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We are here with tears rolling down our cheeks after watching this hilarious video of cats talking. Sorry, dial up people, you’ll just have to take my word for it - they are priceless!
“If you hear a voice within you saying,
‘You are not a painter,’
then by all means paint…and that voice will be silenced.’
-Vincent Van Gogh
You weren’t going to hear from me today, but after finding this quote, I had to show it to you.
Aren’t these cool paintings? I’m biased, they are by my sister! She now has a blog, so you can visit and see some more at http://meredithcollins.blog.co.uk/
ps Currently available from PPg Gallery
194 Great North Road
Grey Lynn
Auckland
New Zealand
Gallery hours Tues - Fri 10:30 - 4:30 Sat 11- 3
The gorgeous chandelier paintings are NZ$1800 each and the doggie (Izzy, so ugly she’s cute, aka Whizzy Squizzy because of the wee problem ) is NZ$750
These aren’t the most wonderful photos but I thought you might like to see the quilting on the fossil quilt. Most of the quilting is a combination of the linear stippling (like little interlocking and overlapping boxes) and wavy lines. The thread is hand dyed in colours ranging from cream to chocolate brown, with terracotta in between.
I have reached the “get it away from me” stage, with this project. When will I learn to stop accepting commissions??? I find the whole process so stressful.
For me, all the joy of making a quilt lies in the development of the idea - watching the thing grow and evolve, wondering what it will become. Once the point of revelation has been reached, it’s just a grind to finish it. And if I don’t LIKE the quilt, it becomes a nightmare and so, so hard to make myself keep going.
Enough complaining for one day. There’s binding to be done!
Breakfast conversation between two teenagers:
“Whose drink is this on the bench?”
“Oh, mine. I forgot it”
“What is it?”
“Milo.”
“Well, I don’t think you’ll want to drink it now, it’s barely lukewarm…
…I hardly felt it when I put my finger in it.”
A number of times I’ve had conversations with people about happiness. Some have claimed that happiness is elusive, some that it is unnatural (can’t figure that one out) and some that it is even impossible. The saddest response I’ve ever had is that happiness is not even something for which we should strive. I am absolutely convinced that we choose to be happy, or not. And that the largest part of happiness is gratitude. Happiness is a direct consequence of recognizing and being consciously grateful for the good in your life. The sadnesses and tragedies of your life do not destroy the good; at the most, they just obscure it.
A long time ago I decided that every day I would mentally list the things for which I was grateful. Some days it actually takes the form of a list, other days it’s one thing at a time spread over the whole day. It becomes a habit. It becomes a viewpoint.
I’m not talking about huge things, necessarily. I’m talking about the moments when you pour the last of the milk into your coffee and it’s exactly enough (Thank you, I like milky coffee). When you get into bed and the clean sheets smell like heaven from drying in the sun that day (Thank you, that I could chuck them in an automatic washing machine instead of beating them on a rock!). It may sound like that nauseating Pollyanna, but the side effect is contentment.
We have chosen to move house a lot and sometimes we have lived in places that aren’t exactly our ideal. The most important survival skills we’ve learned are to recognise that “home” is not a place or a house, but the relationships we have with each other and our children and that everywhere we go there are good things. Right now we live in a small remote town and, quite frankly, we are square pegs in round holes. Today I am grateful that:
-that the air out here is so clean, so free of pollution, that just breathing is a pleasure.
-that I have seen the Milky Way on a moonless night with no other lights anywhere, and it was so dense with stars that it looked like a cloud.
-that the people of this community are friendly and welcoming and make it easy to be new in town.
-that the things that I miss so much about the city are (somewhat) available to me via my computer.
-that I have a husband who sings to me and makes me laugh (sometimes at the same time) and that we like each other the best.
I hope I haven’t made you retch too much. Mostly I hope you recognize some good in your day and say Thank you for it.
I have work to do so, being the Queen of All Procrastinators (Cower before me, Punctual People!), I am surfing the net instead and admiring beautiful artwork from around the globe. Ooooh, clever, clever, lovely artists. You make my world a happy place! xxxx
go visit these guys:
http://www.saeleeoh.com/
http://www.kozyndan.com/
http://www.catiachien.com/index.php?sitepage=gallery
http://to-fukuda.com/index.html
When it rains here, the whole world feels transformed. Thought you might like to see some images.This is on the road between Hughenden and Richmond. (Jon, do you remember that moonscape??)
It’s been a quiet morning here. I’ve been at the computer, writing (well, struggling to write. There hasn’t been much flow or rhythm!). Peter is coaching tennis, Boy is still asleep and my sweet little Flower has been busy making secrets in her room.
The secret has just been revealed. She has made me a Mother’s Day card. So beautiful, so her. It’s an accordian card and as you unfold it ,there is a little message on each page.
“Ever since I was a baby, you have been my favourite…”
“Even if I did the wrong thing, you would find it in your heart to ALWAYS forgive me.” Ain’t that the truth!
“Even if we were SUPER UBER RICH I would never love anything as much as I love you.”
Mother’s Day cannot possibly get any better than that. I love you, precious girl.
Happy Mother’s Day, y’all.
ps the image at the top is on the front of my card! And, who would believe it, of all the images she could have found in a search, Sweetpea found one that came from a blog that I regularly read!! Here’s a link to moopy and me and a “Thank you for the flowers!”
Make your own here
When we told our friends in New Zealand that we were moving back to Queensland, lots of them looked up Hughenden in their atlases. A number of people said to me, “I didn’t realise there were so many little towns out there.” There aren’t. Those names on the map are property names (farms). There are so few settlements that, in places, it’s possible to drive for hundreds of miles without seeing anyone or anything. Every now and then you pass a small sign with a name on it that marks the driveway to a property. Some of those driveways are 50 km long (or even more). This sign is on the main highway and shows the distances one needs to travel along that side road to reach the various properties. Many times the people who live there will be stranded during rain. They often home school their children or have a governess or sometimes the kids ride a school bus for anything up to an hour and a half to get to the local school. They don’t have fridges - they have big, walk-in cool stores. Life is certainly different…
Just a quickie today! Busy, busy, busy this week. Via Geri at crazyforfiberI found a fabulous technique for applique that Terry has developed. Click here to see. VERY VERY good! Can’t wait to try it myself. Thanks, Terry, for sharing!
