Australian Christmas.

Hello all,

As you may have read in my last post I am holiday in Noosa Queensland and I thought I would give you an idea of how we celebrate Christmas here. Certainly no snow and no woollies. Our Christmas dinners are often eaten outside to make the most of the beautiful weather. We do partake in the traditional dinners of Ham and Turkey which can sometimes be a little much when the oven is roasting along with every one else in 35 degree heat. Often we have seafood and BBQ's and it is certainly the more becoming more the norm these days.

Being on Holiday I had very little at hand in the way of miniatures so I made this little post with all that I could gather together. I'm sure you can guess what the Christmas tree originally was.....hehe! I tried my hand at sewing the little Christmas stockings and made the star fish and candy canes from Femo. The baubles are beads from the craft shop.

I must mention the Pineapple.......Something that is often part of a Christmas celebration in all sorts of uses, fruit platters, Salads, glazing hams....the list goes on but I put this in to bring a smile to the face of a certain person.......you know who you are.....; )

Merry Christmas to all and I would like to thank you all for your lovely encouraging comments and your warm friendships. It has made an otherwise difficult year bearable knowing you are all out there.

Love and good will to all and  have a wonderful Holiday.

Much Love,

Fi xx

Time for a cuppa?

Hello every one,

A big sigh of relief as we finaly make it to our Holiday destination and the world stops spinning so fast!!

I am up early as I usual before every one else, it's my favourite time of day, peace and quiet before the days activities. Not much on today except beach and sitting beside the pool so a quick blog catch up is ideal relaxation.  My apologies to all for being so absent from the blogsphere, some how I wound up with both sides of my family for Christmas dinner only 2 days after we arrive home from our holiday which meant I had to leave the house fully prepared for Christmas, not to mention fitting in my son's 18th birthday and getting him through all his final exams before we left.

So needless to say I had a very long list of things to do stuck on my fridge and I managed to get through all of it except for one, which was  Do Kitchen Post. One I was supposed to do early on but I was disappointed with how my photos turned out because I rushed them and I haven't been able to re-photograph them. So I have decided to post just a few for now because I don't have much else and when things slow down I can photograph some of the lovely things I collected for my kitchen and properly link them to all the places they came from.

Here are just a few that will give you a bit of an idea on my progress so far.

My original idea was to go step by step through the kitchen door, as if the lady of the house had arrived back from the market and was about to have breakfast before she prepared for lunch with her friend.....thus the wine, wheel of Brie and baguette in the basket (my favourite with friends). Each step showing the little things I have made and collected. I did make the baguette and found the wine and cheese label on the internet. I made pears and lemons and other goodies and painted some little paintings but unfortunately you can't see them.......I will re photograph when I get back.

Happy minis every one!!

ML Fi xxxx

A Day at the Races

 

Hello every one and welcome to my new followers.

Today I have decided to give you a little taste of Australian Culture. Whilst you have all been busy with your pumpkins and and witches we have been preparing for one of our biggest and most glamorous sporting events......The Melbourne Spring Racing carnival. There are six major Horse Racing events that make up the carnival. The Caulfeid cup, Cox plate, Derby Day pronounced Dar -bee, The Mebourne Cup, Oaks Day and finally Emirates stakes day.

The last four races are held over one week with Derby Day opening the Melbourne cup week. Derby day is considered to be the most prestigious days of racing in Australasia with four races in the elite group 1 level. The Fashion is almost as important as the Horse racing it's self and black and white is traditionally worn on the day. It is, for a lot of us, all about the out fit and many going to great lengths and expense to coordinate Hats, dresses, handbags and of course shoes. The hat is the central focus of the ensemble  often a work of art in it's design. Many of our major corporations position Marques with elaborate furnishings and catering the most prestigious being the Emirates Birdcage with a guest list of  Australian and international celebrities. This year our most famous visitor was our own lovely Nichole Kidman dressed in an Audrey Hepburn my fair lady inspired out fit.

Here are a few pictures i have taken from the internet to show you a small sample of the beautiful fashions of the day.

I thought I had better add in some mens fashion but I must say there are no where near the amount of mens fashion images as women's.

Today is Melbourne Cup day and you may have heard we have a holiday to mark the occasion. Yes thats right, a holiday for a horse race! The Melbourne cup is the highest prize money of all the races offering $3,600,000 for first place. Makybe diva being the most successful consecutive winner of the cup three times in a row. Most amazing because she was a mare and still one it with extra weights in the last race.

The fashions for  cup day are more vibrant and the general atmosphere is very festive. Oaks day is considered ladies day and the tradition is to wear brightly coloured frocks.

Finally I will leave you with some photos of the Flemington Roses that are a beautiful spectacle and are famous for marking the season. My apologies for some double up on the images and i hope you didn't mind me slotting in a picture of yours truly with my handsome husband.

Ilona's gifts.

Hello Every One,

I would like to give a very warm welcome to my new followers, thank you so much for stopping by.

I finally had the right light to photograph the beautiful little gifts I received from Ilona after commissioning her to make a Magnolia branch for Ambrosia Place. Every little detail has been thought of, notice the Magnolia Fragrance bottle in the centre, an envelope complete with a Magnolia post card inside, some printed canvases for framing and the white linen I have shown you before. All the little feminine bottles are made by her careful hand including the tiny little nail polish bottle with a lid that comes of and brush inside. So many lovely things that will add a feminine touch to Ambrosia Place, I just love the candle and the hat is so elegant trimmed in apricot roses, I couldn't resist placing with my CoCo mademoiselle.

Thank you so much Ilona, you know how I will always treasure these thoughtful gifts.

Much love to you all, Fi xx

P.S I didn't photo shop those top photos, it's all the real thing.