Monday, November 18, 2013

MEETING FRIENDS


And so, the Cardinals flew off to Sydney once again.
 Bridge was still there..


and good old Circular Quay with the ferries..

While Mr C did 'business', I went off on my much-anticipated, blogger meeting and tour of the fabric shops, with the talented Valerie, of

Reader, I loved it!



Valerie was a lovely and charming guide, with an adorable European accent which caught me by surprise!
Our sewing synchronicity is quite perfect, and we chatted like old friends, 
non-stop, for well over three hours.  
Is it always like this when we meet a blog friend for the first time?
Pop on over to Val's blog and you can read all about it...


I am seriously in love with pastels this summer..


Linen, my favourite hot-weather fabric, in white, navy, minty green and lilac..


and a pink polished cotton - you can never have too much pink -


plus an interesting jersey, reptile/stripe combination.
Quite a haul, you must agree.

I notice I never stray far from my preferred colours of choice ...


Thinking of Jackie this week ..
She is one of my all-time style icons - and she loved pink too...


and a nautical navy stripe,


and white



and here she is wearing something which might be lilac, when the Mona Lisa came to town ...


She wore delicate mint green to daughter Caroline's wedding.
Not that I thought of any of this when I was shopping..

I have been watching many of the documentaries about the Kennedys -
even though I have heard it all before.  
There is certainly a lingering mystique about the Camelot time of the Kennedy presidency.  


But I digress - Thank you Val, for a lovely day in Sydney, and the best fabric binge I've had in years..


When we came home, Little Aussie was here for a visit..
He is now 4, and quite the little man...


Aussie, his Dad, and Mr C, are becoming poetic architects in lego these days..





I mean, we all love a giant chicken on the roof, OK?


Aussie loves to cook, and asked me if we could make cup-cakes ..
As luck would have it, we found a packet of sugar dinosaurs in the pantry.
Amazing.


We followed with a unique banana and Milo muffin recipe, of Aussie's own devising. 

He went home happily clutching a paper bag of his cooking achievements...

And we were left tired but happy after a Very Busy Week!


PS: the Red Cardinal Garden of Neglect has excelled, and produced a host of white gladioli - all by itself!

Have a great week, dear blog friends

XXXX









29 comments:

  1. Meeting like minded blogging friends is such good fun. Glad you had a lovely time. Little Aussie is so cute and I bet he was very proud of his culinary brown paper bag loot.

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    1. Hi Michelle, Sydney was great, coming down to earth now! Aussie loves to take something home every time - those brown paper bags from the nice shoppes come in very handy.

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  2. Sounds like you have been having a great time. I like pastels too - particularly all together so you get a mix of different ones. Jackie was remarkable, in that even when that style of clothing was way out of fashion, maybe 20 years ago, she still managed to look stunning and wonderful. I'm surprised little Aussie wanted to eat his cakes, my experience is usually that kids flatly refuse to eat anything they make, goodness knows why :) but still - cupcakes are extremely tempting And of course there were the dinosaurs to think of.... :D

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    1. Hi Jenny, that is an interesting point re Jackie. She did her own style thing, and always looked great. I'm not so sure Aussie will eat much of his cakes, going by what we saw here. The icing seems to be the preferred section, and the remainder gets rather toyed with! The dinosaurs were quite a hit of course!

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  3. Love the sugar dinosaurs! Cooking with children is one of my favorite things to do. Since my only grandchildren are little furry Yorkie/Maltese, I am totally jealous.
    Sounds like you had a ball in Sydney - and I love what you bought. Funny thing about Jackie Kennedy's colors is that when you see her in red, she is stunning, twice as beautiful as in all those pastels. But I think she was more focused on "lady-like" than glamorous. As am I. ;)

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    1. I need to find more of those dinosaurs Beryl. They were the hit of the day. Our only grandchild for a very long time was a little girl grandpuppy, for whom we always buy pink Christmas gifts! I'm off to google Jackie in red - didn't try that. Yes, more lady-like, and definitely not the Hollywood type of glamour. As am I too ;)

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  4. Lovely post Patricia. I'm with you on Jackie Kennedy, she was so refined and always dressed the part. Glad you had a good trip.
    Patricia x

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    1. Hello Patricia, Jackie still has a lot of fans. Of course she had flaws (don't we all?), but her style was wonderful. xx

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  5. I'm glad you had such a nice trip. I love Jackie's style too, she always looked elegant and beautiful. I'm sure she still would if she were alive today. I don't remember whether I'd said hi or not, but I'm a new follower and enjoying your blog. :)

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    1. Hi Jennifer, welcome to my blog and I am glad you are enjoying it. I have been enjoying looking at yours too. Yes, it is now 20 years since Jackie passed, I think, and I can imagine she would have aged just as elegantly as she always was. There are a lot of docos on this week, so I am having a good old look at her again!

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  6. Only a little accent, Val! I love languages and accents, so of course that is what I notice :) Can't wait to start sewing, either...

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  7. Lovely that you should meet another blogging friend and get on so well.
    The months ahead look as if they will be busy from the sewing point of view.
    I remember so many people used to try and copy Jackie's style - her hair, clothes, she was very elegant.

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    1. It was fun to have my first blog meeting, and it went very well indeed Rosemary. It probably will be months before I get through all this fabric, as this is a busy time of year. And I am very behind in my Art Gallery research and planning. People did copy Jackie - I confess to having a pink suit back in the day, which was a close copy of the Dallas one. What was I thinking????

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  8. Looks like you got some of our bad weather we have had lately, sounds like you made the most of your time here.

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    1. As always I had a great time in Sydney, Greenthumb, and yes, crazy storms going on in Brisbane too. Welcome to my blog!

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  9. How long is the flight from Brisbane to Sydney? ( just curious ).
    What a fine thing - you to bloggers getting along so well.
    I´d actually be quite nervous to meet any of you IRL.
    Good for you.
    Oh, so pretty flowers in the middle of November.
    It seems that I´ll never get over the time zone difference.
    Wishing you a nice week!

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    1. Time in the air is 1 hour Mette; time getting to and from airport, plus flight delays, brings total travel time to 4-5 hours!! I was quite nervous about meeting a blogger, but all went well. The time zone is tricky because during Spring and Autumn, we are having similar temperatures, but once the snow falls in the north, we are going into the sizzling summer. Only the toughest flowers will survive!

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  10. I knew you'd have a wonderful time, Patricia. Your experience is just the same a mine - an instant meeting of minds and hours of happy conversation. I love your haul of fabrics and am sure that the clothes you create will look just as elegant as Jackie's.

    As for your grandson, he's adorable and at such a lovely age, interested in everything and learning without realising it. I've always done cooking with our three and they enjoy it every time.

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    1. Perpetua, you were right, and all went swimmingly. A partner in crime is a great incentive to stretch the fabric budget - he he. Little grandson is maturing, and we have wonderful conversations. He asked "Are you impressed of me?" :)

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  11. I'm so glad you showed some gladioli, you can't get them for love or money here in France, they seem to have gone the same way as carnations; the French are as fickle in their taste in flowers as much as in fashion ! A bientôt en France !!xx

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    1. You know, I think they are rather out of style here too, but I found the bulbs in what we happily refer to as a Cheap Shop. Popped them in wondering if anything would emerge, and you see the happy result!
      Bonjour from Oz!! xx

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  12. How fun that would be to go on a fabric binge in Australia! Little Aussie is so cute as usual!

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    1. Fabric shops are becoming quite rare in Australia, so when I see a good one, it is time to act!

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  13. Over the years I've met a few bloggers and each time it was great fun. Sounds like your day was the same. Nothing like having a little cook in the family to make a Grandma happy is there?

    Darla

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    1. Darla, I met another blogger today, and again, great fun. The little cook takes one look at me on arrival and says 'Can we cook ....'. Artful little man, and happy Grandma.

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  14. Patricia,
    What a lovely visit with your blog friend. I really liked Jackie Kennedy too. Isn't she a classic beauty? I didn't realize she liked to wear pink. The cupcakes with the dinosaurs that you and Aussie made look so yummy. My son used to love legos and made the most fantastic things.

    You know, I just bought a black shirt with a red cardinal on it at Kohl's. Red Cardinals remind me of my mom, and I've been thinking of her lately. I would love to hear the story behind the red cardinal sometime and why you chose this for your blog name.

    Have a nice week.

    Love,
    ~Sheri

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    1. Sheri, Jackie has many fans, to this day. Beautiful classic style and beauty, and yes, there are many photos of her wearing pink. Love the sound of the black/red cardinal shirt and I would buy it in a heartbeat if I saw it. Good idea for a blog post: I will write about why the Red Cardinal! Happy days, Sheri xx

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  15. Patrica, what a delightful trip you are on! Lovely photos as usual. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Hi Debra, glad you enjoyed the post! Back to normal life this week..

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