The last of Adelaide

From here on it is all kind of blurred into one, apart from the hilarity of the Christmas party on Saturday night. None of the days were as busy as the first, but I continued to get many admirers, with my work even moving some to tears! That's pretty special. I also sold some of my recently made wraps, and was very pleased to hear that they would be being worn at special occasions. I also recommended that when they weren't, they be draped over furniture to just be enjoyed!

Gurney's display now facing the wall

Saturday we finished at the usual 4:30, and I toddled home to do some washing, shower, and relax before heading back for the Christmas party, much to Miss Chrissy's disgust! I headed down in my boots, as I just couldn't handle wearing sneakers with my outfit, and was counting on getting changed into my heels at the venue. Imagine my distress when I found it locked! However, Expertise Events informed security that a vital shoe change was required, and they came to open up! Miss Chrissy took the opportunity to duck in with me for some makeup, and no sooner were we in there than she had the devilish idea of messing with Gurney's stand - bahahahaaaa!! We turned everything upside down - the chairs, her craft supplies - we even turned her displays to the wall!

Back in the atrium, Gary hosted a

wonderful evening including trivia questions, and the donning of the Santa suit for the Kris Kringle section (most sarcastic Santa ever!) Even better than that was his helper, Cracker!! I was one of the last to leave, and walked home, snapping this shot of the lovely Capri Cinema close to 'home'.

Capri Cinema, Goodwood

Sunday morning, and poor Gurney was in a spin when she saw her stand, thinking that it was the cleaners that had  messed with it as retribution for asking for it to be cleaned!!

Sunday was a loooong day, as it was super quiet, and the pack up loomed. Chrissie, Kerry and myself were very sad that our tour was finally over - we've had lots of fun together.

 It was a different kind of packup, as I had to remove all the stock and bits and pieces I wanted to take with me for the Etsy Made Local market and ATASDA's Merry Threads market. I didn't quite think this through all too well, and had to leave a trolley full of items to pick up in the morning. I returned with the house trolley in the morning, and was disturbed to find just how much there was! When I got it home, I was faced with the reality that all this was never going to fit in my suitcase, and that I was going to be hard pressed to find something large enough to hold my clothes racks. So off in the other direction to the local Salvo store it was, where I found a brilliantly large suitcase for $15 - Salvation from the Salvation Army! Now possessing three large cases, I accepted that the only way to the airport was via taxi. I was very fortunate to be able to stay in the apartment until 4pm, passing the time with the lovely wine my hosts had left for me!

I ran into Gurney at the airport bar, and ended up having to run to the gate sans shooz, as they were calling my name! And that was after arriving three hours early at the airport! I was pleased to arrive home to my boy, who had chilled champagne waiting. He da man!!

The Adelaide Craft & Quilt Fair

Before I continue, I have a photo from my trip into town the other day that I forgot to include - how's this for everything Svenja loves?!! A kombi selling toasted cheese sandwiches?!!! Hello?!!!

Tuesday - a glorious sleep in, followed by a stroll into the Adelaide Pavilion Gardens, then home via the Showground, where I popped in to say hello to Gary and find out when I could set up! I also visited Boulangerie 113 for a coffee and a croissant - the real deal! I spent the day doing some preliminary planning for 2016 and watching the Melbourne Cup  before rolling my suitcase of goodies down to the showground to get a head start on setup. When I caught up with the Craft Spot cats, I received a wonderful gift from Erica of these fabulous, quality sequins, with dentillated edges, and already threaded ready for tambour beading! Wow! We did have a bit of a giggle about them looking like a packet of maggots....
Having entirely emptied my case and the cage, got my lights up, and just about passed out manually blowing up my inflatable mannequins, I called it a day.

Wednesday - It was nice to feel I didn't have to rush down to the fair, so I treated myself to a lovely breakfast at local café Gingers before heading off to work. For some reason I just couldn't focus, flitting around, picking one thing up, putting another down. I think it was because I didn't yet have my bench, which, when it finally arrived, had quite an impact! Eventually it was done to my satisfaction.

Thursday - with rain threatening, I still enjoyed a walk around the area. I'm calling Adelaide the City of Roses - they are just everywhere! Suburbia here is really quite beautiful. So, day one of the final fair - and I just couldn't work out what to wear! I'm really missing a full length mirror here! I

almost got convinced to join in the morning dance, but just couldn't quite do it......

Jesus? That you?!!

I had an enjoyable day (of course, the second question I had was do I do work for film..... I

should, I know...) and my ice dyed garments were very popular.  I even sold my lovely silk wrap which I made last week. I spent the day sewing silk rosebuds, unfortunately twice stitching them to my fingers without even noticing, and having to cut some skin away to get to the thread - well, I wasn't going to cut the thread, I hadn't finished!

We had some fun when one customer noticed this face in one of the botanical print tops - is that Jesus?!! He didn't take long to sell, and went to a very happy home! At the end of the day, the Craft Family took a bus into town to dine at Jamie Oliver's restaurant, and we all enjoyed a great night together.

Radelaide part two

Echo Tunnel

Monday morning I set off for Belair Conservation Park, where I enjoyed a good 6km run through the bush on the Waterfall Hike track. It recommended 3 hours, but I was done in 11/2, running much of the way. The most challenging part was not the hills, but this creepy, long tunnel called Echo Tunnel, where quite frankly, not much echoed. It was a challenge to my height, my sensibility and to my

a photo cannot do it justice....

Ashes to Ashes

claustraphobia and fear of the dark, and about half way in I turned and looked behind me, then turned forwards, then turned backwards...... but on reaching the other side, I was greeted with many sightings of baby Bunnehs scampering about! I also saw a magnificent parrot/lorrikeet - blue and gold and quite large. The landscape was strange - full of ghost gums with screeching cockatoos, and twisted black branches, I think from a recent fire - a very William Robinson look. On the way home I stopped in at a Salvos store, and talked myself into a funky pair of studded wedge boots. Then it was home for a brekky of banana and youghurt, and the remaining prawns, before heading into the city. I chose to enter via the East side, and half planned to head straight to the car rental depot, but then took a few twists and turns. Having sufficiently toured, I was trying to find a servo to fill up at when I spied the Jam Factory Gallery, and got to check that out. I just loved these pieces by Tamara Baillie in the current exhibition 'Shimmer'.  The didactic panel read: Inspired by Papua New Guinean masks, Baillie creates forms that embody her ancestors. With our current taboos about death and bodies, the body bag has become a way to distance ourselves, to obscure and contain death in drip proof plastic, discreetly removed by unobtrusive professionals. Lace flows out of the bags as if seeping from the past, alluding to the spectral, pervasive legacy of our bleached and starched history and to the organic uncontainable messiness of death and decay. This was one of those rare experiences where I was initially struck by the physical beauty of the work, which was then actually enhanced by the words on the didactic panel, rather than making me snort at the attempt to obfuscate the orginal intention, if indeed there ever was one. Bravo! Beautiful and actually meaningful work!

T'arts!

After being led astray twice by the GPS towards no longer existent servos, I eventually got it sorted and delivered the car, free now to walk Rundle Street. I started at the Eastern end, the highlight being the Red Cross shop, then ended up in the pedestrian mall end which was, well, pedestrian. Priceline, Lorna Jane, Novo, Swarovski........ how unique (not!)! Luckily I stumbled into the Adelaide Arcade
and subsequently Gays arcade, where I found the delightful T'Arts Textile Collective, which I have known about for years. A bracelet created by Cindy Durant  spoke to me here, and funnily enough
also goes with my jacket and today's new shooz! There was another fabulous shop in this arcade, jewellery by Sarah Rothe, sadly closed on this day, but I took these photos - I saw some of her work in a gallery in Hahndorf and admired it. Turn away now, Bun - I also found the Button Bar - OMG!!

The Button Bar

What didn't she have?!! How I wished I had a place like this near me, as buttons aren't something you can really buy anticipatorily without a pro. I continued to wander down to West End, before getting on the city loop bus, which, heading in a clockwise direction, ended up taking me back all through town, and across the river into North Adelaide, so it was a great little tour for me! Luckily I wasn't in a hurry. I was able to walk home from the stop at Whitmore Square, and was thrilled to get myself into a shower and then onto a chair with a nice cold beer by 5:30pm.

The weekend in Radelaide

Saturday October 31st was an extremely early start, with a 6am flight to Adelaide. Everything went swimmingly, from security clearance to a nice neighbour on the 'plane, to an easy car pick up and early arrival at my abode. Here I was greeted by the lovely hosts , who have beautifully restored this 50's apartment, right down to the kettle and the couch!

Loved these sculptures in the dunes

They were also amazingly generous, leaving  half a dozen eggs from their own chooks, milk, butter, a bottle of white wine and the most delicious bread from Boulangerie 113. Wow - such thoughtfulness and delicious kindness!

After settling in, I thought I would take advantage of the nice day, and after quickly visiting the (very small) Flinders St Market, drove out to Glenelg, looking for delicious noms. The parking gods were on my side as I found the perfect 3hour park (may have had to do a slightly illegal turn to get to it...) then headed out to assess all the luncheon opti

Why aren't the cafés on this side?!!

ons. The Marina area was weird - all the restaurants faced only the marina, yet they all went through to the beach side, which is where I would rather be. The Surf Club looked OK, but I kept going to the Jetty Hotel and scored a table by the window. However, once I found a menu and decided that I didn't want a $22 burger, or a hotdog, I left, and ended up across the square at the Mosely. Here I was served the most delicious warm bread with olive oil - it was better than cake - and n

Goodwood suburban streets

o matter how I tried, I was powerless to resist it! I could barely finish my pressed chicken (meh) but made sure I consumed my duck dumplings (nom)! I walked the precinct, noticing that Glenelg had clearly not seen platform sandals for some time, nor, apparently, pink hair, or perhaps a leather jacket? Whatever the hook was, I certainly felt like I had my second head on, as we like to refer to this experience. Maybe they're a bit less obvious when I'm with Matt?... I picked up supplies on the way home, and settled in for some relaxation, a small walk around the neighbourhood (picking up coffee for the morning as there IS a plunger) and going to bed by 8pm. The flat at the back was having a party, which was a tad disruptive, but I eventually drifted off.

Loved the rusting on this pylon

Sunday began with some quite lovey 'Laneway' gumboot water (plunger coffee)  and some stretches before heading out to Black Hill Conservation Park for some bushwalking. I expected to head out

there, find a main entrance/parking site from which to begin, but there seemed to be a lot of closed gates and no parking areas. Eventually I found one at the end of a suburban road, and headed in to do the Black Hill Summit track. That was a pretty hard core climb, on a very narrow pathway stacked largely with rocks. Towards the top I found myself under an electricity pylon - the buzzing was quite unnerving, but the rust on the metal was quite fabulous.  It was a little further to the top, then it was time to come down again - honestly, it was way worse than going up - at one stage I did slide and end up on my butt and hands, but luckily didn't hurt anything! I started chanting the usual 'eggs, eggs, eggs' on the way down, and when I got home, put an enormous one on to boil. It was then that I nibbled a corner of the loaf of bread, and was in danger of devouring the whole thing due to it's wonderfulness!!

Hahndorf

Moving right along..... I decided to heed mah Bunneh's advice and head out to Hahndorf - again, like Glenelg, only half an hour away. Again, I was blessed with a wonderful park, and walked the picturesque street. Although the buildings, the trees, the street itself are beautiful, many of the shops are full of imported goods (or is that bads?), so apparent that I knew I didn't even need to

Giant Bunz!

cross the doorway. If you're not after a stodgy German dish, some fudge, or an Indonesian import, just soak up the lovely street atmosphere. Whilst ev

My kind of graffiti!

eryone stares at you. There were 3 'real' shops - the craft co-op, and actual gallery shop with work in it by Penny Eamer and Denise Lithgow, and the Museum Shop. There was a highlight at the leather shop, where at the back they have a Bunneh enclosure!! Here I saw two enormous Bunz - apparently NZ giant Bunnehs! Also some baby giants - squeeee!  I proceeded on to Mount Barker, then headed for home, driving through Stirling on the way back, and getting slightly lost on the way home. Absolutely no matter - I love driving through the streets and looking at the different houses! There are so many Colonial Style houses here - I do wonder where they keep all their stuff when they have no 'under-the-house' as we do in Queensland, and where my entire studio is housed! After a lunch of boiled prawns and Pinot Grigio, I spent the afternoon intermittently reading my Dawn French novel, and looking across the street, before going for a last walk of the day around the neighbourhood. It seems so amazingly quiet, and neater than Queensland - rose bushes, especially white ones, seem to be de rigueur if you have a Colonial stone house! I love stopping to smell them - the red ones are very rich, the pink ones very sweet.

Ice Dyeing and felting, and some future judging!

Ice dyed rayon jacket

Soooo, I've slowly backed away from the sequins (all sorted, new ones added!) and delved into the freezer to do some ice dyeing!! My Etsy shop is now looking lively with some very colourful new additions, with more to follow.

Ice dyed silk scarves

Acid dyed silk/wool scarves

I left my camera charger cord in NZ, hence the delay, and hence the phone photos today. Although ice dyeing is somewhat uncontrollable and serendipitous, there is still a certain amount of skill in getting a good result, and it's taking quite a bit of practice. After some research, I did a couple of test scarves today, making sure I used colours which would split, and shifting from block ice to crushed, and doing some simple folding techniques for patterning. I also used silk instead of rayon, foolishly changing too many variables in one go! I am pleased with the results, and feel my understanding of the techniques is growing. The light scarf in the centre was an old habutai one, so doesn't have much of a sheen, but I don't know why it's so much lighter than the others. Groovy pattern, though! Disheartened during the week by some of my efforts, I did some good old acid dyeing on some silk/wool blend scarves, which pleased me greatly with the brightness, and lovely blending of pink, purple and orange!

Ice dyed rayon kaftan

Felted wrap with lace

This kaftan from my second batch of garments has some lovely soft colours and patterns - some of them have been turning out very 60's tie-dyed and bright, whereas I want some more gentle blends. Bless Youtube and bloggers who so willingly share so much information!
I also had a crack at some felting, as I try to get through some of my stash. (I seem to be in a mad spring cleaning fever - you should see the house this week!) It's not my favourite piece, but it's growing on me! I had some lace pieces that didn't felt in too well, so I have spent a lot of time hand stitching them in, which kind of defeats the purpose of the felting!

Simple layout

'Crunkle'!

Finally, I made a simple felted wrap today with a beautiful piece of turquoise dyed silk from my stash. I didn't want to detract from the lovely patterning of the silk, so just stuck to a basic curvy grid pattern to make sure it 'crunkled' up well.
It's hard to tell from these photos - not the best of conditions!

It's a wrap!

Caaaakes!!

It's hard to believe that a week ago was my birthday weekend - look at the gorgeous wee cakes my mumma made for me! It's also strange to think that this time next week, I'll be in Adelaide, having a little Svenja time by myself before my final appearance at the Craft & Quilt Fair. It's been a great year, I've really enjoyed the opportunity to travel around, show my work and explain it, meet people, and see new places in this fabulous country. Already one fabulous outcome is that I have been invited to be a judge at the Common Threads Wearable Art competition in Mandurah, WA. This is a great quality event which offers participants many benefits, and is going from strength to strength, becoming a strong presence on the textile art scene here in Australia, and extending internationally! I really enjoyed my visit to Perth, and look forward to returning. However, that's not until March 2016, next stop - Radelaide!!

Sorting Sequins.....

Yep, that's the kind of activity you allow yourself to do when you are exhausted, sick, and feeling a little down. I did it for real this week (and then bought heaps more on ebay last night!) but I think it shall become a euphemism for when one is really not feeling up to much. It has also been a good time time to do some leather moulding.... on the couch......     watching Charlies Angels........ but good, no?! I'm not even sure how these feather/leaf arm pieces started, but who am I to question.They have kept my fingers entertained, and could be a useful addition to my stand if I am accepted to trade at the Etsy Made Local Brisbane market day. This is what has inspired me to re-stock my Etsy shop, starting with some botanically dyed pieces with my stash of leaves from Canberra. I also did a batch of ice-dyeing on some rayon garments today - I will photograph these and enter them in over the next few days.

Studio table mid leather work and ice dyeing!

So, back to leather.... my contemplative time in the studio has led to some finishing off of pieces started at the Craft Fairs, such as this set (above) - not sure whether that is going to be the front or the back of a bodice or what - but at least I have both done now to play with.
I also have two young nephews with birthdays just gone and just coming, very difficult to find gifts for, so thought some wee fantasy masks might be fun. I think they have turned out very 'Dark Crystal' esque - I hope they like them!

To Hot Water Beach!

Thursday: It was an early start as we had to pack all our gear and clean the house before leaving, hopefully before 8. We managed just after, with the car packed to the gunnells, including the rubbish, as it was too early to visit the tip! I was sad to leave our little cottage by the river plus Bunnehs!! We

stopped for fuel in Turangi, before heading towards a coffee break at Taupo - we have managed to have nice coffees always - very different to previous trips ! The food at this place also looked lovely. It wasn't far from there to Waiotapu, where we amazingly arrived just in time to see the Lady Knox Geyser errupt. What we didn't realise was that it happens every day at 10:15 because they pour soap down it to make it errupt - whaaaat?!! In my excitement to see this erruption, I launched myself up on to one of the benches at the rear of the ampitheatre, but sadly, misjudged the leap by a few centimetres, and made a spectacular thump as I fell on my quad onto said bench. The pain was indescribable - it made me feel sick for several hours - no, days! However, nothing was going to stop me from enjoying Waitapu, and after seeing the bubbling mudpools, where the boys were overwhelmed by the sulphurous smell, we entered the park itself, where we enjoyed many mineral rock colours and formations, including the coloured lakes. Matt was particularly fascinated by the lack of protective fencing as we would have in our 'nanny-state' Australia, relying merely on warning signs and common-sense - aaaah, survival of the fittest. Good to see!

You mean I can walk out there?

and there's only this sign to stop me?!!

Of course, I found the Champagne Pool!

From here we continued through Rotorua, and Tauranga, and not long after, put our lunch on to heat in foil in the car engine. However, our car being the gutless wonder that it is, after an hour it was still only barely warm! However, we enjoyed it with some jasmine rice Matt had bought at a cafe where I had to stop for a very necessary break, then it was on into the Coromandel Peninsular. I managed to keep up my navigational duties in between dozing, and we arrived at our magnificent destination at Hot Water Beach. The boys and I were so excited, we had to go and check it out - it's true!! You dig a hole in the sand and there is boiling water!

The water might be hot.....

After sussing this out we came back to collect Matt, and we all got changed into appropriate gear. However, having to put my jumper on on the way there made me realise that getting wet was probably not a good option, so opted just to kneel in a puddle! There were so many people in togs, and even Callum went into the ocean - eeeeek!

After checking out the local café, Matt and I retired to the wonderful house to

sit in the sun, nom paté and probiotic brie and drink bubbles. After a while, he lured me to the upper level, where it was toasty warm, and we had a wonderful view of the boys playing on the beach! Truly awful. We all stayed upstairs enjoying the view until it became dark, and the boys cooked some steak we had picked up from the 'bitcher' (NZ for butcher) in Whenuakite!

Friday: I woke to my alarm going off in the lounge, and attempted to silence

Gateway to gallery sculpture garden

it by walking into the wardrobe. No luck there. Oh, the confusion of waking up in different places!! I enjoyed coffee on the deck and watching the day emerge, then Matt and I set off for Cathedral Cove. Unfortunately, it was a 45 minute walk there and then back again, and in my current broken state, I couldn't manage it! :-( Onwards we went towards Coromandel via Road 309 - unsealed and in a state of repair. It wasn't too bad, but we decided not to return that way! We reached Coromandel and enjoyed a coffee and a couple of nice galleries, including Weta Design, where I saw some nice botanical dyeing on merino knit and on nuno felt; in another I saw a wonderful piece of driftwood with oyster shells attached, with LED's inside!! There were also some wonderful photos with seagulls looking like real characters, and we have seen plenty of them here! We headed towards Whitianga for lunch, hoping to find scallops, but the only place we could find them was hidden away in chowder - nope, no good! We followed directions from one gallery to a French place, which did not appear to exist, but stumbled across a restaurant along the esplanade that was offering Panko crumbed scallops - that

will be just fine! Often scallops with roe can be overwhelmingly rich, but I think these were so fresh that it was not an issue. Back to Hot Waaaaater Beach, and it was off for a walk across the stream and around the hill to find the boys engaged in digging a communal pool. (Before we got there, we crossed over to a gallery Moko Artspace  which looked to my jaded eye like it would be rubbish, but which was actually full of the best things I have seen yet!!) I wanted to explore a little further along, but again, could not cope with much more walking - although I am keen to keep the leg moving but the pain makes me feel quite sick! We stopped at Hotties for a champagne, and discussed Liam's Army prospects with him before heading back home to bunk in for a lazy afternoon.

I remembered for the first time to turn my alarm off, but woke shortly after anyway! Matt woke at one stage and also tried to exit the room via the cupboard.... It was another beautiful day, and I drank my coffee on the deck sitting in the bean bag - ear muffs on, of course!! I could never have survived so happily without their warmth - it makes such a difference to me! Warm ears = happy Svenja! I think they get even more attention than my hair, though. I am thinking of doing some custom decorated ones. .....

Creative display outside a record shop in Thames!

Unfortunately we both woke up feeling under the weather, Matt moreso than me. We took it easy whilst the boys packed up and cleaned the house, and were out by just after 9. We crossed the Peninsular to visit Thames, where we browsed the local market on the looong main street, and brunched at Café Melbourne where I enjoyed a Crocque Monsieur. We split from the boys for a bit, and returned to the pastry stall to indulge! We then headed straight for Auckland, with Matt waking me at the city limits to start my navigation duties! I managed with the help of my wonderful Google Girl (I shall call her Gigi), but on arrival at the Victoria Park Markets was well disappointed at the bleak and empty venue. We piled back into the car and Gigi took us to the CBD, where we attempted to park, but the parking station would not accept coins due to vandalism, but did not seem to read our credit card either! We even tried another machine before giving up in frustration and driving to a multi-level car park (which at least accepted our card if not our coins). We again split up, and Matt and I, although sick, wandered the city streets, down to the Wharf, and through the CBD, whilst I think the boys just travelled between fast food outlets.  Our exit was smoothly assisted by Gigi (to think I didn't even know I had her!!) and we were so early to arrive that we couldn't even check in yet! And so ends our New Zealand Adventure. It's good to be home.