The Easter Bunny Cometh

This is a long tale, so maybe you should grab yourself a coffee and pull up a chair.

This image came by email from our daughter in Sydney a few days before Easter - a terrifying sight and a warning of what was to come.

Forewarned, last Wednesday we arrived at the airport to greet the first of the Sydney branch of the family who flew in a few days early to help celebrate Grandad's birthday the following day. A special treat had been planned in secret and that's why I was seen at a railway museum (eek! I felt pretty confident that none of my quilting friends would see me there, though).

All the boys had such an exciting time, and even one little girl found it entertaining.

Special protection glasses were compulsory in the blacksmith's workshop.

All the better to see the sparks fly.

Although the noise level was a little high for a two year-old.

Back to the child sized equipment. That's better.



The next morning it was back to the airport to greet the newlyweds who flew in from Sydney, and for the first time our entire family was assembled in the one city. We were merciful and let them sleep in on Saturday morning until 6.00am. It was time to hit the farmers' markets.

First things first ... coffee.

Ah ... that's better (the bride still can't believe how early we dragged her out of bed).

Time to browse ...

... and to be entertained.

On go the hats.

He's man enough to wear his sister's.

Temptations were avoided ...

... and the healthy option taken.

Now for home to prepare for the family reunion/Easter/birthday lunch.

There was great excitement as the Sydney cousins met their new little Brisbane cousin and re-acquainted themselves with the older children.

A very pregnant aunt meets her five month-old niece and gets in some baby-holding practice.

Emily was highly amused by the antics of her Brisbane uncle ("My cousin's father").

Then it was time for the Easter egg hunt - indoors because of the rain (Snake? What snake?).

Closely followed by opening birthday presents ...

... finishing up with the blowing out of the candles on the joint fourth birthday cake.

I know, I know, I cheated and ended up making just the one. The thought of making two mermaid cakes almost brought on a panic attack. The girls didn't even notice!

Easter Sunday morning saw us back at the airport nice and early in time for the newly-weds to catch their flight back to Sydney.

After Easter Mass at the Cathedral we were treated to a lovely lunch at an inner city hotel, where the Easter Bunny made a surprise visit and freaked out the birthday girl...

... and who could blame her?

However, she quickly recovered when it was discovered that chocolate eggs came into the equation.

When the bunny said to the 100 or so children, "One, two, three - go!" it was all to much for our intrepid hunters, so the assembled crowd was witness to a grandmother elbowing six year-olds out of the way to grab the last couple of eggs left after the ten seconds mad dash. Not a pretty sight I grant you, but what else could be done?

Little brother was more interested in the plastic oranges. Maybe I should have grabbed some of those - no one else appeared interested in them.

And so our perfect week came to an end. It was a truly joyous time with the whole family together - bring on Christmas!

Shadow Shot Sunday # 47

I am running late this week with Shadow Shot Sunday, as we are in the middle of Easter celebrations with the whole family, including the Sydney contingent who flew up to sunny (right!) Brizzy for a big family get-together.

It was Mr Fudge's birthday on Thursday, so part of the Sydney family (daughter, son-in-law, four year-old granddaughter and two year-old grandson) arranged a surprise outing for him to the Ipswich Railway Museum. I must admit it was all a bit of a daze for me until my eyes lit on this ancient sewing machine.



Ah, that's more like it - although I'm so pleased my own machine is a little more user-friendly. Now if you are filled to the limit with Easter eggs and would like to see some wonderful shadow shots, why not pop over to Hey Harriet's blog for a feast for the eyes.

I will post something on our marvellous Easter when I have had about a week's sleep.

Now that the deadly snake has gone ...

... Back comes the resident kookaburra, of course. He even brought his best mate with him. They were probably snake hunting somewhere in the wilds. They looked a little hungry, so I guess they weren't too successful. No sympathy, boys!

My good friend Tracy of Hey Harriet suggested that instead of the usual boring old Easter Egg hunt, our grandchildren should show some initiative and embark on a snake hunt. Not!

In fact, now that the snake danger has passed, the tree outside my window has become alive with playful, chattering lorikeets, filling their little tummies with nectar from the eucalypt blossoms. Yum ... much better than those deadly snakes.

Speaking of yum, Mr Fudge arrived home from a day in the country with a dozen very large, very fresh eggs, and a load of figs just picked from the tree. I guess there will be lots of figgy tarts over the Easter holidays.

I had time to dash off one last sewing project before I shut up shop for the Easter break. The lovely Louise of Miffy's World creates the most fabulous aprons. She asked a few of us to test her latest pattern, so I decided to give it a retro look. I chose these two new fabrics from Keri Beyer of In the Beginning Fabrics, and got to work.

The instructions were easy to follow, with many helpful hints, like how to successfully attach the frill to the apron - guaranteed to save you many tears and tantrums down the track. So now it is finished and it will be part of the Easter Parade at Chez Fudge on Saturday. My, how the girls will be envious and probably want one of their own.

Now, if you pop over to BrisStyle you will have a chance to win your very own Made by Miffy apron, or two beautiful brooches by Little Chrissy. It's easy to enter, but hurry - offer ends soon!

Shadow Shot Sunday # 46

It's been a difficult week for shadows. The only gloriously sunny day we had was on Tuesday and silly me, I didn't take advantage of the myriad of shadows that I encountered while out with my friends visiting galleries. After all, this is the Sunshine State - plenty of time to seek out a decent shadow shot. From Wednesday onwards, the rain has bucketed down, so much so that much of the northern part of the State has been flooded. I think we can officially say that the drought in Queensland is well and truly over!

So here is the best I could manage. As you can see in front of the pot plant, it is not the usual gentle autumn rain, but that good old biblical Noah's Ark deluge.

And here is the view through the front door. Yes, I was getting a little anxious.

And now give yourself a treat and take a look Hey Harriet where you will find this week's Shadow Shot Sunday.

The weather man has predicted more of the same right up to Easter, which is not music to our ears, as the Sydney branch of the family will be arriving in stages over the next few days. Our daughter, son-in-law and two and a half children fly in on Wednesday, and our newly married daughter and her husband arrive on Friday. We are over the moon, as it will be the first time our entire family will be together - our Brisbane based son, daughter-in-law and four children have yet to met our latest son-in-law, Nathan; and the Sydney cousins are dying to meet their newest Brisbane cousin, Anastasia, who is now five months old.

The only downer is that the lawn hasn't been attended to in weeks, as the lawn mower is in hospital in a serious condition. We have arranged for a professional lawn man to come and tame the lawn (ha! weeds) and he's been trying to do so since Friday. Another attempt will be made today and if I look carefully, I can see a little blue patch up in the sky, so maybe it will happen after all.

Another reason to hope for clearer weather is that as I was sitting in front of my computer yesterday afternoon, my husband said, "Hey, look out there!" I looked up in time to see a brown snake (of the deadly variety) attempting to keep his feet dry by slithering along the brick wall which separates our house from the park. That part of the wall is normally the home of a kookaburra and they love nothing better than a snake for dinner, but he was nowhere to be seen. In his place were panicking magpies who flew and swooped around their enemy, making bird noises which I was able to translate as, "Eek! Snake! Go away!" I knew how they felt. Eventually the snake decided he'd have a headache if he continued along this route, so he dropped off the wall - onto the park side. Wise move, Mr Snake. If you had dropped off onto the other side, you would probably have a sore back to go with the headache. I would have sent Mr Fudge out to deal with him.

This is the first time we have encountered a snake so close to home and right now an inner city apartment is looking mighty tempting!

Loose Threads do the galleries

Who are the Loose Threads? A group of eight friends brought together by a mutual love of quilting. We've been going now for what must be twelve years and in that time our friendship has been bonded by times of great joy and sorrow. I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.

We meet twice a month at each other's homes and if there's a fifth Tuesday in the month, that's the time to give ourselves an extra treat. This Tuesday we decided to take in two exhibitions, Cressida Campbell's Timeless: The Art of Cressida Campbell;

and Margaret Olley's Life's Journey.





These two women artists are among the top of my favourites list, so to have them both exhibiting in Brisbane at the same time was indeed a treat. There were only four of us on Tuesday and we made the most of the glorious early autumn weather by taking the City Cat into the city for the Cressida Campbell exhibition.





If you are anywhere near Brisbane over the next week or so, do yourself a favour and get yourself to the QUT Gallery, where I guarantee you will be transported by the extraordinary paintings of Cressida Campbell. Her woodblock technique is nothing less than stunning.

After lunch in the city, we hopped onto the City Cat to the University of Queensland to the Margaret Olley exhibition. This amazing exhibition of water colour art is quite extensive and takes in the artist's travels from the 1950s up to the 1970s. No wonder she is considered our living treasure.




By coincidence, this Cressida Campbell woodblock painting is of Margaret Olley's living room.



We are so fortunate in Brisbane today to have an abundance of world class galleries which hold the most wonderful exhibitions. We levitated back to our car which we had parked in the university grounds earlier in the day and drove home.

To complete the perfect day, a large parcel was waiting for me at the post office - my fabric order from the States. Bliss.