Learning to love Sydney

Since moving to Canberra a few years ago I've visited Sydney several times and I just never really enjoy it.  To me it is just a big, grey city without any of the charm of Australia's other big city (and my one time home), Melbourne.  But it is only three hours drive away and is full of sights, shows and shopping, so last year I decided that I needed to learn to love Sydney.  MH and I went again recently for a wedding, the weather wasn't very nice that weekend, but there was some yummy food, a couple of impressive views and a quick visit to a great fabric shop!

Zumbo's dessert train

It's like a sushi train, but with desserts.  Sadly it sounds more exciting and delicious than it was, or maybe I just over hyped it to myself?

More desserts...

View through a taxi window - yes, it's the Harbour Bridge!

People actually live with this view everyday!  I can't imagine what the house prices here are like though...

Surely one of the best views from a wedding reception venue?  Later in the evening we could even see fireworks across the harbour.

So I still don't love Sydney, but I'm starting to like it (that's a good start!).

Fit for a puppy...

Hurrah, MH has helped fix my photo issue!  So to celebrate, here is a cute photo for your Sunday night...

MH was taking photos of my latest toile when Tansy came seeking attention.

Woe is me

Is anyone else having problems uploading photos to blogger?  I've had this issue for a little while and though I have a couple of draft posts ready to post, they are drab and boring without photos.  So if you don't hear from me for a while it is because I'm still trawling the internet for help or sulking about my photo function loss..!

Packing up

I don't know about you, but when I travel I always have lots of plastic bags in my suitcase.  For my shoes, my dirty clothes, to protect delicate items, to store newly purchased souvenirs - half of the items in my suitcase end up in plastic bags.  But there comes a time in every woman's life when even her shoe bags need to grow up a bit!  What a great excuse for a bit of scrap busting sewing.

I made three different sizes (each based on the amount of leftover fabric I had!).  They are a simple sack with a length of grosgrain ribbon for a drawstring.  Easy peasy to make and they will help the inside of my suitcase look so much prettier!  If you have any travel or packing tips (sewing or non-sewing!) please share them.

Brushing away the dust

Oh, where has the time gone?!  Sorry for my absence, I will try and be a better blogger...!  I've been offline because of a mix of shoulder issues and a holiday!  I'll slowly catch up on the backlog of blogs to read, put some new posts of my own up, get into some more sewing and also find time to figure out if the end of google reader is something I should be concerned about!

Hope you are all well and have lots of interesting posts for me to read!

Dressed up in Blue

I wore my new Blue Dress to work last week.  It was lovely to wear and I received some great compliments on it.

 

 The bodice isn't lopsided, I am..!  I've since tut-tutted to my photographer that it is his job to notice how the clothes are sitting before taking photos!  My shoulder is still a bit sloped from the operation and I think I was also subconsciously pulling the sleeve down a bit to cover the scar.  But I can assure you that the bodice itself is not lopsided!

Overall I'm pretty happy with the dress and only wish I'd finished it before the end of summer!

Next projects are the Burda jacket for MH and a self drafted tunic for me.

Babies in the garden

A photo visit to the new babies in our garden.  Not pictured here is the HUGE redback spider I also saw.  Redbacks are very poisonous and even though no one has died from a redback bite for decades (since the antivenom was introduced), a bite would still require a trip to hospital emergency and are apparently really painful.  I get quite worried for Tansy as she is always poking her nose into dark places and one day might annoy the wrong creature, so I'm always on the lookout for them.  Redbacks are the only pest we use nasty chemical poison on in our backyard - I can't bear the thought of stepping on them (my toes literally curl at the thought!) incase I miss and one runs up my leg and bites me!  I find about 10 redbacks a year in our backyard and the one yesterday was the biggest I think I've ever seen.

Anyway, on to much prettier (and less deadly!) garden adventures!...

Baby tree fern frond

 Baby raspberries - hooray that we are getting an Autumn crop!

 Baby butternut pumpkin

 Baby purple capsicum

Baby Italian melon - we've been trying to grow these for the past couple of years.  This is our first success after snails ate the young shoots the first year and last year the seeds didn't even germinate.  I think it is kind of like a rockmelon??  Has anyone ever grown these?