Vancouver

Entering Vancouver from Seattle by train the first eye catching image is this The Pattullo Bridge. The bridge reminds me of the Auckland harbour bridge in Auckland where we lived for some time. The train ride was very pleasant. It was a good way to arrive in Vancouver. The morning was mostly foggy along the way, but when we arrived the fog had cleared. We would really like to do it again; maybe Vancouver to Seattle next time! 

As I said on my last post the Vancouver part of the trip was supposed to be easy going with no specific itinerary except that I wanted to see my friend Elizabeth. Elizabeth and I met on the Silk Study Tour in 2011. The day after I arrived Elizabeth and her friend Suri picked me up from our Airbnb apartment in the city. They plan was to take me to Grandville Island and visit Maiwa Stores. That is exactly what I was hoping to do! Off we went from the morning until late in the afternoon before they dropped me back with the promise that we will do it again before I left. 

The 76-year old Pattullo Bridge, Vancouver

One cold foggy morning, Vancouver City

I could see a cruise ship docking at the harbour from our apartment 

The girls got to have fun!

Piecing new project on the trip

Naturally dyed silk threads from Silk Weaving Studio

Bundling with local plants and flowers

Maiwa Handprints

Vintage indigo fabric at Maiwa Handprints

Fun day in Stanley Park

Watch-out for a bear in Stanley Park!

Spreading out what we gathered

Look at the hands gesture!

Result on silk blouse

BORO piecing for more stitching on the trip.

Vancouver was a much more enjoyable stop than I expected! It was lovely to be reunited with Elizabeth again and got to meet Suri who has been following my blog for a long time. I think Suri knows more about me that I know myself! 

Thanks Elizabeth and Suri for taking good care of me and showing me your unforgettable city. I love all my goodies I brought home. I will miss our fun time together in Vancouver. 

I spent a few days putting up my Christmas decorations before returning to work. Everyone at work asked what my favourite place was on my journey! To be honest, I can't answer that. I enjoyed all the places I visited. I will highlight them in my future posts. 

For now, thanks all for following my wonderful 'Around the world in 80 days' trip. You can revisit all the posts from my trip again by clicking here, or click under the 'around the world in 80 days' labels on the sidebar. 

Until next time

Nat

Berlin

Berlin is a city full of history, culture and arts. We had a busy and interesting time in Berlin. We should have gone to Berlin ages ago, but for some reason we didn't! Mr Notjustnat knows a lot about Berlin so we hit all the famous places as soon as we arrived there. Having had our Airbnb apartment right in the heart of Berlin helps to get to everything in short walking distant. I'm glad we stayed in East Berlin which was very interesting. Of course there is no East and West Berlin any more, but I still enjoyed staying on the East instead of the West side of the city. 

Even though we are tourists, but we never felt we were typical tourists. We don't take tours and we find our own way everywhere. We don't speak German except hi, good morning, thank you and good bye. Many people speak English perfectly in Germany. People are so kind and helpful. Berlin has so many great galleries, museums, monuments and famous buildings. One thing I really wanted to see was the part of the Berlin wall that is still standing. I was lucky that there was the East Side Gallery which maintained a piece of the actual wall. Enjoy the following photos of Berlin.

Brandenburg Gate

Ampelmannchen, the little green man of Berlin

Historic District sign on the sidewalk

Jewish Memorial

Brandenburg Gate tributes to the Paris attacks

Berlin Buddy Bear

View of the  Berlin Dome from the river

Cobble stones all over Berlin

Collage from Berlinische Galerie

Tales from W. Turner, Fred Thieler 1962

Famouse painting of the kiss between
Brezhnev and Honecker at East Side Gallery

Flax Barn at Lalen 1887, Max Liebermann

The Garden Bench, Max Lieberman 1916

Heinrike Dannecker 1802

Wall hanging for the peace of Hubertusburg 1763

Snowman on my slow-cloth

We saw what we intended to see in Berlin excepted the Jewish museum. It was closed the day we went and we were too busy to get back there again. It means that we will have to return to Berlin again in the future!

I hope you are enjoying my "around the world in 80 days" posts. Thanks for leaving your comments. I really appreciated them. I'm continuing stitching my slow-cloth. I only have space left for a couple of more pieces. When I left Munich I picked up a couple of Christmas magazines so the idea came to include a Christmas piece. We are in NYC at the moment.  Will blog about that on the next post.

Until nest time
Nat

Around The World in 80 Days

Around the world in 80 days! How does it sound for Mr Notjustnat and I for our round-the-world trip? In early 1990 Michael Palin hosted the series Around the World in 80 Days on BBC television. I enjoyed the series until the end. Our trip won't be as interesting as Michael's, but to us it will be. 

The trip combines Mr Notjustnat's retirement and my 10 years long-service-leave. By coincidence they happened in the same year! The trip gives us the chance to visit friends and family along the way. I'm also looking forward to meeting with some online friends for the first time. Some kind souls even offered us to stay with them! 

We will begin our trip from East to West and around. First stop is United Arab Emirates where we lived for almost 7 years. We land in Dubai and then by road to Abu Dhabi. I'm so excited about going back there for the first time since we left in 2002. Below are some photos I got from the net to give you an idea. I will try to update my blog every so often when I have a chance. You can also see my daily feeds on Instagram.

The title page of the original AroundThe World in 80 Days
by Jules Verne. 

In Dubai I will catch up with my friend Becky. Another dear friend Cynthia will come to pick us up and drive us to Abu Dhabi which is about 150 kilometres from Dubai. I'm looking forward to this ride. I'm sure it will be unregonisable compared with when we lived there.

Abu Dhabi cornish where we lived in from the mid 90's to 2002

A camel train in the desert not too far from Abu Dhabi City

This photo could be any souq in the Middle East!

The highlight for me in Abu Dhabi is to visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Construction of the Grand Mosque began when we still there, but with the grand scale of the project it's taken longer than planned. Apart from the Grand Mosque I would like to visit our old apartment building we used to live in. Of course I would like to see the changes that happened in Abu Dhabi. 

So please come along and follow us on our Around The World in 80 Days. 

Until next time

Nat

Easter is Coming!

Just in case I haven't got around to blogging again before Easter I wish you all a Happy Easter 2015. We are having 5 days off at Easter! When you have a full time job, any day off is really appreciated. I know it's going to be a busy 5 days, but that's how I like it. 

Last Saturday I attended coiled basket workshop with Jacky, Dot and Lee. As you know I'm a basket weaver and I love baskets in all shapes and sizes. I thought it would be fun to go along to a workshop with friends. The workshop was held at Alowyn Gardens in Yarra Glen. It was run by Ruth Woods of Craft School Oz. The venue is about an hour's drive from Melbourne. Below are some photos of the event. Enjoy!

Workshop samples

My basket base using natural raffia and indigo dyed raffia

Jacky's and my bases

These are all the basket bases the class did that day

I added more to the base

It's getting bigger

Twined Together is a book inspired by bush baskets

Rock feature garden at Alowyn Gardens

Original mining cottage 

Rustic chair in the original condition

Sculptural arch 

Garden maze

Another arch

I thought that I had not been doing much this last couple of weeks until I gathered together the photos and realised that I have been quite busy. Below are some photos of textile related activities I have been creating. 

This is the journal cover I'm making for my travel journal. I used  BORO style piecing, but used traditional embroidery stitches on it. I've add more embroidery since I took this photo. I will share with you again once it is completed. 

And this is the Civil War Quilts block I mentioned in the last post. The red fabric is a "F" (featured) fabric found at an opshop/thriftshop. I've featured it in every block I have made. Barbara put out free pattern for 52 blocks, but I think I'm only going to make about 30 blocks and set them on points and alternate with plain fabric.  

I hope you didn't miss the International Day of Happiness? At my work we had a little fun competition to see who would come in to work that day wearing the most colourful and happy clothes. The prize was a bottle of "happy bubbly". I thought if I wore my Yukata with silk boro patches I would win and I did!  

Blog ending photo for today is this coffee art/heart created by the barista at Market Lane Coffee Prahran Market, South Melbourne. Melbourne is known as the world's best coffee capital. We are spoiled for choice with coffee shops! I have been there twice now and will go back again. 

I hope everyone is keeping well, busy and creative. The weeks and months are moving on so fast that it will be nice to stop and take a breath. I'm looking forward to driving into the sunrise next Friday and heading to see our DS, DIL and DGC in Canberra. Happy Easter Everyone!

Until next time

Nat