Tea + Rust = Grey

I've used tannins to turn rust dyed fabric grey or black before.  But I wanted to know if I could control the effect more.  Turns out you can.

I also want to show you one way I use my own photos for quilts, even if the photos aren't perfect.

So, here's a photo of a white faced heron taking off.  Blurry and unclear.  But I can still use it.

First off I print it in greyscale in A4 size.  Then I take a thin black marker and outline the bird.  I refer to the photograph and if something isn't clear, I just fudge it.  Then I take this photo and enlarge it to the size I need.  My printer has a posterise function that automatically resizes an A4 sheet to A2, then I just tape the relevant prints together.

I use a light box (my mac screen makes a great light box!) or a window and trace this onto freezer paper.  An x-acto knife makes cutting out precise and easy.

So now you can paint, or stencil, or discharge or use this stencil however you like.

In this case, I ironed it to a previously rusted piece of fabric.  Then I applied wet tea leaves over the shape.

I didn't want the liquid from the leaves to 'wick' too far under the stencil so I wanted it to dry quickly.  To do this I placed paper towels over the top and ironed it on a hot setting.  Once it was pretty dry, I brushed off the tea leaves, peeled off the stencil and ironed it again.

I'm very pleased with the results!

Ridiculously gorgeous holiday weekend

I know I live in a beautiful part of the world.  And, living on a boat, have access to the most beautiful of the beautiful bits.  But seriously, The Bay of Islands on Easter weekend (a four day public holiday in New Zealand) was just showing off.

Snorkelling, fishing, exploring, beach walking, shellfish collecting, kayaking, sunset watching.  And just a touch of sewing to round it all out.

I'm a bit quiet round here at the moment because Easter marked the beginning of a two week school holiday.  I can't tell the kids to knock off their screen time if I'm not setting an example, right?  Have a good one, everyone and I'll be back with more quilty stuff in a week or so.

Shooting Seagulls

Happy April Fools everyone, hope your day goes smoothly without too many pranks!

I've been trying to take photographs of seagulls.  And more specifically, seagulls hovering and diving.  I want to add some to a quilt I'm making and need photographs to draw from.

Heck it's tricky!  For every good photograph I get, there are about 30 seagull blurs, wing tips, feet or just scenery without a seagull in it!

But I'm getting there.  The one above gives me a good seagull shape.  Plus the reflections are beautiful too - like an impressionist painting.

I'm off to feed seagulls again.

Morning Walks

We're enjoying living on board.  It's been more than a week and we are getting the hang of it.  It's a bit like camping, you have to figure out processes and procedures to make life smooth - like where to tie the dog up at night so she makes the least noise on deck (did you know how loud a Lab can snore and toss and turn?).

My agility is increasing.  We are tied up to a stationary dock, meaning that the boat goes up and down with the tide, but the dock stays put.  We haven't a gangway (yet) and so we climb up or down to the boat as dictated by the water level.  Occasionally I have to balance on dock lines, using my weight to push them down and pull the boat close enough to get the dog on or off.

I've only dropped one bag of shopping in the water so far....

One of the things I'm most enjoying is the walks.  Having a dog on board necessitates several times a day walks, for reasons I'm sure you can imagine.  And it's a lovely part of New Zealand to walk in.

The kids are enjoying the walks too.  There is something magical about kids and beaches.  Sticks, stones, shells and anemones are all subjects of discovery and imagination.  If they are bored, grumpy or sad, the beach is a magical cure.

And the beach holds endless opportunity for me too.  I'm trying to remember to take my camera every time with the intention of photographing one thing.  Whether it be beautiful, interesting or inspirational, just one thing that I take time to really look at.

Yes, the ideas for quilts are numerous!

I'll leave you with a picture of MV Cerego.  This was taken by a friend who was in his own boat when we took her a quick sea trial while we moved her to her new berth.  She's cruising at 10 knots, about her maximum speed.  Isn't she beautiful?

Sunrise

Autumn is my favourite season.  And this is one of the reasons why.  The skies just go on and on and on.  Afternoon will give us amazing clouds.  Evening gives us fascinating light.  Then the sunrises...the sunrises can leave you speechless.

Out my back door

The view out the back door of my studio has been captivating me lately.  Particularly in the evenings. I guess this is the first summer I've had the studio (is it?  I have no memory for dates) and the views can be absolutely gorgeous.

And who's that at the neighbours having a beer and a man gossip?  Watch out Hubby, I got a pretty good zoom!

Photography

Today was the last day of school holidays.  Big sigh of relief from me!  Yesterday we thought we'd make the most of our last day with visiting cousins and get out and about.

My hubby picked us up from Parekura Bay in his boat and took us for a short trip to Urupukapuka Island.  Looks really picturesque, huh?  Well you could lean at about a 45 degree angle and not fall over...howling gale!

We took a walk to a slightly more sheltered beach where I practiced my photography.  These are variable oyster catchers.

The endangered dotterel was tricky, they don't stand still for long.  He was flipping seaweed over to look for critters.

Aren't these colours intense?  And not a photoshop in sight I promise!  See the shags?  (Comorants, for those non-Kiwis).

Here they are closer.

And closer still.

They were having trouble drying their wings because the wind gusts would buffet them too much.

And just a couple of shots of a couple of my beautiful nieces.  They sometimes sit still longer than a dotterel...

It was a beautiful day despite the wind.  And then we finished it off with scallops for dinner.  Yum!

Done.

I'm done.  That's it.  Night shift over.  Homeward bound.

There is a slight sense of euphoria after finishing a long night shift.  You know you heading home to a warm bed and a good sleep.  After this one especially, when I knew I was heading home for two weeks of holidays!

Combined with a beautiful dawn, I was practically floating.

I was really glad I had taken my wheat pack to work, heated it up before I left and had it ready in the car to warm my hands after being out and taking these photos, brrrr!

Now I have a to-do list as long as my arm before Symposium.  It includes ambitious things like defrost the freezer (I'll be embarrassed to let the babysitter open it).  We'll see how far I get through it.  Hopefully I'll have some time to update here, but if not - you know where I'll be and how much fun I'll be having!

Super Moon

I took these photos of the setting moon early in the morning.  

It was the full moon and a perigee moon - when it's closest to the earth.

I relish these little moments.

It makes the chore of getting up early a little easier.

Welcome Swallows on a cold day.

We've had a bit of a cold spell the last few days.  Southerly winds whistling up from the Antarctic.  Brrrr.  Wellington was hit very hard by stormy conditions and in the South Island there was lots of snow.  Up here at the top of the North Island, we don't get snow, thankfully, but we still had lots of rain and wind.  Today it's still cold but at least there was some sunshine.

When it was really cold I snapped these pictures of Welcome Swallows outside my studio window.  They perch on the firewood bin and in Spring they build their nest up in the rafters (and make a heck of a mess).

I don't know what was so interesting up above their heads, but periodically one would take off and dart around.  It's their flitting and swooping that has inspired the Swallow quilt I'm working on.

They were all puffed up with the cold.  I think Swallows migrate in Winter to warmer climates in other parts of the world, but not in NZ.  They self-introduced themselves from Australia in the 1950's and feed on flying insects.

Hopefully they've found somewhere warm to roost.  It's time for me to cuddle up next to the fire with my book.

Tui at Dawn

I'm quilting another quilt at the moment.  It's another one that I'm hoping to have accepted for the Taupo Symposium exhibition.

Consequently, I can't show it to you besides these little peeks!

It's called Tui at Dawn.  Do you think I've got the colours and feeling right?

A little piece of my morning.

This is where I get to walk the dogs.  Here we've reached the top of the hill, so we get a nice long flat bit of road to recover.  It's dry, dry, dry at the moment.  And I've been looking at pictures of snow on blogs on the other side of the world.  Strange.

We have to reach the barn and then we can keep going if we're feeling keen (the dogs are always keen) or we can turn around for home if we're feeling a bit lazy.  I love the rusty stripe - nice focal point.  Can you hear a quilt being designed?

And I'm finding lots of things to practice taking photographs of.  Can you see the fluffy antennae?

School Holidays have hit

So I found my camera.  I did what I should have done first.  I asked the kids.

"Oh, we found it on the ground, so we took a few pictures."

"Then what did you do with it?"

"We put it in here to keep it safe."  

Of course.  And here was their toy garage.

I thought I'd show you a couple of their artistic shots.  They illustrate quite well that it is school holidays for two weeks and they are already driving me a little crazy at lunch time on the first day!

So once I had my camera back, did I take any astounding photographs?  Not really, sorry!  Just a few of the ducklings who are enjoying living outside.  Big Red, the rooster, is a huge bird, so you can see how much they've grown after only a few weeks - much faster than chickens - and if you want to eat these, they are ready at eight weeks.

And I'm still stitching away at my Tree of Life quilt.  I don't want to rush it just to have it done.  I'd rather spend the time on it to get it right.  

So happy school hols everyone!  Let's hope I'm still sane by the end of them!