New quilt and new BOM
I got these absolutely beautiful Japanese fabrics in a kit from the Quilted Kimono. The quilt is called Hanashi II and it is just gorgeous. I am so looking forward to making this quilt and it will give me a chance to practice my machine quilting with my new Bernina. I just love BOMs and I have started a new one "The French Collection" from the Quilters Bazaar. It has beautiful stitchery blocks depicting scenes from a French village and the hand made and hand painted buttons are just delightful. I just wish there were a few more hours in the day.
New Visitor and some old friends
As well as all the birds and possums that come for a visit we now have a new new visitor. Here is a photo of the brush turkey who sometimes passes through. We are very thankful that he hasn't started to rearrange our garden yet. Here are some old visitors, the gorgeous galahs who make me smile.
Yum ChaI had a fabulous time last weekend going for Yum Cha at the Golden Dragon Restaurant in the Valley. This was my first experience of Yum Cha and I just loved it. I went with a friend who is from Singapore so I left everything up to her. The tea, a mixture of Chinese tea and Chrysanthemum flowers, was a pure delight and the variety of food was incredible. I loved everything but my favourite was Siu Mai (steamed pork dim sums).
Sydney Trip
I had fantastic time in Sydney visiting our daughter Justine and SIL Andrew. The weather was great, not too cold and blue skies, and of course Sydney was her glorious self. My favourite Sydney icon is the Harbour Bridge and I was so happy to see it again on our way to the Rocks. We did lots of shopping including a visit to the Queen Victoria Building (just glorious) and lots of markets including Paddington Market. I bought lots of kitsch things, an asian good luck money box cat, a felt angel from the Phillipines, a matryoshka doll, some bookmarks (of course) and my daughter bought me a tiara t
hat I can hang on the wall. I have a thing lately for crowns and tiaras. We ate lots of fantastic food - a delicious meal at an Italian Restaurant in Burwood and a wonderful home cooked Italian pasta dish cooked by Andrew who is a wonderful chef - Buon Appetito. As you can see I just love Italian food. Thank you Justine and Andrew and that Suki girl (their gorgeous rag doll cat) for an absolutely wonderful time. Great place, great shopping, great food and more importantly great company.
My new BerninaHere is my gorgeous new 440QE Bernina. She is an absolute dream and in her honour I am calling her 'la stupenda'. I have been practising my free-motion stitching this morning with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) - my stitches are now all even and it really is so amazing. I haven't got around to trying out the other quilting stitches yet nor the decorative stitches. I feel I am in sewing machine heaven - I couldn't ask for a more wonderful machine that does more than I could ever need. I will be writing more about my sewing machine adventures in the coming weeks.
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.
Love Is by Rosalie QuinlanI 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 AnniversaryIt 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.
Momiji dollsAs 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 weddingOur 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 BlytheHere 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 YorkIn 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 visitorHere 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.
ove this wallhanging and I am so glad
on her beautiful ButterflyGarden BOM. I brought my sewing machine into the lounge so I could watch the Olympics. I had a great time this morning sewing with my new machine, watching Australia win Gold in the swimming and piecing Blocks 1 and 2 of my BOM.
I have finally finished piecing the small blocks and now I can start to applique the butterflies, hearts and flowers. I received my Sweet Land of Liberty BOM yesterday from Buggy Barn in the US. I am so thrilled with this quilt as I love American themes and naive style quilts - this quilt has it all. I have also joined a pincushion BOM which will start next month so I am looking forward to posting photos of my pincushions. As I was putting my sewing machine back in my sewing room I realised that I had not posted a photo of my new bookcase. I had planned on using it for all my books but as usual I had to display some of my favourite things as well. So it ended up as two shelves for treasures and two for my favourite books. I couldn't take a photo in my sewing room without a photo of my barbies. I (and my friends) have rescued these bar
bies from op. shops - I just love them all.
As well as all the birds and possums that come for a visit we now have a new new visitor. Here is a photo of the brush turkey who sometimes passes through. We are very thankful that he hasn't started to rearrange our garden yet. Here are some old visitors, the gorgeous galahs who make me smile.
Yum Cha
hat I can hang on the wall. I have a thing lately for crowns and tiaras. We ate lots of fantastic food - a delicious meal at an Italian Restaurant in Burwood and a wonderful home cooked Italian pasta dish cooked by Andrew who is a wonderful chef - Buon Appetito. As you can see I just love Italian food. Thank you Justine and Andrew and that Suki girl (their gorgeous rag doll cat) for an absolutely wonderful time. Great place, great shopping, great food and more importantly great company.
My new Bernina
The last photos are of the Great Court. It is the most beautiful place and a lovely place to sit during the day.
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".
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.
ave 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.
ollecting 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.
New York New York
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.
Our furry visitor
