Urbrae House Vintage Picnic and Other Celebrations

This blog has helped me to appreciate how lucky I am. I am always finding inspiration from other bloggers and from the support and encouragement provided on this blog. When I started this blog it was my way of making a diary of my sewing and events that I would not loose when my computer crashes (which it does bi-yearly). This time of year is our busiest and I would not want it any other way. Summer is finally starting and we have been blessed with many interesting and fun events. These also inspire me to sew more. I am hoping to post a completed 1830s frock coat in the next week (fingers crossed) and start on an 1840s or 1850s sheer dress (Im still deciding on the design). I also have a few other bits and pieces that I have been making in the evenings, which I have yet to photograph and blog about (including my lovely new 1830s chemisette that can be seen in my Port Festival post).

The big news for the week is that Nic and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. This year the traditional gift is leather... so we had our first horse riding lesson. We were a little disappointed that  I was unable to learn side saddle, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves anyways. We finished the day with a tapas lunch and a Tuscan dinner. A truly spoilt and luxurious day.

Today we attended the Urbrae House Vintage Picnic. Urbrae House is my favourite historic house in Adelaide, followed by Kingston House. It is amazing and the volunteers are wonderful. We recently went to a Tea Dance in the Urbrae House Ballroom and it was hugely enjoyable.

Today we sat outside under the shade of a tree and had a picnic lunch, followed by a walk around the gardens and we finished by joining the tour of the house. It was great to again see some of the volunteers that we know and also a few of the Colonial Dancers that we have met previously at Balls. 

 Today, due to the continuance of the Port Festival and the heat (33C which normally does not bother me except that it has been cold up till now so it has been harder to acclimatise) we only had a few people in attendance.

 Left to Right - Me, Nic, Ben, Kelly, Sandy and Mandi.

I was very happy at how my work dress fits wonderfully over my largest crinoline (at 123") and raises itself up to a perfect height for walking in gardens. You may also notice my sun hat (another item I should photograph in detail). It was becoming shabby from use and rain, so it has now had a face-lift and is looking gorgeous (or so I believe anyways).