[jQuery] Problem with box positioning in IE7 when using jquerycyclelite

I don't have time to put a real test-case together right now, but just
on the off chance that someone's experienced the same class of
problem:

I'm using jquerycyclelite (http://malsup.com/jquery/cycle/lite/) to
animate a set of linked images. An ancestor element has padding, but
the images seem to ignore that padding when cycled. The relevant code
is:

$slides.css({position: 'absolute', top:0, left:0}).hide().each(function
(i) {
$(this).css('z-index', els.length - i)
});

$(els[first]).css('opacity',1).show(); // opacity bit needed to handle
reinit case

although I can't reproduce the exact problem just by applying those
CSS properties, so I'm guessing it's a side-effect of jquery's hide
() / show(). Sound familiar to anyone?

Thanks,

- Bobby