Artsy Weekend

Today I am pleased to share with you my artsy weekend. Never too busy to visit some galleries whenever I can. I love a gallery that allows photography. It is not likely I will copy the painting from the photo! I must say I have taken a lot of photos lately with my iPhone. So much so that I am planning to put on an exhibition at the university where I work. I am only using photos I took on my daily walk at my university. First I have to go looking for a suitable venue for it. My exhibition will be entitled "EyePhone" because I used my iPhone to take the photos. Watch this space for more details. 

I am glad I finished the scarf I started at the beginning of our winter, yeah! It took me long enough, but I did finish and wore it out today. I love this basket weave knitting pattern. So simple to knit, but it looks great!

I had to be in Benalla on Saturday. While I was there I visited the Benalla Art Gallery. The picture you see above is not a painting but it's a tapestry of the painting by Sydney Nolan entitled "Ned Kelly" I haven't seen the original painting before, but I just love this tapestry version of the painting. 

I also saw and love this small painting calls "Beach Scene" by Ethel Carrick Fox - 1910

Today I was at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. There were a lot of exhibitions at the NGV, but I particularly enjoyed the art of the Pacific. It could be that we lived in PNG for 6 years. The above is a re-purposed  jacket using tapa cloth over denim jacket, it is cool.

This year is 150 years of the Royal Botanical Garden and can you see this clock made from colourful pansies. What I like is the blue sky above it. 

These are a collection of Pacific street art at the NGV. How proud the artists would be to see that their artwork is in the NGV gallery! 

The Sunday Craft Market was on today too. I love craft markets and if I could afford it I would buy something to support the artists. I came across Mattt's stall selling these 100% handmade bags.The fabric he used was designed by his textile artist friends. I didn't get one today, but I would next time I go back. 

Art to eat! We had Granny's Turkey pie for lunch. The pastry was made right there by the two grannies. The pie was delicious. There are many varieties you can choose from. We had lamb, spinach and feta cheese which was very yummy! I love Turkish food and I have visited Turkey twice now. I hope to go back there again soon.

On our walk back to catch the tram I met the angel. She was so pretty and kind. She sprinkled stardust over me. I hope she wished me good luck doing that. I can do with some luck these days. 

Hope you enjoy my artistic weekend. Today in Melbourne we have had four season in one day. It was raining, windy, cold and sunny! In-spite of that my friend Sophia and I still had a good day out.

A couple of weekends ago I was in Sydney helping Kit to move into the shop Mini Mart she won as a grant from the Rocks Popup Project. It is going well for her and she seems to have a lot of fun with it. It's still open for another two weeks so if you are in Sydney please drop in to check it out. 

Enjoy

Nat

AFL THE GRAND FINAL TAKE II

If you moved to Melbourne in Victoria you would get asked what AFL (Australia Footbal League) team are you supporting.  I can't get away that easily when I'm surrounded by AFL supporters both men and women I'm working with. I love sport, but don't have any favorite. I just enjoy the activities of it. Today is AFL Grand Final Take II because we had a draw last Saturday and the AFL's rule is that you cannot have extra time. So here we go again for another Grand Final between St Kilda (the St.) and Collingwood (the Magpies). 

Collingwood on the left and St Kilda on the right 

The game should be on about now. It's a good time to be out and about knowing that you will have the road to yourself because everyone or almost everyone would be packed in the MCG watching the match. I might turn on the TV to see how the game is going. Which team am I supporting? Well, I have put $2.00 with my work colleagues for Collingwood so I guess if Collingwood wins, I will get my $2.00 back. Go MAGPIES...! 

The Magpies supporters are sitting on the sideline cheering their team. 

The St. supporters were out by the thousands cheering their team on at the pre-game parade in the city. Even non supporters cannot help but get enthusiastic looking at this photo. 

(all photos from AFL Official Website)

This is what they are hoping to get at the end of the match. Good luck guys!


I'm pleased to tell you that I blogged about last year's Grand Final here. Yes Not Just Nat, the name suited me. Culturally I am interested in most things. You can learn about anything if you put your mind to it. I'd better go and watch the game...! 

Weekend in Sydney

The weekend in Sydney came and went very quickly. It was a successful visit to DD and the new accommodation recommended to us by a friend turned out excellently. We did the touristy stuff like walking along the water front around Circular Quay and took many snap shots of one of the most photogenic buildings in the world, The Sydney Opera House! We went to Saturday Glebe markets and a market at the Rocks. It was a busy Saturday. And here are the photos I took to share with you. Enjoy...!

A shot of of Sydney water front taken from the harbor bridge by Moi!!! Sydney is a beautiful city and on a nice day which is most days, this is what it looks like.

I can't wait to show you the view I found in the morning from our window!

Another short of the most famous building in the world the Sydney Opera House

Kit with her friends Georgia and Eve. They joined us for breakfast on Sunday. Georgia and Kit operate Three Point Turnz blog.

Kit and I were having Thai lunch in China Town. Her skill with chop sticks is so much better than mine!

A shot I took early on Sunday morning during our walk on the harbour bridge

Here is the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We only walked as far as one of the pylons. It was getting hot we decided to turn back.

A famous shot of the Opera House through the arch

Kit and DH stroll along the water front on Circular Quay.

Queen Victoria Building is now a shopping mall. I love this place and visited every time I'm in Sydney.

Cherry blossoms at the entrance of Japan City. I thought I will start putting a bit of Japanese theme into my blog because it's only 12 days before we leave for our holiday in New Zealand and Japan woo hoo!!!

On Saturday afternoon I received text message from Lynda Winn (no blog) letting me know that storms had hit Melbourne and some friend's houses were damaged. She offered to go and check our house for us. I told her not to worry because we would be returning home on Sunday evening anyway. Lynda was so kind and went on Sunday morning to check it for me and all was well thankfully.

Not all was totally well on the return trip however. On our return flight we had to circle above Melbourne airport for more than an hour due to heavy rain and storm. I felt quite sick and nervous thinking that we might end up in the In flight investigator program that DH likes to watch on TV! The last announcement said that if we were not able to land in 30 mins we would have to return to Sydney. Luckily we landed 20 mins after that. It felt good when we touched down. Sorry for the photos heavy on this post, but I just want to share my weekend with you.

Blog Keeping and Terry Visit

I had a visit from my friend Terry of Terry's New Thread last weekend. Terry and I met in NSW when I first returned from living in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Since then we moved again to where we are today in Melbourne. We kept in touch all this time. We had a lot to catch up on this weekend. I showed her around my city and we sat and stitched in the evening. I showed Terry how to piece Wool Crazy foundation block. We were both collecting woolen fabrics a few years back. Terry is new to blogging so I sat with her and gave her a few tips on blogging.

We went to Camberwell Sunday Market. It is a bric-a-brac market that has been in operation for over 100 years. You can find things from fresh cut flowers to collectible items, pre-loved clothing, fabrics etc. It's a great place to take visitors and keep them entertained for half a day. There is a great Italian style breakfast restaurant that we normally stop for breakfast before we start our stroll through the market.

Terry was checking a checked shirt to see if it was a 100% wool. We found a few pieces of woolen fabric for our wool crazy quilt.

In the afternoon we set out on the deck for high-tea with homemade scones, raspberries and cream. It was nice to enjoy a cup of tea after a tiring morning.

I received the Sunshine award from my dearest friend Ria. I was so thrilled to receive the award. Ria told me that I bring sunshine to her days! You are such a sweet friend Ria, thanks so much for thinking of me.

I am supposed to pass this award on to 7 people, which is very hard for me to do. All of you bring sunshine to my days so in order to thank you all for being my blog supporters I would like to give this sunshine award to each and everyone of my readers and wish that your days are filled with sunshine.

As part of my blog keeping, I would like to introduce you to a new blog Sideroad Stitcher from Canada. Diane left a comment on my blog and when I went to visit her I found that she was a new blogger. I hope you will pay her a visit and welcome her to this wonderful blogland.

Australian Open: HIT FOR HAITI

Last Sunday we went to the tennis "HIT FOR HAITI" charity event organized by Roger Federer to raise money to help victims of the Haiti Earthquake. As part of the Australian Open the players were ready for the game the next day, but with Roger Federer's help they got together and put on this event. It was announced at short notice, and the arena was filled to capacity. Over $200,000 was raised at this event. Below are some photos I took to share with you. Click play to see all the photos.

We enjoyed the game very much. The players were light hearted, laughing and joking which you don't see when they are playing normally. After the game we walked to the city along the Yarra River to Federation Square for a cup of coffee.

I picked up the above postcard when we were in Barcelona in 2008. I love latte in Barcelona and this picture always reminds me of the many cups of latte I had there.

Melbourne Cup Racing Canival

Melbourne Cup is a racing carnival that stops the Nation. In Victoria it is a public holiday on Melbourne Cup day. Unfortunately my university has its own agenda, and we have to work that day and get an extra day at Christmas instead. A couple of Sundays ago was our monthly meeting for SBOV, and this month's theme was Spring Carnival so we were all wearing our hats. I was so thrilled because I have a prize winning hat I made years ago for this occasion and it won the first prize on Melbourne Cup day.

When we worked in Abu Dhabi, we had lots of giveaways and caps were abundant. I decided to decorate one of them to wear on cup day. I didn't know that there were prizes until I got a tap on the shoulder and was told that my hat won the first prize! I am so glad I can blog about it now because at the time I could only happily tell friends and family the good news. Now I can tell the world about it...!

Here is my prize winning hat. It is made up of a plain cap decorated with handmade felted flowers and buttons. The long trails were silk flowers. I got them from the local $2 shop. This hat was totally my original design.

This is us, the three musketeers. Lynda on the left was wearing her brother's hat and came dressed up as a Scottish lady. Lynette with her handmade hat and decorated with purple flowers and me with my prize winning hat...!

AFL Grand Final Today

AFL (Australian Football League) is the biggest event in Melbourne right now. It is a yearly event that happens on the last Saturday of September. In Australia they call it the Footy. I am so thrilled to blog about it, even though I know almost nil about the game.

The Melbournians think that everyone should know about AFL! I didn't at first, so straight off I had to choose a team, and that was a few weeks before the grand final 04. To get myself out of trouble I said whoever won the grand final would be my team. It ended up that Sydney Swans won the grand final that year and that was then. Since then, they have not won again. Apparently one shouldn't change the team, but I think I am going divorce them and adopt the team that wins this year's Grand Final.

It's hard to choose because this year's final is between St. Kilda and Geelong and I like both of them. Woo hoo, how can I choose! So guys, play hard and win the game so I can choose you.

Photo of the cup in yesterday's parade in Melbourne between the Geelong and St. Kilda players. Sorry guys I don't know your name, but promised that once I adopt either one of your teams I will get to know you better.

The game started at 2:30 PM today. This is a live picture from the AFL Official Website.

The blue and white is Geelong and the black, white and red is St. Kilda.

Hey hey cool it, two against one is not nice. Where are the rest of them.

I think they are shaking hands! Such great photos, I have borrow them from the AFL official website. I am so excited to be able to blog about the AFL Grand Final. I have adopted Melbourne as our city, and it is good to know what the locals are up too. I dedicate this post to all blogger husbands out there who are interested in the Footy. If you want to know the result you can check out the above links. Enjoy the game and I will get back to some quilting soon.