Sunday, 28 July 2019

Some beautiful Morris and a bit of family

Another two weeks have passed us by so it must be time to send out a cheerio to all of you! Some months ago I joined Instagram where I have become inundated with delicious stories and images of William Morris and his daughter May. I am being constantly teased by the latest beautiful designs from Morris & Co. and I love seeing them in these contemporary home settings.....



I adore this embroidered textile based on Morris's artichoke pattern - what luscious curtains they would make......
I look forward to seeing the original embroidered curtains once again at Standen House in the UK next year on our Morris tour.....
Many years ago I was inspired to make a cushion using elements of this Artichoke design but sadly this is one of the many pieces that I lost in large box via the postal system. I am sure I would make this cushion quite differently now and not in such dark colours.....
Speaking of Standen I read that there is currently an exhibition Inspired by Nature that opened on June 1st and runs until November 10th. The Standen shop looks very tempting too.....

On instagram I also came across a William Morris inspired wedding.....who would have thought? You will find it all at this link - Whimsical Wonderland Weddings based in the UK and this is the wedding detail HERE. Coincidentally the groom was called Laurence just like Larry who is really Lawrence with a "W"! Back to exhibitions I came across another link to Morris this time in Seattle in the US. Victorian Radicals is showing at the Seattle Art Museum until September 8th. You can see a snippet of it in this short introduction.....
And I found yet another wonderful short film celebrating the reinstallation of the Adoration Tapestry at Exeter College that we will also visit next year on our Morris tour. Here in Adelaide we have our own glorious version at the Art Gallery of South Australia....
But the short film from Exeter College about the tapestry is well worth a look.......
I hope you have enjoyed a little Morris news while I return to life here at home. We had a wonderful celebration last week when little Maisie turned five. And you can see a lovely time was had with little Wade as well......



 I love this image below of Maisie opening a very special gift from her parents. As many of you know Maisie was born with Microtia so is deaf on one side. AfterShokz headphones are a new innovation especially for joggers and walkers so that music can still be listened to but heard through bone conduction and not directly in the ear. A much safer option really so traffic hazards etc can be heard.  This is already something Maisie uses as she wears a hearing device on a headband to hear through the bone....so a new innovation has an extra special benefit and the look on her face hearing surround sound for the first time says it all......

It is such a joy to watch this gorgeous girl grow up and she will be well and truly ready for school early next year. We also spent some time with Beau (who was on school holidays), on a day when we were looking after Wade. It was cold and windy by the sea but there were lots of smiles as Wade idolises Beau......



 He is still not walking on his own but hopefully he will be soon as he is getting so heavy to carry!.....

 Next post I will have a Beatrix Potter linked story so for now I will leave you with this beautiful image from Emily of Beau and Maisie......be nice if it was like that all the time!
Thanks again for dropping by x

Monday, 15 July 2019

Capturing the moment

Quilting to me is not just pleasurable but also therapeutic as it takes one's mind of any worries that might be lurking in the background. One of the other pleasures that I get is taking photos and when my late Mum died over 10 years ago years I bought myself a digital SLR camera with some money she left me. We have always been a Nikon family and this camera has rewarded me with many memorable images but it is so jolly heavy with the macro lens that I use.....
Inevitably when we go away Larry is often left carrying the jolly thing so I've been thinking of our journey to the UK next year and wondering if I dare consider a new smaller point and shoot camera that weighs way less than mine. But would it give me images like these that I took in Iceland in 2016?....









Iceland was such a great location for photos and even the Reykjavik hotel we were staying in gave me this reward......
But cameras have come so far since purchasing mine 10 years ago with some far superior and for half the price!  Even my mobile phone rewards me with images like these that I took this morning......


 And these same shots were done on my Nikon DSLR......


And again an image from my phone on the left and the camera on the right.....
So there lies my dilemma......I'm not a professional so surely a much lighter point and shoot camera would work just as well??! The photos that I see from the family are all taken on their mobile phones......this was last week when Beau and Maisie met their newest cousin (on their Dad's side of the family).......




 Hard to believe that Beau is now seven and a half and Maisie will be five in two days!.......
 So I might start doing some online research and reviews about cameras and see where that leads me. Meanwhile the phone captured a very special 90th birthday last Sunday. Dear Barbara is the widow of one of my late Dad's WW2 Bomber Command mates and it was very special to be able to share in this memorable occasion........
 There have been a few late nights on the TV in the Hill household as Larry flicks between the Tour de France, the tennis and the cricket with a bit of reading in between. Larry's passion for cricket came from his late father who sadly died when Larry was only 27 and just a few weeks after our first daughter Emily was born in 1982. But Larry has all of his father's cricket books and I noticed he dragged one of them out yesterday. And I'm currently reading "The Land Before Avocado" that is all about growing up in the 1960's and 70's and written by an Australian journalist Richard Glover. It was sure different back then and it is a great read with lots of humour (thanks for lending it to me Raelene x)....unbelievable back then that a wife would need her husband's permission to get a passport and that you couldn't work and be married at the same time in some professions...it was certainly like that when I started nursing!
 I've always been proud of Larry's cricket achievements and I am sure he could have been a test player any day with his skills as a fast bowler. I tried to capture my pride many years ago in this frame with photos but forgot his best score of 6 for 16!!....


 And below with his team back row second from the right and he gave up playing when he was just 36 after team mates starting calling him veteran! Larry recalls back in February 1982 (after being up all night while I was in labour), he went off to play and had an innings of 24 runs after no sleep...the next week he tells me he bowled 5 for 20 from 21 overs. They needed a run to draw and Larry bowled the batsman out so they won!......
 What amazing scores but the best is last........

 Well that's it for another week...take care wherever you are.........