Postcard from New Zealand

Greetings from the Land of the Long White Cloud, New Zealand. I must tell you that a holiday is good for you. I can't believe how relaxed I am being here. I didn't have anything planned before I came here; just visiting DH's family, so I'm take things as it comes and to my surprise, I am enjoying it!

Thanks everyone for your comments on my last post and best wishes for my holiday, but I'm so sorry I didn't have a chance to thank you individually. I can assure you that I read all of them. One more day here before we leave for Japan. While I have access to the Internet I thought I would post some photos to share with you from NZ. Please enjoy...!

Silver fern is a symbol of New Zealand. It's the symbol of the All Black NZ's national rugby team. When we visited our friend Carol and Paul they just cut a branch of silver fern for their kitchen and I thought it looks appropriate as a symbol of NZ.

MIL's lives on the North Shore of Auckland and this is the view of Auckalnd city from the harbour bridge. I snapped this photo from the car so it is not the best. This is the harbour that hosted the America's Cup yaght race.

I even have an antique quilt to share with you. This antique quilt belongs to Carol. It is made from 30's fabric. It was hand pieced and quilted. It's a lovely quilt, but in a fragile state. I have seen this block before, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the block, please help?

I took a close up photo of the blocks to ask if you know the name of the block and how to construct it. I want to make one the same for my DD.

Here I'm relaxing on the back deck of our friend's house. Their stray cat was checking my lap out, but I don't think she was happy there.

Carol and Paul are a great collectors of all beautiful things including these cushions from Afghanistan. Lovely vibrant colours.

These cushions have hand quilted stitches all over them. They look like Sashiko stitching.

DH and I drove to Hamilton to deliver my quilts to Donna for machine quilting. Donna has been machine quilting for me for more than 10 years now. Without Donna I wouldn't have finished any quilts. Donna used to quilt from home, but a few years ago she opened her own shop called Donna's Quilt Studio in Hamilton. Donna is a fantastic quilter and won many awards for her quilts. I'm so lucky to have her quilting for me.

Donna stocks a lot of NZ designed fabric at her shop, but I was a good girl and didn't get anything!

I really like the pink prints above, but didn't get it. I wished I did now...!

Next stop Kyoto. The first 5 days we are spending in Kyoto then 5 days in Tokyo and the last 5 days in Kanazawa. I'm armed with the apps in my iPhone. I spent a few hours this afternoon studying it. I wonder how I ever traveled without it!