Blackout

Last night we were left without electricity for 4 hours.
And all of a sudden everything went very quiet.
We had a candlelit dinner and we played board games.
I enjoyed it.

_________

Predictably, I got the flu too - and a pretty nasty one. Last weekend the whole family was in bed.
I miss sunny and hot days in NZ!

Angie Lewin's new fabric pattern here

Nadia's new lamp here

and the fantastic work of Miso - very inspiring!

Crown Lynn

Did you think that while in New Zealand I would give up looking for vintage-thrift stores?
I discovered this great shop in Warkworth, Mrs Jones - and the world of Crown Lynn pottery -
The shop is filled with lovely things - I especially liked the cushions made with recycled linen teatowels and vintage fabrics.

Christchurch

We spent our Christmas days in Christchurch, and I loved it.
And how can you not love the Arts Centre?
I met a very talented tapestry weaver, Marilyn Rea Menzies - here's her website and blog.

he ao, he ao tea, he ao tea roa!

a cloud,
a white cloud,
a long white cloud!

The museum Te Papa is one of the must visits when in Wellington. I loved the art display on 5th floor, but unfortunately photographing was not allowed there. My favourite was an installation by artist John Reynolds - Clouds - 7081 white square canvases, 10cm x 10cm each, painted with a phrase or word from the Dictionary of New Zealand English. He used a silver oil paint marker, so when you move you can read some words but others are lost due to the silvery reflection of the text. You can see a video of the installation here

Kawakawa

Did you know that the painter and artist Hundertwasser moved to New Zealand where he lived until his death? I always loved his paintings and used him as inspiration for the Double Weave project when in Bradford, so of course we had to go and see the only project he realized in NZ, in the village of Kawakawa.

The project was, uhm, the public toilets. I love the glass panelling made with recycled bottles!

is this home?

We're home. And a bit jetlagged. The fact that here in Europe we're in the middle of a very cold winter doesn't help either.
I am slowly going through the thousands of photos we accumulated and it will be a while before I can fully realize the impact this holiday had on us.
We keep saying we want to go back. This is not acceptable. We just returned home!

Everything on this holiday seemed to have happened by magic, or it was just because we simply relaxed and got along with the flow.

One day while on our way to Christchurch I saw something happening with some sheep in a field by the road.
A very patient husband stopped the car to let me take some pics and - never underestimate the friendliness of Kiwis - on seeing me the owner invited me inside to have a better look.

It turned out they were crutching the ewes and they told me a lot of things about sheep husbandry, included stories about the famous black merino wool used by Loro Piana.
Unfortunately we didn't get to see those, but I was lucky to get the name and address of a special person who dealt with top quality fleeces.
And so we went.
It turned out this man was the first breeder who sent over to Italy ten merino rams of various colours in 1997. He and his wife were so kind to welcome us in their home and spend some time with us telling us stories about sheep and wool. And I walked away with some beautiful raw fleece to take home for spinning!

But as raw fleece can be very bulky - even if very light - he had the very good idea to vacuum pack it.

Who would have ever imagined that we would end up in the back room of the village butcher just before Christmas learning how to vacuum pack fleece while the butcher was busy preparing his orders for Xmas dinners?

I love New Zealand!