An Update on Melbourne and who did I meet ?

I would like to introduce you to the lovely Liz from Broderie.


I have followed Liz's blog for a long time, long before I had a blog and I always felt she never updated it often enough for my liking, but since having a blog I understand how time consuming blogging and blog reading can be. I would like to now introduce you to Sharyn. Sharyn does not have her own blog but is an avid blog reader, and feels that if she didn't spend so much time blog surfing she would be able to achieve a lot more quilt finishes. (Don't we all) Sharyn was a reluctant quilter, she originally felt it was silly to cut up fabric only to sew it back together again but somehow she was bitten by the bug and since has become very prolific in her achievements.
The girls put on a great show and tell for me. This is one of Liz's nine patch that is really an eight patch ( I hope I have got the right) but how striking is it?

These girls had a great show, lucky for me my excuse was I was travelling and had no room , I have many starts not nearly enough completions.

This is Liz's circle quilt , I have long been an admirer of this quilt so it was great to see it in real life, it is spectacular, loads of fussy cutting. it is nearly finished being hand quilted.

both the girls have made this candied hexagons quilt. I think this one belongs to Liz, once again loads of fussy cutting, and hand quilted. Sharyn's is fairly similar and once again hand quilted. You can't beat hand quilting in my humble opinion, not that I want to start a debate about machine quilting, it has its place and serves a purpose just my opinion.

This is Sharyn's version of the Kaffe snowball, lovely greens and pinks, I think she was being persuaded to hand quilt this.

Melbourne is a lovely city, a city that takes a great pride in its gardens, after all they are known as the Garden State.

This is a collage of images through my lens. You will notice pears in the bottom right hand side.

It is due to our love of pears that began Liz and my friendship so when I noticed this cushion in Liz's home I felt it worthy of a snap.

Liz picked me up from my hotel on Saturday morning early and we headed to Auburn Road, Hawthorn.

Here are a few images of the lovely shops we managed to contribute to their takings

This shop hadn't opened at this stage so this their window, beautifully enticing.

They had some divine Christmas decorations.

Our first port of call was Est. Est is known for their beautiful handmade soaps , ceramics, string, braids and trimmings and Linen.

Well worth a visit if you are in Melbourne.

Everything is packaged beautifully , a one stop shop for gifts of all tastes.





A real feast for the eyes

Baskets galore, along with rolls and rolls of twine in all colours , I liked the Linen and Raspberry colour ways.

Sorry this image is a tad blurry but you needed to see every corner of this packed to the rafters tiny store.

even the floor space used to every advantage.

Yes I did manage to do a little damage to the credit card.

After we had visited EST we needed coffee and a chat. I don't think we stopped to draw breathe the whole day, loads to catch up on.



After coffee we crossed the road to a shop called Perfect Pieces, this place had lots of rooms all very tastefully decorated and priced extremely well.

How divine is this table setting

Loved these candlestick holders, but alas I had a plane to catch and already my bag was full.

They were extremely well priced.

These bells formed a part of their window display

Just another room , pleasing to the eye.

After I finished work on Friday evening I decided a walk was in order, I set off with my trusty point and shoot and captured some typical scenes around the area I was staying.

It is quite an old area and I still love these old time worn fences being embraced by this unruly vine.

Gate hinges are something that always catch my eye

This old stone wall has the canopy of a Birch leaning over it, this did provide a little shade as it was quite warm on Friday evening and I was grateful for a rest in the shade.

I hope you have enjoyed my visit to Melbourne as much as I did. I had the most wonderful day with Liz and Sharyn.

Until next time be happy in whatever you achieve

j