Our daughter's wedding
Our gorgeous daughter, Justine, married Andrew on 9th November at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast. It was the most beautiful and happy celebration of their love for each other. Justine looked stunning in her Dogstar designed dress and her red rose bouquet was breathtaking. Andrew looked pretty good too. We had a great time at the reception, lots of laughs and fabulous food. I think we were all sorry that the day had finished. The happy couple went to China on their honeymoon and had a fantastic time.

LES Blythe
Here is a photo of one of my Blythe dolls in New York City. I love Blythe dolls and have four of them. The background is of the Lower East Side and I think she is a real LES girl, a bit bohemian, a bit alternative and absolutely gorgeous.

New York New York
In October I went to New York City to visit my son, Richard. I had the most fabulous time and fell in love with the Big Apple. My son lives on the Lower East Side (photo on the right) and this was my favourite place, I loved the architecture especially the tenement buildings, the many different eating places - I will never forget my pastrami on rye at Katz's (famous from When Harry met Sally) where I finally got to have a kosher pickle.


One of the places I wanted to visit was the Brooklyn Bridge and here I am, very excited, standing on the Brooklyn Bridge - it was awesome. I got to visit Bloomingdales, stand on the viewing platform of the Rockefeller Centre, see the Financial District (where my son worked), have a hot dog with the works from a street side vendor, visit New Jersey on the PATH train, visit Queens, have a fantastic Italian meal in Brooklyn and Little Italy, and visit the Metropolitan Museum and Central Park.
A visit to Liberty Island and The Statue of Liberty was the highlight of my trip. Here is my son Richard in front of that fabulous Lady. What can I say but that it took my breath away. I will never forget my fabulous trip, the people I met, the sights I saw and that New York really is the city that never sleeps.

Kokeshi Dolls
I love to collect kokeshi dolls and here are some of my new ones. I have found a shop in Brisbane that sells them so it is easy for me to buy them now - my husband is not as happy as I am though.

Our furry visitor
Here is a photo of a brushtail possum who sometimes comes to stay in my husband's workshop. My husband has been known to give him a piece of apple. He is just so cute and never bothers if my husband is doing something noisy. He probably visits once a week so it is a special time for us when we see him.

Dragon
I made this cloth dragon for my husband. The pattern was designed by Melinda Small Paterson who has designed some fabulous dragons. I especially loved this dragon as he just oozes character. I think of him as our house protector. He took me many hours to make but I had a great time making him and best of all my husband just loves him.

Colourful visitors These are a few of the lorikeets who visit us. What a display

One of the boys. Here is a photo of one of the Kookaburras who visit us everyday. I just love this photo. The brown bird in the background is a juvenile butcher bird who is hoping for a free feed.

Engagement
Patrick and I are so thrilled that our daughter Justine got engaged to Andrew on the 3rd January, 2007. We already feel Andrew is part of our family. Justine's ring is just fabulous and I need my sunglasses on to look at it :-). Here is my favourite photo of them looking very happy - I just love it. Congratulations Justine and Andrew - love you.

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.