More ebay bracelets Here are some of my new bracelets that I have bought on ebay. One is a Geisha Treasures - Good Karma bracelet from one of my favourite designers - JunQueJules. I love this bracelet especially the Mah Jong pieces as my husband and I used to love playing Mah Jong. I love anything religious so I had to buy the icon bracelet from Karen Hickerson and I just had to have the religious medal bracelet.
My husband just shakes his head at my bracelet addiction - I'm lucky he is so tolerant. I have bought another bracelet which my son is bringing with him when he comes home from New York on holiday in January. This one is a tarot theme bracelet.

Quirky gals with attitude
One of my favourite doll designers is Jill Maas. I had a lot of fun making these two dolls from Jill's Ageing Angels pattern. I usually have one of them on my desk at work and I often get lots of funny comments especially from men. I love these quirky gals - they make me smile everytime I look at them. The hair on the purple one is made from bits of thread left over from sewing and I used old man's beard for the hair on the silver one.

Kookaburra Wallhanging
This wallhanging was based on a photo I took of two kookaburras who visit us everyday. It isn't finished yet and as I don't get much time these days for quilting I am not sure just when I will ever finish it. I usually only ever do hand applique but this was started in a class with Jenny Bowker, whose work I am in awe of, and she taught us all about using Vliesofix to attach the pieces. This is one of my favourite quilts containing one of my favourite birds so hopefully one day it will be hanging in our lounge.

Ebay buying
I have been having a lot of fun buying on ebay lately. One of the favourite things I have bid on and won is this fabulous bracelet from Canada. My husband thinks I am a bit of a witch so this bracelet was for me. It is called witching hour and as it is nearly Halloween it seems appropriate to put it on my blog. I just love it - it has witches, cats, an owl, a skull with a moving bottom jaw, a clock nearly at the witching hour, stars, moons and lots and lots of beautiful beads. I am really enjoying myself on ebay, I have bought a gorgeous Barbie doll (I think I am enjoying my second childhood) and some stuff for my husband. There is a beautiful bracelet that I would like so I am hoping that I am lucky enough to get it. Keep your fingers and toes crossed that I don't get outbid.

Some Visitors
Here are some of the birds who visit us everyday. They bring us some much pleasure. The best times are when they bring their young. Here are four galahs enjoying some food. Our favourite is one we call 'Stumpy'. He has lost one of his legs but he still manages to push his way in for a feed, sadly he is not in this photo. Another of our favourites are the butcher birds. Here are two photos of an adult (just gorgeous) and a juvenile with some lorikeets. Some other birds we get visiting us are kookaburras and magpies. We feel so privileged to have these wild birds coming to our back deck. We love to listen to their magnificent calls. I must admit my favourite is the kookaburra.

My beautiful children
My blog wouldn't be complete without a photo of my beautiful children. They have achieved so much, both have PhD's, and professionally they are achieving wonderful things. My darling daughter, loves her boyfriend Andrew, her two ragdoll cats - kiki and suki, clothes designed by Dogstar and jewellery especially from Tiffanys. My darling son lives in New York and works on Wall Street. I am waiting for him to get his Armani suit. He loves all things NY, skateboarding and going out for a good time with his many friends. They are the most wonderful people - intelligent, fun to be with, ambitious but with a sense of compassion. I am very proud of them. Love you heaps....Mum

German Half Doll
This little half doll was my first ebay buy. I got her with 5 seconds to spare. I knew I had to have her when I saw her. She is 7cms tall, circa 1930, made in Germany and has the number 5936 around the base. She is so lovely and delicate. The description of her said that she had come from an estate sale and I imagine what a life she must have had - very genteel and refined or living a secret life as a flapper, sneaking out at night to go to nightclubs, drinking martinis and meeting dangerous men. She actually came from a Brisbane antique dealer so she didn't have far to travel. I hope she will be happy in her new home.

Menopause the musical
I went with my daughter and some friends from work last Thursday to see Menopause the musical at the Twelfth Night Theatre, Brisbane. We set off with a glass of pink bubbly to put us in the mood and from then onwards we never stopped laughing. We laughed till we cried - it was all so funny and true. At the end of the performance they asked people to come on the stage. I thought why not and got my good friend Sonya to come as well. We ended up on the front row - I held hands with one of the stars of the show and Sonya's hand was held in a death grip by the man standing next to her. We danced and laughed and had a ball. We each got a badge as a memento of going on the stage and I don't think I will ever forget this wonderful, magical and hilarious night.

The Waikiki Girl
Here is my favourite photo of Suki - Justine's ragdoll cat. Justine calls this photo Aloha Suki and I just think that is just perfect. I took this photo at Justine's birthday party - Suki quite happily wandered around with the lei around her neck. Her sister Kiki wasn't so cooperative. I think of Suki as the waikiki girl.

Off to New York

Our son, Richard, now lives and works in New York. This photo was taken when he left Australia. He is having a wonderful time living in Tribeca and working on Wall Street. I envy him being able to walk everywhere and there always seem to be something happening. Our daugher, Justine, visited him recently and they both had a great time visiting lots of bars and going to watch the Yankees and of course for Justine, shopping.

These are some of the dolls I have made. The patterns are by elinor peace bailey, Rhonda McGinnity and Cachet. I love all these dolls but I think my favourite is the gypsy (epb). She is one of the biggest dolls I have made and I have her sitting on the lounge. I made her after I took a class with elinor - she was a great inspiration and I came away from the class confident enough to tackle the most difficult of faces. I now like to experiment with my own ideas and designs but I still love all of elinor's patterns - they just have something.

Material Girl
When my daughter was in the USA recently, we looked after her beautiful ragdoll cats - Suki and Kiki. They were a lot of fun and I enjoyed having them stay very much. I often found little things missing - wooden stamps etc. I then figured out that Suki was having a lot of fun taking them and hiding them. Kiki liked to sit in my quilting material drawers (in the end I took all the material out so there was more room for her) . I couldn't resist taking a picture of her there looking very innocent and adorable.

57th Wedding Anniversary

It was my parents, Jack and Kitty, 57th Wedding Anniversary last month. We had a lovely day with them. My dad is in his 80's and he still plays golf and supports his favourite football team - Blackburn Rovers. My mum still knits and crochets and loves doing cryptic crosswords. We had a lovely lunch of fish and chips (their favourite) and a delicious strawberry cream cake - yum yum.

A few weekends ago I went with my husband to a swap meet at Caboolture. I call it boy's shopping. I have been to many swap meets and I really enjoy them. I love it when there are trash and treasure stalls and then I can buy something. Sadly this was a bikes only swap but I did enjoy watching grown men rummage around in piles of rusty parts and get all excited when they made a find. It was only a small swap but my husband still managed to find a few things.

I love cat ornaments and my daughter bought me some more when she went to New York to visit my son, and to Boston. Here is just a selection of my cats. The yellow happy cat and the black paper mache are the one she bought me. I have to smile when I look at them. She also brought me back a Harvard t-shirt (she was there for 2 weeks) I love NY t-shirt and bag, a card set I had wanted so much and a Harvard Mom cup that I am now using for my cuppa at work. I am hoping to visit my son in New York so think of all the wonderful kitsch I can get whilst I am there. I am in heaven just thinking about it.