Shopping, sewing and prowling around

What a lovely day I've had. We got up early today so that we could zip into Riccarton to purchase a new couch and two chairs in the Farmers half price on furniture sale. They are chocolate leather and very like our existing couches. After the earthquake Johnny sat on the old pull out couch and the bottom dropped out of it. He is calling it an "arsequake". We decided that it was time to update. The chairs will give us some more seating in the living room, where we like to sit around with visitors during the day time. Plus we can move them into the lounge as required. Unfortunately we have to wait until January for delivery, but at half price, we're not complaining.

Johnny had business to attend to at work, so I took a drive over to the wonderful new quilt/craft shop "Stitch" on Colombo Street. It is a treasure trove of gorgeous bright fabrics, and some in softer tones as well. It is very modern and fresh with lovely trims, books, a small selection of lovely knitting yarns and a space for classes. The owner, Fenella, is lovely and was so helpful when I was choosing fabric to finish off my (mostly) Kaffe Fassett quilt that I started about 18 months ago. The green fabric is an alarmingly acid green with tiny cerise dots. It is for the inner border and the binding. The cerise fabric behind it is called "Venetian Glass" and is for the larger outer border. I've been busy piecing it all together this afternoon as Fenella worked out all of the measurements (in metric- thank goodness) so I just needed to whip out the rotary cutter and sew it together. It is extraordinarily bright- not everyone's cup of tea (more like a glowing glass of Midori), that's for sure. I can think of several of my loyal readers who would be horrified if it entered their more subtly decorated abodes. However I can still remember the first moment I caught a glimpse of Kaffe Fassett's home in one of his magnificent books. I wanted to move in immediately. I so admire and enjoy the elegance of more restricted colour schemes, but I am so drawn to colour that I can't help myself.

On the embroidery front, I immortalised a pansy that caught my eye in the garden. I am making it into a brooch. Here it is before I removed the marking pen.

This daffodil caught my eye, so I picked it and photographed it for Mum. It is even lovelier in real life.

My tulips were looking happy in the pots on the deck outside the Poppy Black Studio.

Miss Dog and I took a walk break in the middle of crafting this afternoon. I wanted to prowl past the hellebore border down the road to check whether there are babies to be stealthily collected with a spoon and doggy poo bag. Yes indeed, there are plenty to be harvested if I get up early at the weekend when there are not many people around. I also wanted to visit the old cemetery at the other end of the village.

I enjoy checking out the inscriptions on the gravestones. The creation of beautiful monuments seems to be a disappearing art. You can see that there is damage to some of the graves from the earthquakes. By the way we had a 4.5 quake today which gave the house a bit of a shake. On the way back from our walk Miss Dog and I got caught in the rain. We never get caught in the rain! Was it because of my immoral thoughts about "acquiring" baby hellebores from a public garden? Or was it because Miss Dog and I ignored the dog ban and walked through the domain? As soon as we emerged from the domain the rain started. Slowly at first, then pelting down. Just as I started to run who did I hear coming up the road to rescue me? My lovely Johnny. When I asked him how he thought we was going to find me out and about, he said he was just going to drive the streets until he spotted me. Now that is how wonderful he is.