Travels Abroad

Living in Australia means that when you go overseas, it really means traveling far away from home. My son has been taking a gap year in Israel, living on a kibbutz and doing charity work teaching underprivileged kids. My husband and I decided to visit him and were absolutely amazed by what this tiny country has achieved in the short years of its existence.

First of all, what struck us was the vibrancy and energy of the people and cities. The place totally buzzes all day and night. People are out and places are open to all hours so there is always somewhere to go and something to do.

The whole country is steeped in ancient history.

Roaming the old city of Jerusalem was like finding yourself in a maze.

It was fascinating and exciting to weave our way through the tiny stone paved streets.

Free tours are the go, taking you to all the different quarters of the old city in Jerusalem.

Of course there were wonderful mosaics and tiled floors to be inspired by.

 These three coming from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 

Wonderful doorways in the artist's quarters,

 Ancient suburbs in Tel Aviv, that are being restored and brought to life with designer boutiques and lively restaurants.

Arab spice shops in Akko, a town steeped in history and filled with ancient ruins.

Fresh food markets to die for!

And a rather thriving street art culture where grafitti is rather appreciated.

 Cats prowl everywhere.

Apparently they were brought in to get rid of all the mice.

Although the cats are ferral they are incredibly gentle and everyone seems to take care of them and appreciate their being all over the place. Not a mouse was to be seen.

When I mentioned that our cats have to be locked up in our homes at night they were horrified and wanted to know what we did with all our rats!

Most of the country gets to enjoy a glorious sunset every night.

 Any yes, I did buy some jewelry by Ayala Bar although not this particular piece.

My husband was very, very patient.

Hannakin - Bits and Bobs by Hanna Mancini

After the Quilt Show I went to the Museum to see the stick insects and pick up my teacher's free entry card, but that is another story.
I drove to Brunswick Street to buy a cake (it was my birthday) and visit the Rose Street Market. It was only 5 minutes away and the sun was shining, people were out on the streets having coffee, shopping and generally enjoying the weekend.
I just had to go back to Rose Street because a few months ago I bought a pair of earrings made out of pencils. They were such a hit at school that I thought I would buy another pair. I found my pencil man and bought a black coloured pencil and  a white one. It's football season and wearing the earrings would be a subtle way of celebrating my team's win on a Monday morning.

I know they are ridiculous but I get more compliments for these silly earrings than my most expensive silver ones and the kids love them. I originally bought them because half way through last year the kids managed to lose every item from their stationery list and keept saying "I can't find my pencil!"

But this is all beside the point. At the market I met a lady selling the cutest little dolls ever. Her name is Hanna and she had brooches, dolls and whimsical drawings on her stand that I just loved. She has an etsy store and her work is worth checking out.

Hanna doesn't have a blog so unless you visit etsy or live in Melbourne, it would be a bit hard to find her. Her work is so intricate and original I just had to post about her.
I was in a bit of a rush as I has visitors coming to eat my cake so I pretty much flew though the streets, past all this fabulous graffiti that Brunswick street is famous for and realised that I still had my camera in my bag from the show. I just had to take a couple of snaps.

Sorry about the shadows. If you ever get to Melbourne on a weekend, see if you can get to Brunswick Street for great shopping, coffee and graffiti. I think I will have to go back next week when I have more time to look around.

Its not much but at least its something

Last weekend was a sad attempt to sell some of my cot quilts. I had a stall at a school market but despite lots of advertising the event was really down on numbers. Melbourne has had ridiculous amounts of rain and that Sunday was really cold and really wet. The few that came were not my kind of customers. I did sell a few toys though.

Good bye Super Boy

I also had some fun starting a little embroidery project because I need something to take overseas with me that is not too bulky but keeps the fingers busy.

This is 'Staring Girl'

She is a creation of Tim Burton.

I love his drawings and his poetry is hilarious and brilliant.

There are a few drawings of Staring Girl in his book and I hope to make a series of them.

So last week was rain, rain,rain and this weekend its boiling!

GJ's advertised a 25% off sale. They are a good hour's drive from home and I was cursing the heat and time in the car but it was great once I got there. They had stacks of fabric I had not been able to buy in Melbourne and although I am trying to be really frugal with my fabric buying, I picked up these bits and pieces.

 Love, love love!

Markets and other things

Markets were the order of the day on Saturday and I visited Magnolia Square and a mini market in the City Library. Magnolia Square was it's usual high quality experience. Although it's petite, it always has very clever, creative products with the friendliest stall holders. I just had to buy this little lavender heat pack from Memi Designs. She prints all her own fabric designs on linen.

The City Library was a little disappointing. There were only about 12 stall holders and the products were varied. One person had made some great little quilts out of op shop hankies but overall it took about 5 minutes to go through! In one of the other rooms they had a fun exhibition on the history of shopping in Melbourne. They had some great old photos and paraphernalia from days gone by. Worth a 'look in' if you are a little bit old like me and actually remember some of the places.

Sunday was for sewing. A mum of one of the teachers at school came over and we did a swap. She tried to show me how to follow a crochet pattern and I gave her the start on how to make a quilt block. My crocheting is pretty pathetic - so much so, that there are no pictures! Her block is off to a better start than me. 

Later there was a little bit of free motion quilting happening which I was really happy with because the triangles can make quilting very stretchy and hard to sit flat but the free motion made everything much more accommodating.

And some more coasters were made using some of the fabric I bought last week.