alum.

 So we got right into it! A little tentatively at first, and just using a limited palette of colours....

 But as we warmed up we got bolder and more innovative...

 And started reaching for more and more colours to try...
We weren't very scientific about it...we are not the sort of girls who like following rules...

 We were delighted and excited with the results, and I know we are all going to have another go down the track!

When the boys came back, we tried not to bore them too-o-oo much with our crafty stuff, but I think they are used to it. We gave Catherine's John some Grassroots mags to pore through, as a little reward for his longsuffering!!.

 Meanwhile, Maureen's Graeme is the most patient and goodnatured man in the world, and is really enthusiastic about all her activities!

I can't tell you how wonderful it has been to be joined by these  special playmates, who just love the same sort of things that I do.

Meanwhile, the girls brought me some special gifts which I will show you in my next posting!

KIDS HAVE FUN

I just love the way that little kids can laugh at simple silly things. We grown ups sometimes take life so seriously, and we need to re-discover the fresh delight that little kids can experience with anything special or out of the ordinary.

Such as a giant pair of toy spectacles!

Nate thought they were such fun, and was reluctant to let his brother Liam have a turn. 

 Kids love birthday parties - even when the birthday boy is several decades older than them.

 Of course, Bern's cake (made by Kim) was a big attraction, especially the strawberries and the yummy icing.

 But the best part is lighting the candles....

And helping to blow them out. Even if it means re-lighting them several times so everyone can have a turn!

 But grown up kids can have fun too. We had a St Patrick's Day dinner out at the Rectory, and our Chaplain's wife Olive invited the ladies to come and sample genuine Irish stew.

 Our Chaplain David was the only man present, but he was a great host, and pulled of his impersonation of an Irish leprechaun really well! (David and Olive are Irish.)

 There were lots of laughs from the answers people gave to an Irish quiz....

 And, of course, a sprinkling of Irish jokes, altho' many felt  the best ones were a bit inappropriate for an occasion in a Church Rectory!!

By the way, Olive's shirt has the words NI to NI on it, standing for "Northern Ireland to Norfolk Island". She had it specially printed, complete with a shamrock. We all thought that it should have included a Norfolk pine, but she said that would have cost another $15!!!

 But young and old had a great time, and the Irish stew was delicious.



HEARTS FOR CHRISTCHURCH - THE SEQUEL

Some months ago, I think I mentioned that I had heard about an appeal for "Hearts for Christchurch", where the Needleworking world was encouraged to show their support and caring for the people of Christchurch by creating fabric hearts. These would then be distributed to individuals, and hopefully be of comfort.

Above are the two hearts I created at the time, and I seem to recall that I used greens because they seemed to symbolise new life.

 The lady who was collecting the hearts on behalf of Christchurch kept a blog, and she published these pictures of my hearts when she received them, apologising that they appeared bluer than they looked in real life.
I believe that more than 4000 hearts flooded in!
Then a few weeks ago, I began to receive a flood of letters and emails from people in Christchurch, saying thank you for the hearts and expressing appreciation.
It would seem that the hearts were displayed in the Christchurch museum, one of the few historic and traditional buildings to have escaped major damage in the quakes.
Two ladies, Bee and Lisa, were kind enough to send me photos of the display.

Apparently not many people had attached a name or address to their hearts. I had attached a tag with my name, Norfolk Island, and my email address. This was not because I wanted thanks or acknowledgement, but I thought it would be nice to put a "human face" to the gift, and to give the message that the caring came from real people. It seems that this was appreciated.

 Evidently my hearts are among these!!

Then last week I had this email. I was so glad to hear from someone who actually received one of my hearts. "C." (name supplied) explains how she actually came to get my heart - what lovely feedback.

My name is (name supplied) from Christchurch, NZ.





Just letting you know that I now have one of your hearts - actually the top one in your article about them and thought you might like to know how it came about that I got it as you had attached your name, message and email on the heart.






Myself and a friend were visiting the Canterbury Museum this morning to visit Hearts for Christchurch display and the WOW exhibition and were told that the Hearts display was in the process of being taken down and this Saturday and Sunday people were being given one heart each as a gift. Another friend had visited the display a few weeks ago had commented that she had seen one from Norfolk ( where she had recently visited) as of course she knew of my love of the island.






With this in mind I asked if the one from Norfolk Island (not realising there were two until I googled your name - your surname being familiar to me from time spent there - and found your blog) was still there and was given that particular one which I am thrilled about and will treasure - it was very interesting reading about the process of the fabric and the making of the final product on your blog also - oh to be so clever!!!

I believe that anyone who has ever visited that beautiful city of Christchurch would have grieved at the loss and destruction of so many lives and landmarks. Making the hearts gave me some personal comfort. And knowing that the wonderful spirit of Christchurch lives on is heartwarming too.






Norfolk Island is very special to me as I worked on the island for a while many many years ago as well as having enjoyed many happy holidays there over the years - my husband and I both love everything about it the island!!!!






So thank you very much for the thought involved, the making and sending of it as the hearts. As well as being a spectacular display, they have meant such a lot and been a real joy and comfort to us here as you can imagine after such a devastating incomprehensible event that has had so many unimaginable repurcussions, and is even now one that nobody can be sure has actually finished.






Thanks so much once more



QUILTS FINISHED

Every so often, we find ourselves having a "Show and Tell" session at our Tuesday Craft group, especially when a project has been completed. Last week we were able to view three finished quilts and ooh and aah and congratulate their makers, not only on their skills, but on their ability to actually finish something! Not all of us are so good at actually finishing things. Especially me. Not major projects anyway!

The first quilt to be unfolded was Lorraine's "Pineapple" quilt. This was done using a pile of scraps that Annette had bequeathed to Lorraine. Set against a black background, they look just fabulous! It is all handquilted.

 

Lorraine is one of our "champion finishers", not only of her own projects, but she often takes on other people's to finish too!

 Then it was Agnes' turn. This is one of Agnes' "Alaskan" series. When she and Bill went on a cruise to Alaska a few years ago, Agnes came across a wonderful Quilt shop, and has kept in touch with them and has bought a number of patterns and Alaskan inspired fabrics from them.

 Agnes has been having a year of "finishing" all sorts of projects, including some that have been around for a long time. She is almost at the end of the UFO pile, and is going to have to find something new to start. Maybe she would like to finish a few of mine!

 Finally it was Joy's turn. Now Joy has produced several dozen quilts at a time of her life when most people were well and truly retired. The latest group have been a series of "fairy" quilts, destined for her granddaughters and great granddaughters. As usual, Joy's choice of colours and fabrics really "sing."

 It is good to know that as you get older, your mobility and eyesight may start to fail, but the creativity is still there as strong as ever!