Hot off the machine

My frenzied activity at the machine today can only mean one thing; our moving day is looming large.  I know I should be packing boxes and culling the mountain of magazines, but I felt the urge to sew today and now I feel so much better.

Last week our granddaughter came to visit with her two younger brothers and she took a shine to a pair of shorts I had asked her to try on.  Naturally, they went home with her and they looked so lovely on her that I felt the urge to make up the design in another fabric.

Summer will be here in a couple of weeks, or so they say.  That means holidays, trips to the beach and lots of outdoor activities.  So I selected some seaside fabric and made them up in a size 8.

The pattern is by Brownie Goose and I love the design details, such as the buttoned tabs at the cuff.

And the faux pockets.

I love them coupled with a red peasant top.

The shorts are ready to ship in size 8 here, or they can be made to order in sizes 1 to 5 in limited numbers, as it's the last of this particular fabric.  The peasant top can also be ordered through my store.  

But hurry - my granddaughter's on the prowl ...

How to live with a cat when you are the house guest

It's not that I have anything against cats, in fact, they can be quite endearing. But when you have lived in a cat free environment for the best part of 50 years, it can be a steep learning curve to have one thrust into your living space.  Not the cat's fault; in this case we are the guests and the cat is our hostess, albeit a very naughty one at times.

Bella, like a lot of Burmese cats, certainly has a will of her own, which sometimes clashes with ours.  We very quickly learned a couple of lessons.

How Not to Leave the House

Bella is a house cat, not allowed to roam wantonly through the neighbourhood, picking off the bird life at will. The responsible owners have organised the house so that she has ready access to outside areas which do not allow her to escape  Of course, Bella's object in life is to escape at every opportunity.

The first time we prepared to go on an outing, Mr Fudge stood by the open front door while I turned on the burglar alarm with the remote attached to a key ring  As the alarm commenced its countdown, I scuttled towards the front door at the same time as Bella, who had been lying in wait under the lounge  She was out in the street like a flash of lightning - straight under a parked car obviously placed there for her convenience.  As I attempted to retrieve her, we suddenly remembered the burglar alarm rapidly ticking down the seconds, as the front door was still open.  Silent screams.  A quick and undignified rush back into the house ensued and the alarm was turned off in the nick of time.  Back out to the parked car where Mr Fudge was standing guard (I think I mentioned that he is not a cat lover and in fact can't bear touching them).  The offending cat was swooped up, much to her annoyance, and the three of us returned to the house to try again.

How to Exit a House with Dignity

This time around, I had Bella firmly held under one arm,  handbag clutched under the other, the alarm remote one hand, and we were ready.  Mr Fudge again stood at the open front door, I turned on the alarm, then before kitty knew what on earth was happening, I moved with considerable grace and speed towards the front door, depositing her onto a lounge chair, making sure she was facing away from the escape route, and moved on without a break in rhythm.  Kitty could be briefly seen looking around in confusion.  The door closed and we were out and about.  If it had been a ballet, it could not have been choreographed more perfectly.

To placate her that evening, we allowed Bella to watch Gone With the Wind, although she feigned boredom. Where's the gratitude?   Methinks she will weep with joy when her owners return from their holiday next week.

Perfect Ending II

One of the joys of life is to spend time with members of your family, particularly when they live interstate and you don't see them as often as you'd love to.  So what has this to do with a headless skater?  Let's go back a few hours.



The perfect way to end a Twilight Market is to pack up and spend the evening in a city hotel, courtesy of your daughter.  Bliss.

Vegemite fingers for breakfast - luxury.

 

A quick look at the Myer Christmas windows

The Gallery of Modern Art has a brand new exhibition, 21st Century: Art in the First Decade which opened that morning and was top of the list of things to see and do.  Admission is free - hard to believe in this time of consumerism.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The first thing to greet us was this gigantic double slide, which had to be tested.  We older Fudges chickened opted out.
 



We noticed a room full of purple balloons which called for immediate investigation. 





 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 



 
 
 



 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ideal way to swim - no need to dry off.  We meandered through room after room of brilliant exhibits which were such fun for a five year-old, and her elders.  We stumbled upon a room full of hand-made bird's nests.

 

 

Fudgelet's contribution

What a marvellous inspiration this wall of ribbons is.  Children are encouraged to take one to wear on their wrist ...

Fudgelet randomly picked one which said, "I wish I had school every day", which was so appropriate for a little girl who had just finished her first year of school and told her parents a few days earlier that she wanted to start her new school year as soon as possible.

The children were asked to leave a wish of their own in the wall and our munchkin's wish was to be a fairy, which just beats being a princess, apparently.

We walked past the silver balls and the headless skater ...

... into the outer space room,

which does strange things to your dress!

It was time to go home to meet the cousins,

and open some early Christmas gifts.

One of our local little granddaughters was so proud of her sparkly red shoes.

As Dorothy would say, there's no place like home.

Holiday Shadows

Children in Australia go back to school in the next few days after their long Christmas break, so as far as I am concerned, until then it's still holiday time.  I must confess that when I took my camera along yesterday on a special outing, it was overcast and as a result there were no shadows to be found. 

However, I had taken this image earlier in the month while on holidays and with Shadow Shot Sunday upon us again so soon, it's my offering for this week.

There were odd things going on in Sydney during our recent visit, not the least of which was this:

Our daughter took us to the Art Gallery of New South Wales to view a particular exhibition we were all keen to see.  Approaching the Gallery we thought it was undergoing major alterations, but on venturing up the stairs and taking a peek inside , this is what we discovered:

A similar temporary structure on the opposite side of the Gallery entrance was just as fascinating ...

The story behind these incredible rooms can be found here.  It was a wonderful experience - if a little strange - to see equestrian statues I had known all my life in a new light.  You may not be able to teach old dogs new tricks, but obviously old horses don't seem to mind at all!

Casting a shadow on the waters

Don't ask me - I just took the picture.  We were out strolling with friends when we came across these cute little boats.  It was obvious that they were closely tied. 

The bottom boat was a little water-logged, so maybe the ingenious owner tied the other boat on top to flip it over rather than empty it out with a bucket.  Well, it was New Year's Eve ...

Celebrate the New Year by visiting Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday - you won't be disappointed.  And may all your ships sail smoothly through the waters of 2010.

Travelling South

I don't know if I imagined it or not, but I think Christmas just rushed past before I had time to take it all in.  No, I didn't imagine it, because I have photos to prove it.  The cousins had the most wonderful time getting re-acquainted, as they live over 1,000 kilometres apart and get-togethers are rare.  Our joy was complete with our children, sons-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and my brother all together for the first time in many a year, and in some cases for the first time.  The interstate members of the family flew and drove into town over several days prior to Christmas, with the local grandchildren meeting their latest cousin for the first time.

A couple of weeks before Christmas I received a surprise package in the mail.  I was delighted on opening it to discover it was from the talented Bel of EmBelISH.  She is branching into yummy edible cupcake decorations and asked me to test some out for Christmas.

Our ever-willing granddaughter from interstate was first on the scene and helped me ice the cakes, after which she popped the lovely decorations on top.  The Etsy shop, Enticing Icing, is now open for business.  Take a look - you'll love it.

The three older children snuck into the dining room to check out the Christmas gifts - they were so good not to open any, as it's really very difficult at that age to restrain from ripping into all that lovely paper.

Sanity finally prevailed at Chez Fudge and a unanimous decision was made to forego the usual hot Christmas turkey, opting instead for glazed ham, lashings of prawns, cold turkey and a variety of salads.  With nine adults and seven children, an oven blasting away for hours was the last thing needed on a typically hot, humid Queensland day.

Our "little" premature baby has come a long way in the last seven months, as his aunt discovered.  He's quite the little charmer with a happy smile for everyone.

Meanwhile, Party Girl was the most sensible, stripping down to the bare essentials.  A little local knowledge is always an advantage.

A perfect Christmas.

It was time to pack for our trip to Sydney, driving down in the company of our daughter and son-in-law.  The ensuing ten days flew past in a blur.  The first couple of days were spent with my brother and we had the most wonderful time reminiscing childhood memories.

Living near the beach as he does, it was a natural to take in an early morning breakfast at Coogee Beach.  Coffee has never tasted better - it must be the sea air.

Next on the itinerary was a trip to the other side of the harbour to stay with some dear friends in their charming cottage, where we were spoilt with warm hospitality and beautiful food.  The next day the four of us set out for the Central Coast, where we were invited to spend New Year's Eve with mutual friends.

Now, I can't give away the location of this magical spot, otherwise our friends would have people beating a path to their door, particularly as our hostess is the most superb cook. 

Since our last visit, the owners have installed an inclinator - so much more civilised than arriving at the top of the hill too breathless to utter a word for several minutes.

But who could complain when the view is to die for?

After a leisurely walk along the shoreline, it was time to help our hosts prepare for the evening.

Sand crabs caught that morning were presented as canapes, and then the men got down to the serious business of peeling the prawns.

Which drove the cat crazy.

As the evening progressed, the bay was brought to life with a fireworks display over the other side of the water.  It sent the local dogs and birds into panic and alarm ...

... and frightened the life out of Min the Cat ... apparently.

I can't imagine a more perfect spot for breakfast.  And what a breakfast to ring in the New Year.

First, there were fresh figs and plums,

followed by scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and tomatoes.  Sorry ...

If it's any consolation, we are now home and reality has kicked in, as we spent the day dismantling the Christmas tree, taking down the Christmas cards, and doing some mundaine supermarket shopping.

Ah, but we do have our memories.