A bit more of Melbourne...

After a morning touring the gallery exhibitions at Federation Square, DH and I caught a tram to St Kilda, a beach suburb of Melbourne. It was a cold day so it was nice to sit a while in the sun there...

DH had bought a ‘scratchie’ at a nearby shop and took the opportunity to... well scratch it to see if it was a lucky one. It was; he won $25 😃!


Then we walked along the street checking out the last large number of eateries. We decided on Abbey Rd Cafe as it looked a bit quirky...and it was! While we waited for our food, I took some photos of the decor..

If you look to the back wall behind DH, you might see a full-size upright piano hanging on the wall...I did say this place was quirky 😃😉!






The food was plentiful and delicious




After lunch it was time to catch a tram to head back towards the city to check out another gallery. At the tram stop I took a photo of the old Capitol Theatre and part of the front entrance to Luna Park.

We caught the tram to the National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Rd and headed first to the Australian Music Vault Exhibition which features the history of the Aussie popular music scene. 

We spent quite a while in this exhibition as there was so much to see and do as we walked around looking at not only static displays but also lots of opportunities to be involved in interactive displays. I loved the costume displays...

Jessica Mauboy’s dress

The suit worn by Rick Lum from the band Hush


A dress worn by Judith Durham of The Seekers


The dress worn by Dami, a winner on the X Factor


Safari suit worn by Jimmy Little and a suit worn by Johnny O’Keefe


High heeled sneakers worn by Little Patti


More music industry memorabilia


There was also a soundproof room which featured a wall of TV screens. The history of television’s rmole in the growth of the music industry was told in a light and sound show in this room. Lots of fun!

And there was a huge wall covered completely in music posters. My teenage bedroom wall was covered in pop star posters but was very modest compared to this one! Lol


After we finished walking around this exhibition, there was still time to visit the Julian Opie exhibition. Opie’s artwork is very different; using a lot of digital imagery juxtaposed with animation .  Therefore portrait subjects may move their eyes or their heads, subjects may walk or in landscapes, waves may lap or lights blink. 

The earring would swing every now and then

The eyes would move



The man’s head would turn 



The waves would ripple and the lights’ reflections would shimmer

The figures in this mural would walk

And one more photo. The beautiful stained glass ceiling of one of the Exhibition Hall spaces. 


A great day! 

More of Melbourne...

On our second day in Melbourne we travelled around on trams mainly visiting galleries; the city is famous for its galleries. 

First stop was at Federation Square and the Ian Potter Gallery. Whenever we visit Melbourne we usually go to whichever gallery has the collection of Australian artists known as the Heidelberg School. 

The photo on the top left shows Tom Roberts’ ‘Shearing the Rams’. A print of this was on the wall of my Grade 4 classroom and I loved it; still do and it’s always great to see the original. 

And who doesn’t love Frederick McCubbins 3 panel painting on the lower right, another favourite of mine. 

Can’t possibly do justice to all the exhibits in this gallery but here are a few...

Amazing garments with the most wonderful embellishments...

As we worked our way around the gallery I became aware of what sounded like a child’s voice calling for help...very disconcerting. Following the sound we came to a room with the following piece in the middle of the room. 

The installation represented a cluster of buildings and the cries were coming from there. Apparently the buildings were the old Gas and Fuel Corporation Buildings that had been demolished to make way for Federation Square. 

Then in another space in the gallery there was this tapestry of Queen Elizabeth.

A lot of work that’s for sure!!

And here are some examples of the sculpture in the gallery...

Sir Joseph Banks, The botanist who sailed with Cook

In another part of the gallery we came across the entries in the Rigg Prize for room design. 

And lastly here’s a photo I took of DH meeting some new friends...🤣

So this has been only a brief overview of what we saw. 

Melbourne Visit...

DH and I headed off to Melbourne on November 20 for a week in this southern capital city. 

After we arrived at our accommodation in Spencer St, right in the middle of the area known as Docklands, I was quite impressed with DH’s choice of where we were to stay. The apartment was very nice, but it was the view I loved! 

DH pointed out Flemington Racecourse ( home of the Melbourne Cup race) in this view.

We were 34 floors up but the balcony was so narrow so no table and chairs to linger in


A view of part of the Yarra River and a good view of the Docklands area; so different from the original docklands...


The roof of Southern Cross Station 


A trainspotters dream 😉 We could look down and watch the country trains coming ( and going) from Southern Cross Station...and the suburban trains coming out from a tunnel. 


Our first outing was across the road to the station to get my 4 year old MYKI card ( stored credit travel card) replaced as it was out of date and we hadn’t been able to add credit online back at home. I was impressed that the $5+ credit I had on the old card was transferred to my new one. We have similar cards from a number of states and even some overseas ones and I’m so used to losing money  on out of date ones. Big tick to Victoria 👍! 

Attached to the station is an Outlet Centre so we went in there for a coffee and then to a supermarket to get food supplies for our stay. So we were inside 45 minutes at the most. When we left Coles, this is what greeted us...

It was the heavy rain which had accompanied a storm...and we’d heard nothing. And the umbrella was up in our room but it probably wouldn’t have been much use against the heavy rain...more like a tropical downpour. 

So I took off my shoes ( in Queensland style 😜) and clutching our bags of groceries we dashed across the road, getting quite wet in the process. So we walked into the foyer of this posh hotel with its marble floor, me with my head held high and clutching my shoes, dripping water on that floor and got the lift...

DH took a photo of me in the lift...

And we laughed all the way to our apartment and nice hot showers. So this latest adventure had started. 

Wool on Sunday

The last Wool on Sunday for 2018! Joining in with Janine’s Rainbow Hare blog’s monthly link up to share all things yarny. 

A few months ago I wrote about starting a number of  throws but just knitting about 15cm before rolling them up and popping them into ziplock bags. The idea being that I would have no excuse for procrastinating about casting on a few hundred stitches and setting a pattern when I needed to make a new rug; all that was already done! 

And so it was a few weeks ago when DD1 asked whether it was too late to request one of my knitted throws which she wanted to give Carrie’s daycare mum for Christmas. 🙄😜

‘No problem’, I said smugly, ‘when do you need it by?’ I had 5 weeks; plenty of time. So I got out one of the bagged projects; the old favourite chevron garter stitch. 

So it’s well on the way now and DD1 is very happy with the colours...which are my favourites of course! Lol

Also a few months ago I bought some tickets in the raffle that another knitting charity K4C ( Knitting for Charity) was running. A big surprise was that I won a prize! 



I still don’t know what I might make; it is a very thick cotton yarn, possibly equivalent to a 14 ply.



At the moment I’m just enjoying the fact that I won something! 

One dress; four little girls.

In 1982 when DD1 was one, she was given a little dress for her birthday from her daycare mum Margaret. At her little family party, I dressed her in that dress...

Not really a very good photo of the dress unfortunately but it was pretty and became a much loved outfit of both DD1 and later on, her little sister. DD1 was to give the dress a name; the ‘Polly Put the Kettle On Dress’ after the illustration of that nursery rhyme character in one of her books. Polly’s dress looked so similar. No photos of DD2 in the dress have been found but she did wear it, and love it! 

Well, I kept that dress plus a few other favourites. But by the time my girls had their own children, fashions had changed and they weren’t really interested at all in their old dresses. But in a last hurrah before the stored clothes were ‘despatched’ to new homes, I lovingly washed the little ‘Polly dress’ and...

Yep! I first tried the dress on Miss Holly when she came to us for minding on her usual Friday...


Then the next day we visited DD1, her hubby and baby Carrie. And yes, we dressed her in her mum’s dress too! 

And a sort of re-creation of that 1982 photo but with an armchair instead of a high chair.


So there you have it; 2 generations in 1 dress 😃. 

A bit of crafting...

Each year I attend the Christmas Market at the Karuna Hospice here in Brisbane held the last Friday of November. On the last Saturday of November, our parish also holds a Christmas Craft market and at that one I help on the day and also do baking. Well this year DH and I will be in Melbourne that week so DH can attend the World Cup of Golf as a spectator so I can’t help these markets either by spending my money or giving help, so I decided I would make things for them to sell. Due to a fair bit of grandma duty, there is not the quantity or variety that I’d hoped but every bit helps. 

Last Friday I delivered my items to Karuna...

Some little stockings decorated with buttons, yo yos or bells with loops to hang on the tree.

Some thread catchers ( Natalie Bird’s pattern) with thread snips, using some of my stash of sewing themed fabrics. Using the fabrics eases the guilt of having so much in my stash! Lol


And that mohair throw that has been written about in the odd Wool on Sunday post. A modest amount of my Jo Sharp mohair has been used up so again the ‘stash guilt’ is eased. 🤣


And tonight I finished the items that I’m donating to the Parish Christmas Market. No throw for them as no more are finished but I did give them 2 for July’s Art Show.

So more thread catchers...

Placed in cello bags make them look a bit smart 😉. And again I added cutters/snips.


More Xmas stockings but this time I added a lollipop to each cello package. (I bought the bag of lollipops in case local children came around on Hallowe’en. They didn’t so now the sweets are leaving our house!) 

I really enjoyed making these simple items; it was just like the old days when I used to do a lot of craft for school and church fundraising. Funny how one gets out of the habit.

So now DH and I have our Melbourne trip to look forward to (leaving Tuesday morning) and then a drive over to Adelaide for a few days before arriving home on Dec 2. It will be lovely 😊 

Mini Stockings Time Again!

Each year I write a post about the stockings that members of my knitting group ( plus other lovely people) make and then fill with sweets. These little gifts are then distributed to those who help the needy in the community have a bit of Christmas cheer. Over the years that I've been with the group the number of stockings needed has steadily risen to over six and a half thousand!

The last Tuesday in October the ladies ( and one man) at Zillmere Knit and Natter got to work and filled stockings for 2 hours!! 

The lovely ladies in my stitching group once again had a lolly drive which resulted in quite a haul to take along to Zillmere. 

And this year I was determined not to make a one off trip to Costco to buy sweets to donate, for two reasons. One is that I have to depend on a Costco member to take me and secondly most of Costco’s range of confectionery is mostly chocolate which is unsuitable for summer which the season that Christmas is here. The first 2 years I made that trip to Costco I was able to buy a big bucket of wrapped lollies but since then it is unavailable. But I did very well buying from selected local shops. 

So here is everyone hard at work filling stockings...

 

A good morning’s work’ with many more packing sessions to come so no group is disappointed and misses out on stockings for their 'clients'.