watch this!

 

For my birthday I would like a 1990's New York debutante ball please.

leaf love

AUTUMN AUTUMN AUTUMN.

Christchurch does such a good job.

More fundraising!

4 of these handsome gents/ladies are available in my felt shop.
All sales will go towards the Sendai/Christchurch Art Exchange.

Every little cent helps! It might help us fly to Japan, or hire a projector to show someone's work or even buy little Japanese pins to hang works.

Hope everyone is having a tremendous day.
I have been painting moons, admiring as-large-as-my-head hydrangeas, learning about claymation, ignoring the dirty dishes and poaching eggs.

Sendai/Christchurch Art Exchange

For the past few months I have been working with two lovely ladies in organising an art exchange between Sendai - my home in Japan - and Christchurch.
The project has two stages at the moment. Stage one is an exhibition of works by 30 Christchurch artists in Sendai and stage two is a reciprocal show for Japanese artists in Christchurch early next year.
We have been fundraising our booties off as stage one is very quickly approaching - opening night is June 23rd.
One of our fundraising schemes is selling a pack of four greeting cards printed with our works on them. If anyone is interested in purchasing a pack for $10 comment below or email me!

Lunar Rhapsody

This weekend there was the biggest and closest full moon of 2012 and I was pretty damn excited.
Unfortunately the thick clouds that blanketed the city ruined any chance of a good moon-viewing/howling last night, but tonight it was a big, perfect, milky circle. We hopped in the car and chased it all the way to New Brighton Pier.

In honour of the weird moon vibes floating around, dear Alex made a moon mix for everyone.

 Moonscape

Tracklisting:

1. The Moon - Mighty Boosh
2.  The Other Side of the Moon - Les Baxter
3. Moonlight Serenade - Glenn Miller and his Orchestra
4. Moonglow - Benny Goodman & Quartet
5. Clair de Lune - Claude DeBussy
6. Moon River - Connie Francis
7. Au clair de la lune - France Gall
8. Roll Along Prairie Moon - Jack Jacjson and His Band
9. Under The Moon - Annette Hanshaw
10. The Moon Her Majesty - Jack Kerouac
11. Blue Moon - Connies Boswell & Victor young Orchestra
12. Fly Me to the Moon - Julie London
13. It's Only a Paper Moon - Mystics
14. Moon Watching - Shin Joong Hyun
15. Under The Moon of Love - Curits Less
16. Wolf Teeth - JD McPherson
17. Howlin' at the Moon - Hank Williams
18. The Moon - Stephanie Beachman
19. Paper Moon - Whiskeytown
20. Lunar Rhapsody - Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman
21. Telstar - The Tornados
22. Goodnight

Download it here

90

Davina-Gin-Maudie-Minga turned 90 on thursday.



 

I made her a card, Gareth baked her some Anzac biscuits and we picked her a bouquet from her garden.

Lots of family came to visit from around New Zealand. We sang karaoke, drank numerous cups of tea, went to markets and geeked out on being family.

Happy birthday Minga - you are marvelous.

Update: Really is there anything more charming than a young man holding a bunch of blooms?

a monday

Rumbling about the city in the Morris today I saw a pink house and bought lots of men's socks from some second-hand shops.

Swannanoa Country Fair

One fine Sunday I tootled out North Canterbury way for the Swannanoa Country Fair.
These were my favourite things.







I was a little disappointed there wasn't a cake baking competition. I've never seen one in real life and can only imagine the happy bakers' faces puffed out with pastry and pride.

Princess Diana on an ostrich egg was pretty amazing though!!

March 11

Sunday was the anniversay of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Gareth and I spent the day at Riccarton Racecourse taking part in the Japan Canterbury Day.
It was really wonderful, with lots of people enjoying japanese culture.

And it made us both very nostalgic for our other little home in Sendai and all the fantastic friends we made.

Our thoughts and love go out to everyone who was affected by the horrible events that day.

がんばって!

Napping, knitting, 96% full

96% full. Tomorrow we will wane.
We won't be waxing again until the 23rd of March.



E-wrap cast-on.



Someone ate all the macarons and fell into a sugar and egg-white dreamland.

(This last picture fits snuggly into Pip's Words and Pictures. And things just got warmer with the addition of a hot water bottle - first of the season!)