The Artist

I was going through the bottom drawer of my bedside table; you know, the one that holds all sorts of treasured memories - photographs, birthday cards, the odd press clippings, etc.  I came across some Easter and Christmas cards drawn by our firstborn when she was in her teens and they brought a smile to my face.

Move forward to 2012 and the firstborn is a finalist in her second major art exhibition this year.  On Friday evening the winner of the Mosman Art Prize will be announced. With the major prize of $30,000, we are all keeping our fingers crossed!

Maz Dixon art - detail

Hello Eccles

Are you a glass half empty or glass half full sort of a person?  I guess we fall under the second category.  Or in our case yesterday, it was more of cake tin half full.

I wish you could have seen the cake tin in its full condition, but the contents disappeared for a good cause.  You see, Mr Fudge underwent a particularly nasty surgical procedure to remove some skin cancers from his face on Tuesday.  We left at 7.00 in the morning for the drive to the hospital and didn't return home until 3.30 that afternoon - a very long and stressful day.

Yesterday morning the outer bandages were able to be removed, revealing a nasty black eye and even more surgical dressings underneath.  However, the prognosis is good and in a week or so it should be possible for the spouse to once again walk the streets without scaring the horses or children.

Later in the day the apartment buzzer sounded, announcing the arrival of our daughter with three children in tow, each of them holding a get well card for Granddad and daughter holding a cake tin with freshly baked Eccles Cakes, Mr Fudge's all time favourites.  They were wrapped in a tea towel featuring a Queensland steam locomotive, such a lovely thought, knowing how much the patient loves his steam trains.  There was also a tub of scrummy, decadent ice cream to accompany the cakes and some chocolates to carry us through to the next morning.

Here they are in their half-full glory.

I'm so glad we are of the half full variety, but after tonight there will be no avoiding the Cake Tin Empty syndrome.  As I say, all in a good cause.

Liberty

This post is a couple of days late, but after watching 4 July celebrations in the States on television last night, the Statue of Liberty came to mind.    

If you had the opportunity to be in the United States on 4 July 1986, there was only one place you would want to be - New York.  That was the day America celebrated the Statue of Liberty's centenary.  And we were there, with our young family.

There were only two hotels still taking bookings when we were planning our trip and we now know that the one we chose had 10 minutes before our arrival been a brothel.  As we walked into the lobby, they were still cleaning up, arranging indoor plants to distract the startled new arrivals.  The lift was attached to an elastic band which all added to the excitement.

But we were there. What a day.  Looking at the video now, I know the patriotism shown in 1986 may appear a little quaint, but the memories of that day still give me goosebumps.

Happy birthday Miss Liberty.

Australia

I want to go to Australia.  Oh, hang on - I'm already here.



I confess to being a little smitten with this TV commercial.  What a voice.  The singer is Tasmanian  Dewayne Everettsmith, who co-wrote the song with American viola player Jasmine Beams whose beautiful playing can also be heard in this video.

Quilting weather

The year's half gone and here we are in Sydney in the middle of a cold winter.  It's perfect quilting weather, which is just as well, because the Gems Quilt Sitters' 2012 challenge quilt deadline is almost upon me and I've yet to miss one.

The machine quilting is finished, but there's a fair amount of hand quilting to go.  Nothing like a fast approaching deadline to get that rush of adrenaline started.

When life gives you lemons

You make a lot of lemon desserts, which is what I did when our daughter gave us a bucket full from their over-laden lemon tree last week.  First up was the lemon delicious, then my friend Rowena's Greek Lemon and Coconut Cake.  Still the fruit bowl groaned with lemons.  It was time to bring out the big guns - my legendary (in my mind) ...

 

Lemon Meringue Pie.  Oh yes. 

Feeling a little virtuous for using what was at hand, I cast my eye around my sewing studio to see what improvements I could make.

I didn't have to look far - the book shelves were groaning with magazines, most with post-it stickers for future reference (my food magazines have more stickers than pages). I had been meaning for some time to create mini fabric bolts using archive card, but who needs cardboard when you are the Magazine Queen?  If you have the same fetish and feel guilty about the ever-growing stack, then here's a good way to ease your conscience.

Take your fabric which is already folded selvage to selvage and fold it in half lengthwise, making four thicknesses.

Place the magazine on top of the folded fabric.

Make the first fold, being careful to align the edges.  See how perfectly the magazine fits?  Feeling very smug.

Keep folding, smoothing as you go along.

Voila!  I find that you can wind up to 3 metres before it starts to become a little bulky.

Now I feel like singing like Mrs Bucket every time I look at my bookshelf.

We Fudges tend to buy rather large jars of coffee when they are on special at the supermarket and siphon the contents into a smaller jar, thus keeping the larger volume protected from becoming stale.  When the larger jars are finally empty, they are put to good use.

I love looking at the vintage buttons which until now have been stored away in a box.  They belonged to my late mother who could never resist a bargain, particularly if it involved fabric, buttons, art books, good crockery, or magazines (of course).  Our children used to play with the buttons when they were little and now they are ready for our grandchildren.  

Just as well it's cold - it's perfect weather for plenty of coffee drinking.  I need more jars because I have so many more of my mother's buttons to display.  Must remember to buy some eucalyptus oil to remove those pesky gold labels.

Deadlines

Possibly it's the end of the financial year lurking on the horizon, bringing dreaded thoughts of tax returns to be completed. Whatever it is, this month has been full of deadlines.

As a consequence my poor Etsy and MadeIt shops have been woefully neglected and the fabric I had purchased at the beginning of the month lay there staring at me mournfully.

Finally I was able to make this reversible swing dress, with promises of more completed items next week.  With that behind me, I couldn't put off any longer the next most pressing deadline ... machine quilting a challenge quilt, due in Brisbane in a couple of weeks.

Wish I could show you more, but shhh ... it's a secret.  However, you can go here to take a look at an earlier challenge. 

I guess I should be grateful for deadlines, otherwise I would possibly just sit here in front of my computer screen and vegetate.  Sigh.