Little bits and pieces

I finished the tinyland afghan! Well, I think it's finished. I was debating putting a contrasting border around the edge, maybe in blue. I still might do it but for now, finished!

Actually I finished it several weeks ago and have tried to blog it several times. But alas, the dial-up internet connection has been steadily getting worse and worse, and I've barely been able to get online, let alone get my blog to load. So it might be time to move with the times and look at a broadband connection.

As promised in the last post, I did go out and take some piccies in the garden. Unfortunately I'm out of practice, and most of them were out of focus, badly composed or both. And, since it's done nothing but rain for the entirety of the past two weekends, I haven't had a chance to retake them. I now understand the phrase "to have a face as long as a wet weekend". This weekend was interminable...

One or two photos came out, so here are my blueberries! Still fresh and delicious in the middle of winter. That's something to be cheerful about, like the blueberry pancakes I had for breakfast yesterday. Yum!

I love the way the pea shoots tangle together. They are still going strong, despite the cold. I also have silver beet, broccoli and lemons. So it's far from being dead out there.


Cold winter nights mean snuggling up on the couch with a blanket and a Bollywood DVD. It's always good to have something to do with my hands too, so this is my next needlework project. It's pretty tiny so hopefully my eyes won't fall out while I do it. I'll keep you posted!

The hothouse in winter

The weather outside may be frightful, but inside the hothouse at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens it's still hot and steamy! And there are still some colourful and fascinating plants putting on a display. We went for a walk on a balmy Monday afternoon which felt like midsummer, although just two days before there had been snow falling to sea level.

I'm hearing stories of snow being forecast for next week. We had a -4 degree frost this morning so I'd almost believe it.

Which is why these colourful, tropical photos are so wonderful to look at right now! They remind me of summer and being warm.

This is my favourite, with its crazy curling stamen and paint-speckled petals.

This weekend I'll try to take some photos in my own garden, which is looking quite pretty and colourful for midwinter! The only problem is with days being so short, good light for photos is in short supply.

But it was just right for this photo, which was taken by my mum last weekend as we had lunch by the estuary. It was about 1 pm and everything was blue and gold and pearly. Imagine having this view on your doorstep... I'd never get any work done, but oh how lovely it would be!

Pincushions

These are some pincushions I made last weekend. I had a lovely photo I took of them all laid out in a rainbow, before I stuffed them, but I can't find it anywhere... I must have deleted it off the camera without transferring it. So, this one will have to do. Seven little pincushions, all in a... circle?

I love the vintage-look print on this fabric. I had to take these photos at night and then colour-correct them in Photoshop, which is why there's such a discrepancy in the colour of the background! The first photo is the closest. Oh, and there are more pics at my Flickr page.

I've been reading about this Orphaned Artworks thing and it's got me a little freaked out. Even though it's a US government bill, it's obviously going to affect artists worldwide. So I've decided to start watermarking my photos. It feels a bit strange to do it... like I am being arrogant to even assume that someone might want to thieve my lowly little photograph! But, I'd feel really sick to discover my photos being used somewhere without my permission, so this is hopefully a small step to preventing that. What do you think? Do you watermark your photos too?

On a lighter note, here's a lil' stuffed panda I made this week. He's off to a very special destination but I can't say more in case someone is reading this...

It's a gloomy, grey, soup-and-toast kind of day here today. Luckily I have a loaf of bread cooling in the kitchen as we speak. Time for lunch :)