Lantern Festival

Yesterday I headed over to Belgrave for the annual Lantern Festival.
Most towns in our area have a real community spirit, but I think it really shows in Belgrave. They have so many talented people who are happy to get together and organise amazing events, look after and promote their town.
Things started coming together around 4pm, a bit before it started getting dark. The alley that runs between the main street and Puffing Billy Station had 3 stages set up for local bands to play and a lot of the local food shops had a mini setup out the back of their buildings. We stopped for some delicious chili lamb kebabs and listened to a few songs from Harmony Byrne (photo below) who has an amazingly beautiful voice.
There were also some local school choirs and younger singers along the main street.

But what everyone was waiting for started just as the sun went down. The Lantern Parade.

 

The parade started off with drummers and fire twirlers.

This is just a small section of the parade. The main street was closed off (quite significant as this is the end of a major hwy that runs all the way to the city), and the parade marched up and down lead by the local wizard.
 

There were a lot of animal lanterns, this elephant, a lyrebird, kookaburra, crow, eagle, fish, the very hungry caterpillar and a dragon.

I'm not sure if I will ever see a Dalek and the Thunderbird 2 in the same spot ever again.

Judging by all the 3-5 year olds around me, this ghost was the highlight of the parade.

Night tea

In the box with all the tea cups there was also a black milk jug and black sugar bowl. They're seriously sleek.
I was trying to figure out a way to take their photos so it showed how dark and shiny they were (without showing how much they attract pieces of dust in the air!) and their shape. I love their shape. It hit me (mentally, not literally) one night driving home. Why not take a picture of a black item at night? Yeah, maybe a bit silly, but in theory it would keep the focus on the shape.

These are the last two photos I took of the milk jug and sugar bowl, just trying out one more lighting idea I had, really quickly before it got too cold in the back room and I packed up. They ended up being the best photos out of the evening.

{ A bit of history }
My grandparents purchased these in the 70's from Port Elliott, SA from a local potter. While they were on holiday they visited the local pottery studio and had a look around, before they left they told their kids they could choose something each to buy as a gift from the shop and this milk jug and sugar bowl set was what my mum chose.

Garden tea

This tea cup has some beautiful illustrations.
The entire front has a cute little cottage and garden full of colourful flowers and trees. Unfortunately there's a crack down the middle of the cottage which goes all the way through to the inside.

Inside the tea cup there's a little blue watercolour illustration at the top. I think it's supposed to be sky and clouds because of the colour, but it also reminds me of a tree with the branches and leaves spreading out.

On the back is another lovely bright illustration of flowers found in the cottage garden.

milk?

 This milk jug (we think) was originally owned by my great grandmother. 

When she died my great grandfather used to give all the girls in the family a piece of her china as part of their Christmas present.

This milk jug was made by Myott Son & Co. England. It is slightly darker than the picture, I didn't realise it was a bit dirty from dust until after I'd taken the photo. I think I need to give it a good polish.

Tea cups with grunge

So I better give a warning early on, I like experimenting with lots of different styles, not all will be your cup of tea (haha sorry, I had to say it). There will be some 'cleaner' photos later on but I had too much fun with these first :)

my cup of tea

The box has been opened!

Over the next few days I bring you a photographic series of tea related items entitled:
 

June UFO challenge

First day of my first UFO (un-finished object) challenge!
I started this coat maybe a bit over a year ago...

 

I'm making the second coat pictured with the pockets from the third.

It was the pattern I chose to learn how to sew, maybe a bit hard, although I don't classify myself as an absolute beginner. I've done small easy projects over the years and as mum is a patternmaker/dressmaker and sewing teacher so I get to listen to all the classes she teaches from the other room. It was more learning how to read a pattern and figure out if there were any mistakes or what to do if I wanted to make things longer/shorter.

So, without thinking I did make it difficult for myself because I chose this fabric, to which mum said 'ok, but you're going to make the pattern match'. Oh... yay.

 

LOVE this fabric :)

Everything has been cut out, the lining, interfacing and fabric. I've ironed on the interfacing and started sewing some pieces together. That's as far as I've got, and because it's getting cooler I want to finish it so I can wear it through winter!