Alive and kicking. This has been a very busy week with work and, therefore, the blog becomes a sad little Neglectarino. I haven’t done very much crafting at all, but others have on my behalf!
I present to you, my new quilt, MAGNIFICENTLY quilted by the all-talented and positively exceptionally beautiful Tracey...

Can that girl sew or what? Check out the feathers she did in the corners!! I am so totally in love

Yes, I know. Once again it is only a snippet of a view. I don’t mean to tease, honestly I don’t, but it’s more Secret Squirrel Stuff. You know how it is…

The glue pot called.
There are paper fragments and pens and ribbons and stuff all over our dining table.
How unusual!

This is a little sketchbook. And this one…

…is a journal. The journal is sold already, but the sketchbook is in my etsy shop.

Thank you for Clancy’s birthday wishes. I can hardly believe he is nineteen.
I really can’t believe he is so far away.

We are so proud of you and we’ll love you forever.
xxxxxx

What a fascinating discussion that turned out to be! Thanks everyone who commented. There is one thing I would like to clarify. My comments were not about all traditional quilts, but rather about a particular type of quilt that, to my mind, seem to be made for the purpose of competition. Also, I would like to stress that these quilts are amazing, I admire the effort that they require and I am glad that they are made. We need excellence in all things. My point was that they fail to move me. One of the things that I most love about quilting is that there is room for everyone and every style. As for my lack of participation in the discussion - I didn’t just lay low, honestly! I’ve actually been away for a little holiday.

This is where I’ve been:

This is Cape Tribulation, a World Heritage listed rainforest in Far North Queensland ( a couple of hours north of Cairns).
It is the last remnant of Gondwanaland and one of the most magical places I have ever been. It felt like a privilege to be there (let’s face it, it IS a privilege to be there!). I kept expecting to see a dinosaur! But, no, we only met these guys…

Oh, and him…

On a crafty note, more knitting and crocheting coming soon to this blog…

I’ve just had an epiphany.

That sounds very grand but it really isn’t. I was just looking at Moonstitches’ wonderful photos from the 2008 Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival (which, by the way, have been viewed on flickr 22528 times!!) and I realised why something has bothered me for years.
You know those technically brilliant, amazing, prize-winning, stitching-masterpieces-type quilts that win all the big shows? You know the kind I mean, right? (I’m not going to put any pictures here because (1) I can’t and never will be able to make one. (2) I’m not going to poo on anyone who can - I admire them.) They tend to be very traditional or, at the least, very formal in design and they are almost always made by hand, taking 124356962143 hours off the maker’s lifeof hard slog and use up at least 249365983 yards of thread.
Have you ever looked at one of those and gone,”Really clever…but…meh…”? That’s how I feel almost every time I look at them. Even when the teensy tiny invisible stitches make me gasp… they still leave me cold.
Here’s the epiphany part:
It’s because they don’t celebrate fabric. They could be made in any number of media and work just as well as designs. In fact, sometimes I’ve wondered “Why didn’t you just paint it?”(or mosaic it, or build it…)
They lack soul. They may have beauty and they may contain the blood, sweat and tears of the quilter, but still they lack soul and so they fail to move me.

So, what do you think? Aside from the obvious technical accomplishment, what do you think these quilts achieve/say/express?

Edited to add: more fabulous photos of the Tokyo Festival here courtesy of Movinghands!

ricrac3, originally uploaded by twolimeleaves.

I have a new love (well, an old love re-sized might be more accurate).
This came in the mail from sweet Sophie. The teensiest, tiniest red ricrac I have ever seen. It was accompanied by beautiful white cotton lace (click on the photo and you can visit my flickr pages to see the lace).
Thank you, Sophie! Thoughtful and kind, as always

Dragonfly tagged me (in the sweetest way!) for this meme recently and Kellie at Don’t Look Now also tagged me (what, Kellie, last century??) for the 7 Things meme.
So for more scintillating information about ME, read on…

Why I started my blog ?

A few years ago we left New Zealand, where we had been living for nearly nine years, and moved back to Queensland. In New Zealand I was surrounded by a great group of creative and arty types who fed my soul and enthused over my creations and generally kept me going when I wanted to stop. I didn’t realise quite how much they contributed to my life until I found myself living in a remote outback town with no real soul mates. There were nice people there who welcomed me lovingly, but I felt cut adrift creatively. Then I discovered the world of blogs. What a revelation! I realised that this was a good way to get connected again with what I felt was missing in my life. And it has been in many many ways, including some surprising ones! I didn’t expect to meet my next batch of real-life friends via blogging, but that is exactly what happened.

How I came up with the name of my blog?

I had only been reading blogs for a matter of weeks before I started my own and so I hadn’t really thought about the significance of a blog’s name or, quite frankly, I would have tried harder to choose something more relevant and meaningful. As it was, I tried all the variations of my own name first and became increasingly frustrated to find them already taken. In sheer desperation I tried two lime leaves … and it took! I guess lime leaves because I have leaf shapes on so many of my projects, I like lime green, LOVE the smell of limes and two is my favourite number (I suppose!).

Do my friends and family know about my blog? What do they think of it?

Yes, I told everyone I knew that I had started a blog. You guys, who read blogs, will understand that I expected them all to be as excited about it as I was! It took a while to dawn on me that not everyone actually “gets” blogs and I don’t think all that many of my family and friends read it. Certainly very few of them ever comment. My sister reads it (Hi, M!) and she and my brother both have blogs. So do a couple of New Zealand friends. But mostly this world is self-contained and doesn’t overlap with my life pre-blogging.

How do I write my posts?

My posts are just something that has caught my attention for some reason. Either it’s a project I’m working on or a current issue or just me venting my opinionated self. What can I say? I like the sound of my own voice. I don’t think it’s too far from the truth when critics of blogging describe it as a narcissistic activity. Personally, I have no problem with that. I don’t think you meet many bloggers who are lacking in opinions or egos.

Ever had a troll or had to delete unkind comments?

Not one in two years. I’ve certainly seen a few around, but haven’t experienced it myself.

Do I check my stats? Do I care who/how many read my blog? Do I try to increase traffic?

Well, DUH. (refer to earlier answer re: ego) Except for the increase traffic bit. I don’t even know how to do that.

What I like and dislike about blogging?

Like: I am completely blown away by the friendships in this world. It’s one of those things that you just can’t explain to anyone who hasn’t experienced it, but there is a connection that happens and it’s real. It just makes stronger my belief that most people in the world are good and that we all pretty much want the same thing - to be understood and loved. We have such an opportunity with blogging to support and touch other people’s lives. And the sharing! My goodness! You should have seen the faces on the ladies at the Post Office when I explained to them that the parcel I just received from Ali was from someone I didn’t even know! And there have been so many others…

Dislike: only ONE thing that I can think of. I so badly want to respond to every comment and comment on every post that I read. But the truth is that it eats into my day like crazy and so I get very slack about it. Then I feel REALLY guilty and sad. It’s surprising to me over and over again just how good those comments make me feel and I am so very grateful for that.

Seven (more) Weird Things About Me:

1. I hate having sticky/dirty/wet stuff on my hands (except clay. That’s art so it’s OK) which makes me Tactile Defensive which is common in the Intellectually Impaired

2. I HAVE to wet my toothbrush before I put the toothpaste on it and then again after the toothpaste is on it. I just do.

3. I’m a folder not a scruncher. Oh. Shut. Up. If you didn’t want That Much Information you wouldn’t still be reading this far into the post.

4. I always shake the milk before I open the bottle and I won’t drink it if there is less than half a litre left in the bottle. I know I’m not alone here. One of you (and I can’t remember who) was waxing lyrical recently about how the last bit in the bottle is dirty. (who WAS that??) (I bet it was Sussanah)

5. I have never eaten, nor will I EVER eat an oyster. Why would anyone want to eat something that looks like infected dirty snot?

6. I despise tardiness in others and am late for almost every single deadline I ever have.

7. I don’t especially like talking on the phone for very long (unless it’s my sister or brother or other Important People). My ear gets sore.

Blogger, taggeth thyself.