My Australia Day Dress Shock Another Early House and Swans

 My beautiful dress (previous post) and now look, worn by two men to a Ute Run in Darwin. Brothers Paul and Dylan wore the dresses and wigs for a dare, The dresses are a bit stretchy but I can almost hear sequins popping off. Even I would have looked better in the dress. I might cry when I stop laughing. Beauties rich and rare refers to a line from our national anthem and means the rich and rare beauties of nature. Not men in sequined dresses. Shock Horror.

 Now look at the catalogue and the girl bottom right. That's how the dress should look. I don't look like that and Paul and Dylan certainly don't.

But I did wear my dress to the barbecue. Daughter S suggested I turn it into an apron. So I added ribbon to the neck and waist, a few stitches joined the back to the front and my sparkly apron was a great hit at lunch. I love it so much it will be on permanent display with my aprons.

 An early Australian house I forgot in my previous post. A holiday cottage belonging to my paternal great grandparents. Possibly built around 1910 I only remember going there once as a child. That was long after my grt. grandparents had passed on. I think it only had 2 rooms and why would you need a bathroom with all that (salt) water around. The house has long gone possibly eaten by white ants, termites.

My paternal grt. grandparents. Amelia Louise French and Joseph Mason. She was the great grandaughter of convicts and he came from Durham U.K as a young man. Joseph's father was a miner so perhaps he came to Australia to escape the fate of mine work. They had 11 children, my grandfather Edward was the oldest.
Amelia sadly died in her fifties and Joseph lived to 90 years old.

My swan collection that I don't really mean to have but can't resist bargain swans. The red swan on the right is my latest. Like the others it is Australian lustre pottery from the early 1950's. Look behind the red swan, there is a pansy wall vase also early Australian pottery. I bought it years ago and will give it to B. who collects wall vases. (see earlier) I have no wall space for wall vases.

Australia Day Celebrations

 Australia Day tomorrow and I have found the perfect dress to party in..........
In your dreams Sylvia. Do you want to be laughed at, pointed to or have Charlotte ashamed of you? No, I am going to a barbecue lunch and will wear something sensible and allow myself one glass of wine.
I bought the dress at one of those cheap $$$$ shops and thought it so special I had to buy it. I love sparkly sequins.

 Three old Australian houses. This one belonged to my maternal grandparents. All three houses were owner built around 1920 or before and remained in the family until pulled down by developers. All houses have a lot in common. In all three the toilet was outside even when the sewer came along. The first 2 had a sort of tacked on bathroom and I don't remember a bathroom at all in the last one. Must have been hidden in a shed. Two had a piano and the house below had a tennis court. Strictly for A grade players only so my siblings and cousins never played on it.

 My paternal grandparents owned this one. My father and his brothers slept on the side verandah as was common in those days. Boys and young men often slept outside somewhere. Under the house, in a shed or in this case the verandah. These photos are the only ones I have and taken just before the houses were pulled down.

 This one owned and built by Mr Linen's maternal grandparents and was still there and owned by his family last August. The house is almost walking distance to Sydney airport and is surrounded by flats and hotels and I think has already gone. The verandah on this house was closed in, once it is closed in it is then called a sleepout so the spare men and boys have a bit of shelter. Tough life in those early days. I have enclosed one end of my verandah but I call it a sunroom and only Charlotte sleeps there sometimes.

I love king tides, they come every January. Daughter S and family have just returned from a holiday at this pretty spot on the coast north of Sydney. The picture speaks for itself.

 An Australian cat. Charlotte likes to remind everyone she is descended from the temple cats of Burma but you are here now and have me for a servant, that makes you Australian. Charlotte is a thinker not a doer so she is thinking about going down the steps but maybe not doing it.

I know there are herons all over the world. This one must be Australian and he is spending a lot of time on my verandah lately. I leave out water but he/she looks around for a while then takes off.

Mostly Royal Stuff Again

 I was alerted to this eBay find by friend M from Craft Group. It was sold by the Salvation Army eBay site and came from Melbourne.
The doll on the left and all the hand knitted Coronation clothes are original from 1953. Even the chocolate box is a collectible item as James chocs. ceased production years ago. The left side doll came fully dressed and with a spare set including underwear of Cor. wear. The doll on the right came from a local Salvo's shop and is wearing the spare set of knitwear. Wonder if these were knitted from a pattern from 1953 or just a one off from a clever knitter.

 Always wanted a dressmaker's dummy for display and guess where I found this one at a bargain price? Salvation Army again. Now it is on permanent display wearing a Diamond Jubilee shirt and a skirt made from original Coronation 1953 fabric. I made the skirt very simply, elastic waist, only one seam at the back and a quick hem so the skirt can be taken apart and returned to a length of fabric if needed.

 Bought this little chair at the markets. I never can resist little projects like this.

 A coat of paint, red because I had some leftover from a doll house roof. Some leftover London fabric and now the chair is better than new. Not sure if I have space to keep it, might have to be a Salvo's donation.

 Prince George christening stamps are on sale. I bought some to keep and some to use.

Update on my Terse Gil Queen cross stitch. I admit I've been hopping about a bit and choosing easy bits to stitch. Now I've been forced to stitch with gold metallic thread. To make it a bit easier I am only using one strand of gold and I think I'll get away with this. (see far left). Also trying to keep control of the back of my work which I'll show when all is finished. The bunch of roses the Queen is holding was also a bit difficult but now I can see it is a bunch of roses.