Monday, March 02, 2009

Wholly Quilts newsletter

 

 

March Newsletter

 

G’day

 

I am writing this while my studio/church is full of retreaters frenetically trying to finish projects at the end of their weekend with me.

After being away from this atmosphere for three months it is fabulous being ‘back’. I didn’t really appreciate how much fun it is being surrounded by quilty friends and quilty stuff though the time spent with family was glorious.

 

My first six weeks away was with my son, Ethan. Every day we scampered around different parts of London or had several days in Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall and Paris. Ethan talked about ‘five a day’ but it didn’t have anything to do with the food pyramid – it was five miles a day walking around the sights.

 

Some of the highlights for me were:

            Being with Ethan – he left New Zealand 13 years ago and I have had to be happy with ‘visits’ ever since

            The great line up of chimney pots along the tops of the old terrace houses

            Watching the pomp and ceremony as the Queen made her way to open parliament.          Gazing open-mouthed at the reading room in Trinity Library in Dublin (almost the same reaction to the old Bodleain Library at Oxford University)

            Being overwhelmed (and that happened often) by the crowds in Portabella Markets

            Being with Ethan

            Kissing the Blarney Stone and the muddiness of Ireland

            Visiting Kew Gardens, Victoria and Albert, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Tower of London, Borough Markets, live theatre, eating out

Riding the Underground everywhere

            Driving around Cornwall on roads that barely qualify as one-way – if the hedgerows weren’t coming at you through the car windows then the pedestrians in places like St Ives or Fowey had to leap into doorways to get out of harm’s way.

            I adored the Lost Gardens of Heligan and felt slightly let down by the Eden Project    

            Christmas Day spent picnicking in Ethan’s house with my sister and family over from Dallas – and no I didn’t have a white or even ‘slushy’ Christmas

            Standing on both sides of the Greenwich dateline (as you do) and then walking under the Thames

            Hogmanay in Edinburgh

            The amazing age of buildings on the Royal Mile and, of course, Edinburgh Castle

            Grey Friars Bobby – knowing that my daughter would love his story and then finding that he died on her birthday

            The crowds and languages and different ethnicities

            The variety and freshness of food available in shops and restaurants

And then there was Paris

Up at 4am-ish to catch the train and in the 30-odd hours spent there and my French spelling is as bad as my French speaking) we Did the fabric streets of Montmatre, Sacre Couer, Moulin Rouge, the Arc de Triumphe, Eiffel Tower, a cruise on the Seine, breakfast in the Latin Quarter, the Nationale Muse du Clune, Notre Dame, the beautiful Saint Chappelle, the Louvre and back to London for my last night there before flying to Dallas and my sister, Jilli. I stayed with her for a four week holiday

I did though spend three days at a Fabric Camp where we were shown how to date fabrics and we got to play with old, old quilts – one was over 240 years old.

 

And now it is back to quilting – retreats, teaching, The Project and playing in my studio.              

 

Friday night’s sew n soup will start again on March 27 with a machine quilting session that is guaranteed to overcome all fears. Call me to register and find out the requirements. The cost has gone up to $20 - sorry.

 

Tuesday afternoon session will start next Tuesday. You can come along and do your own thing, start one of my techniques or quilts or just enjoy a sit and sew. Cost is $10 for two hours.

 

Retreat bookings are coming in now. I want to hold the prices as long as I can so $160 per person per weekend includes all food, accommodation and top tutoring. I would love to see you here.

 

Part 7 of The Project is going out with this newsletter so I do hope you are all ready and waiting. I have seen a number of these now and it is interesting how some are doing appliqu̩ or drawing instead of the stitching Рeveryone looks totally different.

 

 

 

Regards

Natalie Murdoch

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Wholly Quilts

Ph 07 867 3085 or Cell 0210 2231 678

9 Church Road, Mangatarata

RD6 Thames 3576

http://nataliemurdoch.co.nz

http://WhollyQuilts.co.nz

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