Monday Modern quilts at Highwic

It was my turn to be the overly-helpful volunteer at Highwic this afternoon which I thoroughly enjoyed. I let the other volunteer tell me what she knew about the house before I set off with my camera. She recounted how the original Mrs Buckland gave birth one month after arriving in New Zealand. The journey via ship can only have been a nightmare. She went on have 10 or 11 other children before she died and Mr Buckland married her companion and fathered another 10 or so children. Not sure if he felt solely responsible for trying to increase the European population of NZ, but he certainly did his part!

It was difficult to get good photographs - those early settlers weren't big fans of natural light!

The sons of the house slept in the attic. Check out the lovely concave curve of the mattress. I remember the beds in my grandparent's spare room had that same curve. As a child I loved it and could never understand why the grown-ups complained about it.

The women had a room of their own to while away the hours doing handcraft and reading. That big book in the centre is the bible. 

Here are a couple of my quilts - in the ballroom no less! I loved this room. I know not everyone is a fan of wood panelling but I think it is beautiful.

The kitchen is a lovely light room. The team who set the quilts up did a wonderful job - there were little quilt surprises everywhere. Below is a picture of Glenys's quilt on a chair tucked under the stairs:

And not a quilt photo obviously, but something about this rocking horse made me laugh out loud. The exhibition runs until 4.30pm this Sunday, so you still have time to catch it!