Some more bookmarks and books
Just can't resist bookmarks and I found these gorgeous ones on ebay. These gorgeous girls are called "Flapper Follies" and I think they are just divine. They will get lots of use as I can't stop buying books and here are a few of my latest buys.

My walk to work
Here are some photos of the places I see as I walk to work from the railway station. The first photo is of the start of the walk down to the Eleanor Schonell Bridge crossing the Brisbane River. The bridge is a great way to get to the University of Queensland and it is Australia's only foot, bus and cycle bridge. The second photo is of the Eleanor Schonell Bridge looking from Dutton Park towards St Lucia and you can just see some University buildings above the tree line. The next photo is the walkway across the bridge. Here are a family of ducks who live near the lakes in the University grounds.
The last photos are of the Great Court. It is the most beautiful place and a lovely place to sit during the day.

Love Is by Rosalie Quinlan
I just love BOMs (Block of the Month). I don't get time these days to visit many quilt shops but I can still get my quilting fix with BOMs. I have done many of them over the past years and at present I am working on Love Is by Rosalie Quinlan. I just love this quilt, especially the stitchery. It is very relaxing to sit and stitch and listen to one of my Agatha Christie talking books - heaven. I have finished stitching two blocks and here they are. I am working on the angel block at the moment and listening to "Cards on the Table".

Wedding Anniversary
It was our 36th Wedding Anniversary last week. Here we are all that long time ago looking very young.

Our bird friends
My husband was out feeding Willie, the lorikeet, when he decided my husband was taking too long to get out his food. He just hopped into the glass container and helped himself. We still laugh about that day.
We had another welcome visitor last week. Just at the bottom of the front steps was a gorgeous Tawny Frogmouth. We have had five of them in the tree at the side of the house but never one that near. As you walked by the tree he put his head in the air and closed his eyes. He obviously thought with that approach you couldn't see him. What a sweetie.

Pandora bracelet
I got a pandora bracelet from my husband for Christmas. He let me pick out what I wanted to go on it so I had a great time picking out charms to go on it. I chose hearts, a pumpkin (when I was in NYC it was near to Thanksgiving and the shops were filled with orange pumpkins so this is a happy reminder of my holiday with my son), a suitcase for my trip (and Paris on the suitcase - I would love to go to Paris), the sign for Taurus, L for Linda, the symbol for happiness, the "mother" I got from my daughter for Christmas (something I shall always cherish) and the glass beads which I just adore. I just love this bracelet as it reflects all the things I love. I have a lot of fun thinking about what I will add next.

My Girls

I also love Blythe and Pullip dolls. I have four Blythes (one is still in the box). Here is a photo of them in my display cabinet. The blonde one is lili lou (Sunday Very Best); the blue one is misayo san - the LES girl (Asian Butterfly Encore) and the brown haired one is kooki (Birdie Blue). I just love these dolls and I have had fun getting new clothes for them and I especially love the lolita shoes that lili lou is wearing. There are many collectors of Blythe dolls around the world. I also love Marilyn Monroe dolls as you can see.
I have recently started collecting pullip dolls. I think these are very beautiful dolls. The one of the left is Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffanys's and the blonde one is Miss America with tiara. The doll in the box at the back is the New York Haute Doll Pullip, a limited edition of 500, which features on the cover of Haute Doll magazine (Jan/Feb 2008). I just had to have this doll as she brings back many happy memories of my time in New York visiting my son. I just love that the doll has a dog and metro card as part of her accessories. Everywhere I went in New York I saw people walking their dogs - it was just amazing the size of some of the dogs that must live in apartments.


Here is my favourite photo of Miss America. Isn't she just fabulous?

Momiji dolls
As well as my love of kokeshi dolls I have found momiji dolls. They are really cute and I just love them. My daughter bought me my first one (peaches) when she went to Sydney. I have since bought four from GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art, in Brisbane) when I went there with my son (he wasn't fazed when I bought four at once) and yesterday I bought another one (laughing). They all have descriptions of what they like. From left to right: laughing - cowboys and playing the bongos; cherries - collecting buttons and elton john; cha cha cha - the sound of music; giggles - reading, butterflies and rugby; peaches - marmite and jackie chan and blu - flip flops and bach's cello suite no. 5 in c minor.

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.