A gift

Bob was in China for work and when he returned home had a gift from his hosts. I liked the bag immediately with the lovely tassel.

And the box inside was interesting from the artistic prospect of a rubbing of the seal.

Three tea caddies are nestled in the gold  cloth. I haven't tried the tea yet as I am currently drinking another green tea, that had the most exquisite flavour and comes from Yunan Province. Will open one soon.
 

Shape

This caught my eye in the Emirates Dubai lounge. The design maxim is 'use odd numbers' but I don't think that would have been so pleasing with these vases.

Mongolian Quilt Exhibition

Raining Green is one of my 3 quilts in Mongolia for their international  quilt exhibition at the State Department Store, second floor from August 6-12. Organised by the energetic Selenge Terendash, the Mongolian Quilting Centre  is celebrating 10years, and  quilts from the UK, USA, Japan and Turkey will also be displayed.

So Bush Whispers and Six  below, will be in good company.

Detail of Six

Breakfast

My favourite breakfast dish to order when eating out is Eggs Benedict, preferably with smoked salmon in place of the ham and the photo above is of a delicious one I enjoyed in Toowoomba at Café Valetta, opposite Queens Park.

Seating options include lovely outdoor, sunny positions or indoors where you can admire the pressed metal ceilings and stained glass.

L-R Sue, Roger, Marg, Nick and Diane after our hearty breakfast. 

Tea bag art

The humble used tea bag has been recycled/upcycled by the 10 artists in the exhibition  Zen Ten  at the Rose City Shopping World, Warwick. It was curated by Svea Bjornsson who has been transforming this material into garments etc for many years. This detail is from her Door to Mumma's Dreams.

Vintage Tea by Janine Gibson.

Zen Ten Tangled by Juanita Wellings.

 

Dressed trees

It as cold and crisp after lunch, as we walked part of the main street in Warwick to see the trees in the competition.

'Zen' was the theme this year and these sheep had been "froZEN" as had their droppings at the base of the tree.

This one was quite a hoot! Not all the trees are entered in the theme category.

Clever Jessica [Thompson?] with her crocheted spider.

 

Knitchen

The Warwick Art Gallery is hosting 2 exhibitions, with no photos allowed of Exposition, a touring textile exhibition. These pieces are in response to a photo of a bottle sent to the invited Australian and international artists and well worth a visit. But what stole the show and had people queuing out the door was Knitchen!

And the ducks are beautiful!

 

The crowds on opening weekend.

Everyday objects found in the kitchen were either knitted, crocheted or covered in yarn. The more you looked the more there was to be seen.

What's for dinner?

Even the toast looked 'right', but I don't like the ants in the sugar.

There's a mouse in the kitchen too.

Knitted by Helen

Lovely to see Helen Gross from Little Cow Creations and her beautiful, colourful knitted items for sale. The first Saturday of the Jumpers and Jazz festival is devoted to an artisans market day at the gallery with many woolly goodies for sale.

I had to buy a couple of egg cosies as I am not a knitter at all, but a little better with crochet.

I loved Helen's tree with the knitted flags, each with a different motif. I am a big fan of her amazing work.

This duck made several appearances in the Knitchen installation at the gallery. Pictures of that tomorrow.

Warwick fun

 

 The Jumpers and Jazz in July festival fun in Warwick was a balm for the soul after the sickening and extremely sad news of Malaysian Flight 17 having been shot down and the senseless loss of innocent lives.

The garden area in front of the Art Gallery was awash with colourful, hand made creations, comfy sofas for jazz appreciation and relaxing. It was cold but we rugged up in layers with coats, hats and gloves. 

This is Gail Grunske Designs and we loved her recycling/upcycling, felting/stitching and all round colourful personality. Gail is from Crows Nest and can be found on facebook.

 

Chianti country

Just before we left Italy to return home, we treated ourselves to a delicious 4 course degustation lunch in the 18th century Villa owned by the Monterinaldi winery in Chianti, south of Firenze. It was a magical experience sitting in our individual dining room, with a big group in the larger dining room and an English couple with the same surname in another.

This was the property's former chicken house! I will be back with photos from Jumpers and Jazz next week.