Compare and Contrast...

I've written a few posts lately about the Let's Get Stitched 2015 weekend. I took a lot of photos that weekend but one or two in particular might seem a bit strange. I took photos of the bathroom in the hotel room I shared with Wendy and Judy. You see it was such a contrast compared to the bathroom in my hotel room at last year's Let's Get Stitched.

In Rydges Bell City in Preston (Melbourne) I had chosen the 'Sleep and Go' budget accomodation option as I wasn't sharing. The room was very compact and quite comfortable but when I saw the bathroom, I just started laughing! 

The hotel room was so compact/tiny, it was hard to get into a position to take a photo of this bathroom...but I did get a few photos...

Yes that alcove in the corner is the bathroom...and yes, that is the toilet you can see in the shower recess...

another view of the compact bathroom...

You can see the lever for the shower, the dual flush buttons for the loo...and of course the toilet roll. The towel is on a very high towel rail too. And a shower curtain pulled right around which kept the toilet paper dry while you showered...see why I got the giggles?? Lol. 

So now let's contrast that bathroom with this year's bathroom...

A spa bath no less....

Very swish and plenty of room to move! 

My lovely room mates saved the little hotel soaps and shampoo for me to hand on to K4BN for the toiletry/hygiene packs that the group hands out to needy people. 

The 'Melbourne bathroom' may have made me laugh, but I think I prefer this year's somehow. :-)

Some more of Let's Get Stitched...

I wrote about this annual event in my last post but later I realised that I hadn't explained much about it. Let's Get Stitched (LGS) can be described as a craft bloggers retreat, where bloggers (and non bloggers) come from all over Australia (and some from New Zealand too ) for a weekend of friendship, stitching, good food, shopping and lots of laughter. 

Four lovely ladies, Joy, Fee, Dawn and Vicki, organise these annual events. 

We rotate through 4 Australian cities and 2015 was Brisbane's turn. (My home town but I chose to 'live in' for the weekend rather than commute.)

So by late Thursday afternoon, most participants had arrived. Our hotel was in an old historic part of the city...Annerley Road, Woolloongabba. For dinner that night I joined a group of ladies who walked a few metres round the corner from our hotel to the Brewhouse, formerly the Clarence Corner Hotel. 

Mmmm...there was quite an extensive menu to choose from...none of us went hungry! Lol.

My Portuguese Chicken dinner...

After dinner it was time to head back to the hotel where all the ladies would be gathering for the official welcome to the LGS weekend and the traditional exchanging of name badges. Quite a while ago we had all been given the name of the person whose badge we would make. I can now reveal the name on the badge that I made...it was for Joy, one of the organisers of LGS. I had done a bit of investigating and found that Joy likes pinks and greens...

And I discovered that Vicki from Albury had been my swap buddy...and what a lot of thought went into the badge that she made for me...

It features a knitted rectangle with a crocheted border...and then my name was embroidered...I just absolutely adore it and will continue to wear this badge to Knit and Natters. 

After the distribution of the badges, most of us headed to our rooms and we an early start next morning...but most of us were like my 'roomies' (room mates) and I...talked till quite late! :-)

Stitching...

Last Sunday the appropriately named Sunday Stitchers group gathered for the February meet up. This time the venue was a community centre in Coomera and we had a number of 'extra' ladies joining us as visitors. The lovely Maree had organised a workshop for us, with the designer, Natalie Bird. 

The venue was spacious...

Natalie is a very gracious and lovely lady...generous with her help to all of us participants...

 We had a choice of 2 projects...interestingly I chose the one which didn't require needle turn appliqué :-/.

Later in the day, Natalie came to each table with some stamped stitchery designs that we could choose from as an extra little gift from her.

I chose this one...

And what would a Sunday Stitchers meet up be without the Show and Tell session. Members who had brought along Natalie Bird finished projects lined up to show them off and line up for a photo or two. 

Then some more photos with the designer included in the group...

In one corner if the room, Natalie had set up a table with items made from her books on display as well as heaps of things for sale...

We all had the most wonderful day. As well as the fun workshop, Maree had organised the food...it was plentiful and sooooo delicious. Talking of stitching, designers and fun....

The weekend after next is Let's Get Stitched 2015. This year it is in Brisbane...long time readers might recall the fun time I had at last year's LGS which was held in Melbourne. Each participant on the Friday Bus Tour of Patchwork shops, has to make a name badge for another person. My 'person' likes green and pink, so this is the creation I've come up with for her. It's a secret so I've covered up her name which is stitched in pink. 

( When I taught Year 1, My teaching partner and I would model for the students, writing 'our names' on the worksheets. We adopted the names Fifi (for me) and Trixie. So I suppose there are some 20 something people who believe their Year 1 teachers were Trixie C and Fifi C! Not Noela and Maria! Lol) 

Saturday at Let's Get Stitched...

Saturday was a free day at LGS and all the ladies went off to do 'their own thing'. I was extremely lucky that a blogger friend who lives in Melbourne had offered to show me around...how lucky was I?

Firstly Vireya took me to the suburb of Brunswick where we visited GJ Fabrics and Rathdowne Remnants. I had so much fun looking through both these places.

Firstly GJ Fabrics

At Rathdowne Remnants a collection of old sewing machines were a feature...

Then we caught a tram to the city and our first stop was the State Library. The dome which is a feature of the library's ceiling/roof had been covered in. Since my last visit to this building, the dome has been uncovered. 

It has made a huge difference to this beautiful old building which was started in 1854...which is old in Aussie terms. 

The library always features various displays...

The next photo was taken at the front of the library...there are red bean bags dotted around on the lawn...as you can see many people enjoy a lounge on a bean bag....

We walked on a bit further and Vireya took me to a yarn shop called Morris and Sons...an absolutely beautiful shop...so many beautiful yarns. 

In the same building that the yarn shop was in was a little cafe that Vireya recommended; the food and coffee were superb. 

Then Vireya took me to a shop called L'uccello's which sells beautiful vintage haberdashery items...a truly beautiful shop with lovely staff. On the same floor we also visited a wonderful button shop and a shop specializing in Asian fabrics

Photos taken in L'ucellos...

Then we wandered along the lovely Melbourne streets where Vireya pointed out some of the lovely old buildings...where I come from, very few old buildings survive, being the victims of the wrecker's ball in the 1960-1970s...I love to look at these beautiful old buildings...

Vireya showed me where I was to meet my niece at 3.30. Meg was coming to Melbourne on the train after finishing her shift as a nurse...this was so lovely of her.

As well as showing me around, Vireya also made sure I knew what tram to catch back to my motel, where I should catch it and very importantly, what stop I had to get off at in Preston. I was very grateful for all that information. When Vireya was heading off to catch her train, she gave me a jar of honey from her own beehives...how special is that? 

My beautiful niece Meg...

I caught the tram back to Preston and arrived just in time for the LGS dinner at Stolberg's Beer Cafe...that's what it is called but just seemed like a pub to me. The food was good and the conversation great but by 8.30 most of us are ready to head off to our rooms and 'collapse' after such a busy and wonderful day.

Day 2: Let's Get Stitched, in Melbourne

Today we went on a bus trip...not just to anywhere around here, but this will be a surprise to you...we went to some Patchwork shops!! :-) I didn't take any photos in the shops unfortunately as we were on a tight schedule so time had to be used for hunting out the goodies!

Our first stop was a smallish shop at Lilydale which was crammed with goodies...our bus load of ladies crammed it up even more! The poor ladies in the shop must have been exhausted by the time we left as they worked flat out to serve us all!

The next stop was quite intriguing as we pulled up beside a Tile Company in Bayswater

... what the? There didn't seem to be a quilt shop anywhere...but looks are deceiving.

A little walk through the tiles and voila! Gail B's beautiful shop which is huge and filled to the brim with lovely goodies. What a lovely time I/we had!

Then it was time for lunch at the lovely town in the Dandenongs called Sassafras. And after lunch a wander around the lovely little shops there.

Some of us ate at the quaint Miss Marples' Tea Room

And one of the shops had a delightful lady behind the counter...

Our next stop was Boronia and there we went to Lilly's Patches where we again overwhelmed the staff in the small shop. Lot's of treasures for Stitchers in that shop! 

We were starting to get a little tired by now...so a little sit down for some of us while we waited for the others to be served...

Two ladies had wandered off and came back with some boxes from a nearby business. They said the boxes were to put patchwork stuff in...:-/

One more stop...what?...

Keep walking ladies...see the familiar ref letters? Yep! It was Spotlight!

I asked the young man at the doorway...'What Spotlight is this?...Answer, Preston! We were back in the suburb where our hotel was! This Spotlight was huge!

Are you wondering whether I bought anything today?

Take a look...

I was quite restrained I think....