Saturday, 7 February 2015 -
On Sunday, the 1st of February, I packed up a picnic tea
and Keith and I travelled to Takapau in the Central Hawkes Bay
to attend, Opera at ‘Oruawharo’ at the Oruawharo Homestead.
Dame Malvina Major was supposed to be the special guest artist,
but was unable to be there due to being unwell and in Wellington Hospital.
Despite this unfortunate happening,
we enjoyed the performances of the other artists.
we enjoyed the performances of the other artists.
What a wonderful gift these singers have been given.
The venue for the outdoor concert was the grounds
of the Oruawharo Homestead pictured above -
of the Oruawharo Homestead pictured above -
one of New Zealand’s historic homes that is in the process of being restored.
It was a wet day - the first wet day in the ten years since this event began -
but this did not dampen the numbers attending.
Everyone sat underneath umbrellas, or like us,
the canopy of one of the magnificent trees on the property.
but this did not dampen the numbers attending.
Everyone sat underneath umbrellas, or like us,
the canopy of one of the magnificent trees on the property.
During the whole performance I sat in my deck chair and stitched!
Worked on the Frances Mary Jones 1862 sampler.
The sampler I promised to stitch for Vivien for on display
The sampler I promised to stitch for Vivien for on display
at the Sampler Gathering needlework retreat
to be held at Manuels / Millennium Resort, Taupo at the beginning of August.
to be held at Manuels / Millennium Resort, Taupo at the beginning of August.
You may recall me writing about it in Blog #31. To recap -
Vivien works her Cross Stitches differently to myself.
That is, the final thread of her cross stitch lies to the left, whereas the final thread of my cross stitch lies to the right.
There is no right or wrong way to work this stitch. It is ones preference.
The only rule is that when a piece of work is stitched, all crosses should lie in the same direction.
I thought, “I won’t enjoy stitching this if I have to concentrate on making sure I work opposite to my usual way of stitching”.
What was I to do?
It would be wrong of me to take out what Vivien had done.
Thus, I made the decision to break the rules!
That is, I would continue working the two rows of red cross stitch border
and the undulating pale green vine as per Vivien’s method
and the leaves and the flowers in the border and work the remainder
of the stitches in the sampler as per my method.
and the undulating pale green vine as per Vivien’s method
and the leaves and the flowers in the border and work the remainder
of the stitches in the sampler as per my method.
I also explained in that blog how I changed the marigold yellow colour
and the bottle green colour to red and a softer green.
and the bottle green colour to red and a softer green.
This is how the sampler looked on the 1st of February -
and how it looks today, the 7th of February -
I am so pleased I decided to use the colour red
instead of the marigold yellow and the softer green instead of the bottle green
as per the original sampler.
Keith has just been looking at it and asked me if I had used
a different red for the flowers that in the border and on the trees
a different red for the flowers that in the border and on the trees
than the red of the border.
I haven’t.
They just look a little different because of the way the light
catches the thread due to the different direction that the top thread
of each cross stitch is lying. Really quite amazing.
catches the thread due to the different direction that the top thread
of each cross stitch is lying. Really quite amazing.
More pictures in future blogs as this sampler progresses.
Bye for now.
Bye for now.
