Thoughts

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Another month has flown by. Do you ever feel that life is too short, there is not enough time, that you have so many things you want to get done but not enough hours in the day? I do. And even now that I'm 'retired', or at least not working as a midwife anymore, I'm still feeling it. And maybe even more so than before, because I keep telling myself that I could add that new thing to my to-do list because I'm not working now!

My husband and I often say to each other, "Well, when we've finished such and such project, we won't be so busy." But it's not like that is it? There is always one more thing to do, one more project to complete, one more new thing to try. I sometimes think I have a busy gene. I always need to be doing something, but sometimes (be honest, Charlotte!) frequently that teeters on the edge of doing too much and feeling overwhelmed.

To keep on top of things, I've been relistening to a couple of audiobooks that I like. '168 Hours' by Laura Vanderkam, based on the premise that every person in the world has 168 hours per week, it's how you use them that counts. And, 'Getting Things Done' by David Allen, title is self-explanatory! I'm also getting back into what I call mind dumping. Some people call it morning pages, but I do it whenever I'm feeling like I don't know what to do next, not just in the morning. I just grab a pen and paper and write whatever comes into my head. It's usually a bit moany and a whole lot of self-absorbed ramble, but by the end of 15 or so minutes, I'm always clearer on my next priority and thankful for all the opportunities I have. Then I burn that bit of paper, or paint over it...ain't nobody gonna read that rubbish!

Lisa Call, another NZ-based textile artist, wrote a good blog post on how she's been clearing up her priorities lately. And there are also some lovely pictures of her latest work. https://lisacall.com/the-bare-essentials-abel-tasman/​

What do you do to keep on top of busy-ness? How do you choose what to do and what not to do?

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One of the projects we are doing is renovating the accommodation units on the beachside property where I live. Our job is to run the campsite and accommodation - Summer will be head down, bum up for me - but the units are all a bit down-and-out and need facelifts before we can really get them up and going.

If you want to see more of where I live and what I'm up to with the campground, please follow me along on Elliot Bay Campground 2022 on Facebook.

This is the Shearer's (as she used to host gangs of travelling sheep shearers) and she's currently had the whole front taken off. Unfortunately all the windows were beyond saving. New (second hand) windows, a big glass door and a small verandah will make a world of difference to her. Then of course, a repaint!

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Stitches

The Wellington Quilt Symposium is a massive quilting show being held in October. I'm teaching classes there (shameless plug: you should sign up, it'll be awesome!) but I'm also trying to enter a couple of quilts to their exhibition. So I'm spending every spare minute in the studio with not much I can show just yet.

Above, you can see me piecing a background using all my upcycled fabrics. I've been dyeing tablecloths, linens, shirts and any other unloved suitable textiles and I'm really enjoying the subtle textures all the different weaves and patterns and fabrics have given my quilt.

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Gold Dusted Wings was a piece I completed in April, not long after moving to the beach. It has a free-motion quilted suggestion of a moon behind the moths that is subtly coloured gold. The leaves are either stencilled or appliqued and the moths are appliqued and then highlights were added with paint. I love capturing something as commonplace as a moth and trying to highlight their unique beauty.

Gold Dusted Wings is for sale for $250 NZD incl GST and plus postage. Please reply to this email if you would like to have this on your wall.

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In May I was invited to teach a couple of classes at Cottage Flair in Rotorua. We had great fun and I need to say a big thank you to Jill from Cottage Flair for hosting me (it's a beautiful quilt shop!) and to my lovely students who were enthusiastic, experimental and smiley!

If you would like to book me for classes, or are just curious to see what I offer, head over to my classes page on my website.

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One last thing! I'm going to organise a quilting retreat! And if it's a success, I'd like to hold two a year, one in October and one in March.

The basic outline so far is three nights accomodation in our renovated spaces with a variety of rooms to choose from like a private room with king bed, shared room single bed etc, all linen and towels included, all meals and snacks included (my husband is a great cook!) and an amazing place to explore, rest and rejuvenate your creative spirit when you aren't sewing your heart out. We have space for a max of 10 people in the accommodation units, but we could accommodate a few extra if people wanted to bring their own camper vans or caravans.

We have a woolshed where we would set up machines and the beach is about a 30 second stroll away if you need to stretch your legs from sewing. We are an hour north of Whangarei, in Northland, NZ and we could do airport pickups from Whangarei.

I would be available to demo techniques if people are interested, and of course, would have my hand dyed fabrics and threads for sale 😁

Prices would range from about $450 to $570 depending on your choice of room, caravans would be cheaper of course.

We are still in the planning stages, but drop me a return email if you are interested and I'll put you on my preferential notification list.

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(I'm a bit of a bird freak, so every month I intend to profile one of NZ's cool, unique, special, wondrous, fabulous birds)

This newsletter is brought to you by...

The New Zealand dotterel, or Tūturiwhatu in te reo Māori.

• Beachbabe
• Not much for home decorating
• Knows all about ageing gracefully

The northern NZ dotterel is a shorebird that likes to hang out on sandy East coast beaches in the North of NZ. I'm featuring them here today because I have a bunch that hang out on my beach. I counted 17 one evening! It's one of the reasons we don't allow dogs on our beach or at our campground. They are endemic to NZ (only naturally occurring here) and are pretty special little birds.

The one in the photo above has it's breeding plumage on. Dotterels get an orange-red blush on their breast, males generally deeper coloured, which makes me guess that my photo is of a female.

They nest in small, unlined scrapes in the sand, no weeks of complicated nest building for these guys, eggs and chicks are incredibly camouflaged, making them vulnerable to being damaged by humans, vehicles etc. I'm planning to rope off any nests I become aware of this season. Campers are very respectful if they know the nests are there. The birds will fake an injury to draw predators away from their nest, so if you ever see a dotterel acting injured near you, step VERY carefully!

They eat sandhoppers, the occasional small mussel off the rocks and any other small insects or marine invertebrates they can get their beaks on. They fly very well and form post-breeding flocks at certain estuaries. And here's the coolest thing, they can live for up to 32 years!

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Thanks for staying to the end! It really does make me happy to know that you're reading my thoughts. If you'd like to continue the conversation, please hit reply and send me an email. You can also find me hanging out on Facebook and Instagram.