Thank you!....

Any regular readers of Shannon's Rabbit and the Duck blog may have seen a post from last week featuring some fantastic trims, in particular the tape measure trim. I had to know where Shannon got it from - I adore yellow and love numbers (yes, in a geeknerd kind of way) so it's exactly my kind of thing. Anyhoo, the lovely Shannon was kind enough to send me some!

Apologies for the slight blur - I must've been too excited to hold the camera still. I'm really excited to put it to use. Now, if only my boxes of crafty goodness would turn up from NZ....

Thanks Shannon!

The friday letter finale....part 2

Ah, finally things are calming down and I'm getting on top of things. I think I'd forgotten how all encompasing moving house (on top of moving country!) can be. We're currently sitting on matresses on the floor as we're yet to buy a lounge, but at least we have a new bed. Now I just have to wait for all my crafty bits to arrive from NZ! If only the shipping company could tell me where my boxes are....

Anyway, I'm babbling. Behold! My finished friday letter collaboration! I'm annoyed that I didn't get it posted last Friday when Jen posted her finished piece, but better late than never, right? (Not that never was an option!). Like I've said already, this was lots of fun and I'm happy with the end result. I held off putting all the letters together until I got to the 'd' in 'studio', and then could barely wait to get the final letters to finish it off. I thought it might be interesting to see where these letters came from, so take a look!

The friday letter finale....part 1

Alas, I have really let the team down this week. I moved house this weekend and therefore have no internet at my new home. And in the moving process I've managed to misplace my thumb drive with my finished piece to upload here at work. But!- to keep you at bay, here's Jen's final piece!!

(Ok, it would help if my blog background was white). And so my collaboration with Jen from painted fish studio has drawn to a close. It was lots of fun finding a letter each week, and it's been super getting to know Jen in the process. I'm still on the scout for letters because it's become part of my way of thinking (and having just moved to a new area, there's plenty for the taking!). With this in mind, you might see the odd letter pop up here, just so I get my fix.

I hope you've enjoyed. :) And if anyone is interested in a collaboration, drop me a line! (I'll be more timely now that I'm not in transit - I promise!!)

Hello Stuart....

I'd like you all to meet Stuart. He turned up in my mum's front garden about 10 days ago. Somehow I managed to catch him (ok, it was a 3 man operation, but I came out with the bunny) and we bought him inside where he swiftly made himself at home.

I've never had a rabbit before and am amazed at the size of their personality. He was such a cool house guest. He was toilet trained, only doing his business in the laundry and spending the rest of the time lounging around the house wherever he liked (our cardboard barricades were no match for his cunning). And he had no qualms with the dog (though at 17 years old, Jimmy wasn't much of a threat). Ok, there were a couple of toilet incidents and he did try to hump my leg occasionally, maybe because it was hairy (or hare-y, haha) but he was lovely.

The happy ending is that after about a week and a few false claims of ownership later (there seem to be a lot of missing bunnies in the area!!) his real owners spotted our sign out the front of the house and an emotional reunion ensued. Turns out his name is Benji (short for Benjamin I think). No wonder he wasn't coming when I called him.

The friday letter....O....

Oh my, late again! (but backdated - you know what I'm like). I'm sorry for my tardiness (again!). I'd give you the usual excuses (own computer not set up, me not set up, etc) but you've heard them all before so I'll just get on with it.

Now, I'm not too sure what this week's letter is all about. It's on a weird "thing" down near the fishing boat harbour in Fremantle. The letters spell something out around the "thing" but do you think I stopped to figure it out? Nope. I'm sure the intrigue will be too much to take and I'll head down there to take another look.

Speaking of intrigue, this is my last letter for Jen in out Friday letter collaboration, so next week we will reveal all the letters and the inspiration behind chosing them. How exciting! Though I am sad that it's come to an end as behind the scenes, Jen and I have been trading emails heaps. Not that that's going to stop. Speaking of Jen, pop on over to check out her 'T'!

And come back next week for the big reveal!

The friday letter....I....

Oh my, my first post for the year, and I'm running late! (But, due to my obsessive compulsive nature, I've backdated this post to friday - I couldn't handle seeing a friday letter on a saturday!).

This letter comes to you from a clothing store in Fremantle! The town (city actually) where I spent my formative teenage years. It's a great place full of great friends and it's nice to be back. We flew in on NYE and didn't even see midnight - too tired. But we're slowly aclimatising to the hot weather (it's nearing 40 degrees celsius!).

You must head over to Jen's blog to see her 'c' for this week. It's marvelous!
I hope you're all enjoying the promise that a new year brings.

The friday letter....D....

Does anyone else find it hard to remember what day of the week it is at this time of year? I know I do, especially as I finished work a good 7 (or is it 8?) weeks ago. But, having checked, I found out that today is Friday and therefore it's time to post this week's Friday letter!This lovely 'd' was on a butcher's window. Being vegetarian (or more accurately, a vegaquarian), I haven't been into a butchers shop in years, but had the misfortune of doing so last week. My god, I don't know how you meateating types handle that smell!

Having said that, the smell of a roasting turkey yesterday was enough to make my mouth water - I felt so guilty! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day with family and friends and over indulged to just the right amount. Pop on over to Jen's blog to see her Friday letter! (Not up yet, but I'm sure it won't be long).

Oh, this is my last firday letter from NZ! It's so strange to think that this time next week we will have relocated to Australia. I still don't think it's quite sunk in....

Closed for business....

But only temporarily!Yes, my boxes were collected for shipping this morning. They're going by sea so they won't arrive in Perth until mid-February or so. All my stock had to go in the boxes as we already have so much to take on the plane (including 2 bikes! eek! excess baggage!).

I thought I'd take the opportunity to say a big thank you to those of you who have admired (and bought!) my things. In the 3 months my shop was up and running, I made 12 sales to happy customers, which isn't too bad a start for a complete beginner I think.

For those of you who have admired my plate set, don't fret! I intend to re-release the collection once I am settled and have played around with firing. Oh, and I have some exciting new ceramic designs for next year so be sure to stay tuned!

If I don't find a moment to blog again before Christmas, have a wonderful day! :)
a. x.

The friday letter....U....

Ooh, look at me! Posting on time for a change!I'd been spending the week scouting for a 'U' and when I saw this one, I knew my search was over. It's the sign for a cafe called Circus Circus which is in Mt Eden, Auckland. We've been enjoying the cafes that a city has to offer (though truth be told, we were sitting across the road in a bar when I spotted this letter).

Be sure to pop over to painted fish studio to check out Jen's letter!

Thank you Aotearoa....Queenstown....

Oh, Queenstown. This was my first time in proper snow. Sure, I'd seen the stuff when living in London, and I've seen photos of me playing in snow as a kid, but this was taking things to a whole new level! This photo just doesn't quite capture what it was really like....

I was determined to give snowboarding a go, and lo and behold, I was actually pretty good at it! It is highly addictive and I can't wait to give it a go again, though with the imminent move to Perth (west coast Australia), that's not going to happen in a hurry.

So thank you Queenstown, for a totally radical holiday, dude!! (Ok, my snowboarding lingo could use some work).

The friday letter....T....

Late again, yes. How many times can I beg your forgiveness?
What I like about this 't' is that it is undeniably a 't'. Does that make sense? It's not mucking about with some fancy font. But more beautiful is Jen's 'o'! Be sure to check it out.

Things are slowly getting organised here for the move from Aotearoa to Western Australia. With any luck I'll finish packing boxes today so I can forget about them, and I'm hoping we sell the car before Christmas. Flights are booked for New Year's Eve so things are falling into place!

This is my 3rd country relocation, so I guess I'm getting good at it!

Finally the friday letter....S....

Finally, here's my Friday letter. Late, but better late than never, right? Be sure to head over to painted fish studio to check out Jen's letter from last Friday!

No NZ report today, as I'm really snowed under with making arrangements to move to Australia in about 3 weeks. Between packing, shipping, selling cars, booking flights, etc, etc, things are pretty hectic so bear with me for the coming weeks. Things should be back to normal in 2009 - which isn't far away at all!

Sorry....

My friday letter is on its way.... Honestly!
I'm frantically in the midst of moving country so I'm hoping you'll cut me some slack.

Thank you Aotearoa....Whangamata....

Sorry for my absence (and hence the late 'Thank you Aotearoa' post). An impromptu trip up to Whangamata was in order. We're lucky enough to have a family bach (kiwi for holiday house) in the Coromandel, and after the stress of my partner's exams it was brilliant to get away. This photo is from Whangamata, but taken a couple of years ago. At the time, the cows on the property could come up and say hi to us on the deck. It was pretty cool as they're such beautiful beasts. We nicknamed this one 'Fiddy'.

For interest's sake, the town is pronounces 'fong-ah-mah-TAH' which makes sense in NZ but not to me when I first arrived from Australia.

Thank you Whangamata, for the memories to date, and those to come in the future.

The friday letter....H....

Oops, running a little late again this week. This time it's not my fault though - damn internet connection....This was taken a while back in Oamaru when I headed down there for work. I won't go on about Oamaru again - I spoke about it way back at the friday letter 'E'.

I love Jen's letter 'P' this week. Great colours.

Last day for international airmail from NZ today everyone, so if there's anything you like in my shop, you better be quick!

Pleased to meat you....

Finally, you can exhale....I am very excited to be showing off my first range of ceramics, a set of 6 plates called 'pleased to meat you....'

I am really happy with my designs, but have had a few problems getting the finish to the standard I would like. I'm putting that down to a combination of the firing and the fact that I'm new to this, so still need to improve my application technique. You can take a closer look at them at their very own flickr page or click on the image below.

The exciting news for you is that they're for sale! And due to the minor flaws, will be a bargain! I hope to have them in my etsy shop later today. In fact, I had better get a move on, because tomorrow is the final day for international shipping to everywhere except Australia.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few thank yous. These plates have been a long time coming. Thanks to mum and Elly for giving me feedback on my designs and helping with the shortlist. A massive thanks to Jesse for answering my many questions, and to Skinny laMinx for her brilliant tutorial. It's the work of these 2 lovely ladies that inspired me to try this in the first place. Oh, and a HUGE thank you to Leon who basically taught me photoshop via email to make this possible.From the mind of a vegetarian....
Who'd have thought....

**post note: turns out there was a problem with the kiln. I knew my technique was perfect. :P

Hold your breath....

6 hours until I can collect my first range of ceramics....

Thank you Aotearoa....South Island....

I'm sorry I can't be any more specific as to the location of this shot. It was taken on a drive from Alexandra to Christchurch, and all I can tell you is that we went up the coast, passing through Oamaru and Timaru. It was my first time to the South Island which is as breathtakingly beautiful as the rumours suggest.

For a photo taken out of the window of a moving car, I think it turned out beautifully, though I think the credit goes to the landscape rather than the photographer!

(I've changed the title of this weekly post to 'Thank you Aotearoa' because I think Aotearoa sounds nicer than 'New Zealand'. It's the Maori name for the country and, according to some, means 'land of the long white cloud'. See this article for other translations and pronunciation. This weekly post is intended to show the beauty of the country I've called home for the past few years).

the post age comes to an end....

For those of you who've been following the postcard swap between me and my good friend Elly, this is the final postcard. It arrived today with my BIRTHDAY PRESENT! Before you inundate me with birthday wishes, I should let you know that my birthday was three and a half months ago - Elly was just a tad late with posting. Isn't it purdy?! You can see all the postcards we sent to each other here.

In other news, light stitch is now in my etsy shop. It photographed really well, I think. And my plates are waiting patiently by the kiln to be fired tomorrow. Please come back and check them out later in the week - they're looking good already! (Please bring strange sense of humour, or at least a little bit of quirk).

Until then....

Light stitch....

At last!....

Yes, here is the bright idea finally. I originally made these panels for a cushion but somehow they've ended up stretched onto a canvas frames and they look brilliant (if I do say so myself).

The orange fabric is a remnant from my local fabric store. I'm not sure what it is, but it feels quite natural and has a lovely texture. The grey fabric is ol' faithful - yep, that black denim I seem to use a lot off (I've bought my fabric shop's complete stock). I screen printed the basic shape of the light bulb and switch and then machine stitched over the top using a combination of straight stitch and freehand stitching (no fancy embroidery machine here people!).

This is a Christmas present for someone, but I'm so happy with the result that I think I'll pop a set in my etsy store this week.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!....