Queen of the Morning

Have you seen Google today? Love the little pic of the Perseid meteor shower.

Glad you all liked the photo - we were supposed to look like John and Yoko, Lynda - not Bill Oddy and Co. Although I wouldn't mind looking like Kate Humble.

Hope you are better, Doreen. It's not the dreaded swine flu is it? Most of the people on the plane coming home were wearing masks and looking like extras in a Doctor Who production.

So lovely to have such a great welcome home. Thank you all. At the moment we are both waking up at exactly 4am - feeling very lively and slaving over our keyboards. By lunchtime we are done for. I've been to the library and stocked up with lots of books for afternoon reads. Past experience suggests that this is a short lived phase and I hope to be normal (is this house ever normal?) soon.

Here's a few last Oz pics to share. I found a new setting on my camera suitable for fast action shots of jumping crocodiles as even the continuous setting wasn't fast enough. This one took eight photos in one. Clever stuff. If only I could remember where I found the menu.
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Here are a couple of shots of Hong Kong where we spent a night on the way home. I didn't think I'd like it as all the shopping malls leave me cold. Literally as the Air Conditioning means you need your coat in those places. But there was lots to see and do and I want to go back again. How about this for a coffee stop. High up on mount Victoria (we took the funicular railway) looking down on a little temple.

And this view of the harbour with the ancient boat's prow set against the sky scrapers.

I have never seen so many people in one place - all these little side roads were packed solid. I like the suggestion of speed in this 'semi-swoopy' photo.

Finally this is a pic of a book that one of my lovely students made for me. thanks Jane. It has super paper separating the signatures.

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Hope to be back making more sense soon. I have found that when you read back anything produced while jet-lagged it often makes no sense at all. If that is the case here - just bear with me.

The Best Thing About Getting Home Is Your Own Bed

I'm with Doreen on this one - there's nothing like it and we slept for 10 hours last night.



Thanks for all messages and great to see pics on the Dale,Doreen and Aussie Jo blogs. Will answer messages tomorrow - catching up with emails etc. and doing some more sleeping today.

Good to be home.

Maggie & Clive's Big Aussie Adventure

Have managed to get internet access but don't know if I can load photos. We have had the most amazing time and today is our last full day in Oz. The show and the teaching went well - here is Dale at the show - it was not so much a stand as a smallholding.






Wonderful to meet so many stitchy Aussies and especially great to meet Aussie Jo and Doreen. We all went out for a meal and I'm sure the pics will soon be on their blogs.



Perth is wonderful - we've seen kangaroos (check out the eyelashes), parrots and today we saw a pelican.










Spent the day in Fremantle, home of the world's best fish and chips.


What else have we done? For me the highlight was a three-day tour of the Kakadu National Park (and neighbouring parts) in the Northern Territory. There were only eight people in our group, six seats each in a 48-seater coach. Luxury! We visited two centres of aboriginal rock art, both excellent, both located in hilly country, overlooked by great towers of rock.



I was bowled over by the art and asked our knowledgeable guide if I could do some drawing - I think you have to be careful of other peoples beliefs. He told me which ones had been OKd for postcards as they were not considered sacred. I had some watercolour paper cut to postcard size but no paints of any kind. Had to resort to squeezing a lemon over the paper and then rubbing them in the orange/ochre coloured earth. Drew with a writing pen and then ran it under the tap as it was too heavy. Worked fine - especially when a little brown eyeshadow and a lip pencil came into play.







I also used my pogo printer and drew into the photos. Here the photos are at the top and the drawing continues at the bottom.






We went on cruises too - on this one the boat crew held out lumps of meet on ropes to tempt the crocodiles to jump - which they did. These were saltwater (estuarine) crocodiles - the biggest and most ferocious in the world, some up to 20 feet long. They are protected and have spread from the coast to the extent that virtually no rivers nor billabongs are safe for swimming. Lots of crocs and lots of film (still and movie). Then came the kites, also tempted by food.








Sunsets I have seen;


Darwin - the Pacific.




Perth - the Indian Ocean. Lots of surfers here.





We have only had rain at night or in the early morning and the weather has been wonderful everywhere. Looking forward to a bit of sog at home - quite miss it.

At the crack of dawn tomorrow, we leave for Hong Kong, then one night on the plane and it's back to good old Blighty. It's been a fantastic adventure but I miss home and the kids. Back soon.

Travels1

Many thanks for all the kind messages and a BIG HUG for Claire and Lozzie. I miss you all. Harry seems to be getting on fine and they should have a new car soon. Lucky that it is the school hols.

Here we are in Oz and it’s wonderful to be back and to hear the flute-like magpie thingies outside the bedroom window. Very warm here in Sydney – good thing I worked on the layers principle for clothes – Dale tells me that it is freezing in Perth.

Bangkok was lovely but very hot and humid. The people are really kind and made sure that we had a great time. The hotel provided a limo and a guide, just for us, at a ridiculous price so we did the Emerald Buddha’s temple and the Grand Palace.

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Loved the floral motifs made from all the porcelain that was broken when ornaments were shipped over - see above. Plan to work on this in the sketchbook and print out photos on my baby printer.

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On the plane over we proofed Jae’s book which is all about the dynamics of contrast, and it struck me in Bangkok that the contrast between the swish hotel and the street life going on all around it was immense. A marked contrast in temperature, too.

Busy streets.

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Hotel foyer.

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Then to Oz where Ian, bless him, had got tickets for the Opera House (had a drink and a bite in the Opera House bar). Luckily it was Pericles with drums – the drums were needed to keep us awake. One of the Bard’s more lighthearted romps and brilliantly produced. The sets and lighting were qute inspirational and some work may come out of this. Coming out onto the floodlit quay with the bridge and the ferries was quite breathtaking.

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Yesterday we went to the Blue Mountains – a favourite trip when we visit Ian. The Grey tradition is to eat an Ozzie meat pie from a take-away for lunch during this outing. I don’t like meat pies but have to partake or risk being called a poncy Pom. Clive lost the pie-eating contest but won the messiest eater award and had to be cleaned up by our own personal valeting system – aka Pipi the dog.

Today is my Birthday so we are off to Sydney to potter and then to a very posh place tonight for a disgustion! There is a different wine for every course and there are loads of courses. Hope we make the plane for Darwin tomorrow morning.

Not many sleeps now Doreen.

Airbags do Work

Had a fright yesterday evening. We were in the middle of our Sunday roast (only a day late) when my daughter rang in a terrible state, as she'd just heard that her husband had had a bad car accident. We went tearing down there, luckily they live close by, and Clive took her off to the hospital while I stayed with the kids. They actually got there before Harry did. He was battered and sore but escaped very lightly, considering the state of the car.

A lorry, towing a huge trailer filled with weighty scaffolding poles, had jacknifed across the dual-carriageway and the trailer hit Harry, who was going quietly on his way in the opposite direction. It completely ripped away all the passenger side of the car. Thank God Claire and the kids weren't with him. He is very sore - those airbags make their mark, but where would he be without them?

We finally got him home just before midnight. I think he'll feel worse today when the bruises come out. He'd only just got back on the road after a previous accident - also not his fault. It is odd as he is the safest driver I know. Does make you realise what is important, though.

We will pop in with shopping for them later but in the meantime, I must finish packing for Oz. My cousin is coming to house and cat sit tomorrow and then we are off.

I have packed my little printer and am looking forward to making up some sketchbook pages. I made the sketch book, gave it a light colour spray and used a pipecleaner to bind it.

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Thanks for comments - particularly on the books. Welcome to Gwyneth - we had such a lovely time with you in Scotland.

Sue - glad you liked your comment being shown in the book.

Hope the garden survived Maybird

Will try to post from down under and hope to see some of you at the Perth show.

Back from the Unfrozen North

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments and emails about the books. I'm so glad that you all like them. I think Lynda and Carol have a smash hit - everyone is saying that their book is quite unique.

I can't tell you what a great time I had in Scotland - right up near the top, beyond in Inverness. It was hot, too. The scenery was breathtaking and I've got lots of panaramas to stitch together) both photographically and with a needle). The verges of the roads were lovely, as you can see.

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It was amazing how late the sunset was, that far north. It didn't really get dark at all - more like a deep twilight around midnight. This sunset was taken at 10.30 on our last evening.

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But it was the people who made the greatest impression as they were so lovely and welcoming. We were taken to see all the sights, fed wonderful meals and generally made to feel special. I was in competition with a pipe band for part of the talk, which gave a very Scottish flavour. Good things were made in the workshop, too - a talented bunch. They all kept going with a will and made lovely things; Andrea learned to free-machine and took to it like a natural. Here's a foiling sample from Sally.

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And a potential bookcover from Dee.

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In the church next door to our workshop venue was this amazing Pictish stone.

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We had a call at Inverness airport for our hold case to be examined. Must stop taking things with wiggly pipe-cleaners that look like bombs. Our arrival back at Gatwick was not uneventful, either. In their wisdom the authorities now make you queue when you get off the plane so they can take a photo. This is for an INTERNAL flight. They gave us a piece of paper explaining why. I was cross, so screwed mine up and chucked it in a bin. After walking for miles they made us wait again and then demanded the piece of paper. I had to go back to find my rubbish bin and rummage through the old banana skins and coffee drips to find it. GRRR.

Clive, meanwhile was waiting at baggage reclaim for one last case. Along with lots of other folk from our flight we waited for ages and then discovered that it wasn't a circular belt and that an unhelpful man had taken the cases off and they were all thrown anyhow on the floor.

This (plus extreme hunger) drove us to have an exceedingly naughty fish and chip supper which was lovely. It was very good to be home, especially as there were some excellent review books waiting for us

The Morning After

So many thanks to all who have responded about the books. It's always a bit of a worry - how will your baby fare out there in the wide world. This time I had a step-child to worry about as well - Lynda and Carol's book. Not that I was really worried about that one as I know a good thing when I see it and their book is quite unique.


Sharne - I didn't recognise you without your bits'n'bobs (so to speak). How great that your envelope came out first. I have to say that yesterday was a little fraught - we had so many orders that we had to organise a van and more books, so much of my time (when I should have been quaffing champagne) was spent lurking at the lock-up!

Doreen - we by-pass the post office and take the books straight to the local sorting office who are wonderful. Fiona had us so organised; she had all the labels on the envelopes ready for us. Clive and Fiona stuffed and I wafted about, getting in the way, while Phil made trips to the sorting office. I put some of these cards into the give-away. They are made by Jane Wild's daughter Emma and I think they are so lovely. She majored in fashion drawing and I love the combination of the figure and the postcard, complete with stamp.



She has a web site http://www.emmawild.co.uk/ if you want to see more.

I have a confession about yesterday's champagne. It was a bottle that I grabbed from the wine cellar (aka the garage) on my way out and when Fiona looked at it, there was a Tombola number taped to the bottom! So I was acused of being a cheap-skate and we settled for a good Aussie Shiraz instead. This was drunk with our fish and chips after all the books had gone. Not quite the best part of the day but pretty close.