Finishing lines

I have been in Rotterdam, supporting my incredible sister and her partner as they represented Australia in the amateur team at the World Triathlon Finals.


They both crossed the finish line in very respectable times,  and were still up for a big celebration in the evening.


Lots of stitching inpiration in the photos of the pontoon where the swimming leg started

and also from the food stalls  in the superb Markthal.





And in the mesmerising,multiple escalators

All of that dedication and training pushed me to my own finishing line, the binding on Kaleidoscope, started in December 2012.

I evidently don’t finish enough quilts, as I had forgotten how to join the two binding ends together seamlessly. This video, from Heirloom Creations, is the simplest explanation I have every found, a boon for those like me who find the upside-down, back to front instructions of others completely confusing.
 Twenty feet of binding to hand stitch down now, the last part of my quilting and piecing triathlon on this quilt.

Sculpture by the sea

One year I hope to visit “Sculpture by the Sea” in Australia. Until then, I make do with seeing sculpture in weathered shapes at British beaches

Cramond causeway, weathered U-boat defences, reminiscent of the cardinal sculptures by Giacomo Manzu.

Or with less sinister features

With a stretch of the imagination, beginning to resemble the Venus of Willendorf

Ogmore beach, wooden groynes weathered in to anthropomorphic shapes

These shapes are percolating through my mind as I have forgotten to bring any sketching or stitching materials on holiday.