The best camera is the one you have with you...

 ...is something Mr. Millicent Crow likes to say.  So here are some quick, blurry photos I've snapped on my phone that I think sum up February, on the last day of summer.

A cottage named Surprise

Seeing as I spent the earlier part of February charging around the South Island playing my ukulele I thought I'd show you a few photos from our tour.  These are from Gunn's Camp in Fiordland, where we stopped on our way out of Milford Sound and where the cabins were named after racehorses.

Photo by Mark Orbell

Photo by Mark Orbell

I loved this creepy unfinished mural and the way the guy in the butcher's apron looks a bit like Elvis!

More from Splore

 One of the things I loved about Splore was the colourful decorations everywhere.  Flags in the trees, installations, and brightly coloured fake flowers tucked into unexpected places.  Here are some of the details.

Splore

I was lucky enough to work at Splore last weekend, in Sarah's wonderful Sew Some Love tent.  In our beachside spot we helped people make flower crowns, embellish their costumes, carve rubber stamps, make postcards and express their creativity.   

My workshop was the rubber stamp carving one...it was so great to see the different ideas people came up with and the patterns they made with their finished stamps (and that there were no fingers sliced with sharp cutting tools). 

Here's the crew of Sew Some Love ladies: L-R Laura, Sarah, yours truly, Erin.

 This was the view from our sewing tent...my next door neighbours sailed down from Auckland. 

I think I am a bit addicted to making flower crowns...my fingers are itching to make more, maybe some matching red ones for our band!

And here I am when I was 17, going to Splore when it was at Karioitahi Beach near Waiuku.  I think my 17 year old self would have liked to work in a sewing tent!

Wayfaring stranger

 February so far for me has been all about playing my ukulele around the South Island with The Bitter Years - I've travelled from Invercargill to Picton and many other places besides.  I've met a miniature horse that's allowed inside the house, participated in a mystical wedding and played songs to the regulars at Formerly the Blackball Hilton until 3 in the morning.  But one of the parts of the tour I was most excited about was visiting the Grainstore Gallery in Oamaru, where some of my prints are stocked.  Here is a little peek into the beautiful gallery, and spot some Millicent Crow bunting and prints!

No rest for the wicked; I am heading off to Splore this weekend to help with some creative embellishment in the Sew Love Tea Do sewing tent.  More on that soon!