Kyoto - 2018

We visited Kyoto 7 years ago. It was actually our first trip to Japan trip. This time the trip was more tailored to specific things I wanted to do and see. We stayed in this beautiful hotel Misui Garden. The room was almost big enough for the two of us! But in saying that, the hotel was beautiful and the Japanese style breakfast was plentiful and delicious. 

Apart from planning to hit the Toji Temple flea market on the 22nd of each month we also went back to the places we visited 7 years earlier. The flea market was a success. I was glad I decided to go there. There were so many cool stores and lots and lots of boro/indigo vintage fabrics to die for! The market was so big and busy that I feel I need to go back for another visit to see the rest of it. 

Our son and his family joined us on this trip so we got to spend time with them as well. I suggested that we should visit Nara while we were there. So we did. I knew the grand kids would enjoy the deer park in Nara. 

After Kyoto, we went to Tokyo in time for the Tokyo International Quilt Festival. I will blog about that on the next post. 

Japanese Garden

View from the hotel lobby into the garden

Kyoto Manhole cover

Kimono ladies in Kyoto

Fushima Inari Shrine

Nanzen-ji Garden, Kyoto

Warning sign at Nara deer park

Deer feeding

Toji Temple flea-market store

Toji Temple flea-market, more store

BORO/Indigo/ Vintage fabric
at the flea-market

Ikebana arrangement
at Kyoky Station

I got a lot more of photos, but I don't want to overwhelm you in one post. The next post I will blog about Tokyo and the Tokyo International Quilt Festival.

Until next time
Nat

Winter Down Under

Winter hibernation! I'm always looking forward to winter at the end of a hot and dry Australian Summer. Though after a couple of months into winter hibernation I'm starting to wish it to goes away again! If you remembered I got vertigo last winter. Thanks goodness I didn't get it again this year, but what I got was a bad flu virus and it knocked me down for a couple of weeks. 

After I got over my flu I made a quick trip to Sydney to visit Myra and Georgina my dear quilter friends. We had planned to visit the famous Sydney harbour and all the touristy spots, but the train schedules had changed on that day and if we went we would have had to take 3 trains and couple of busses before reaching the harbour. In the end, we didn't make it. Instead we spent the afternoon quilting! 

I also saw two major International Exhibitions here in Melbourne. The first one was the Winter Master Exhibition of Vincent Van Gogh and the second one was the Hokusai Exhibition. How lucky am I to get a chance to view both of these exhibitions right here in Melbourne. I also was lucky to have visited Van Gogh's Museum in Amsterdam in 2015. I got to learn of Hokusai early on in my life when we came across his work featured in a beautifully printed calendar. Unfortunately, I do not remember the calendar year, but it was a pretty old calendar when we found it. We got all the prints framed and they hung in our homes for years.  I was thrilled to see Hokusai's original prints up-close and personal. 

Working, preserving and baking has been keeping me busy throughout Winter, but I wouldn't mind seeing Spring soon! I try to fit in eco-dyeing when I can, but only managed to do one batch in the last couple months. Anyway, below are some photos from the various activities I have been doing. Thanks for visiting. 

Van Gogh Self-portrait autumn 1887
Paris oil on canvas

There was no The Sunflowers painting in the
exhibition! But this clever dude sitting on
the curve painting in plain view
for everyone to appreciate!

A Wheatfield with Cypresses, Van Gogh. 

The Great Wave - Hokusai's most famous print.

Fine Wind, Clear Morning, Red Fuji Hokusai print

I'm always into baking and trying new recipes. Of course I love preserving/canning as you call it in North America. I was given some black and green olives recently. They came with instructions on how to preserve them. I also preserved garlic and honey. 

Portuguese tarts 

Gluten free orange cake

Jars of preserves

Dyeing bundles: There are many eucalyptus leaves around my neighbourhood. I wait until the leaves fall on the ground or when the city council prunes the trees. Winter seems to be the pruning time. Winter is also the season for privet berries which I collect and make into bundles. The berries give striking marks on fabric.  

Bundles freshly from the dye pot

Vintage silk with eucalyptus leaves
and privet berries

Eucalyptus Cinerea leaves on vintage silk

Eucalyptus Nicholii leaves on silk

In Sydney with Georgina and Myra

The quilt Myra and I made for each of us

Union Jack quilt Georgina made
for her beach house. 

Good to know that some people are missing my blog update. There is no excuse not updating my blog except I feel I don't make anything worthwhile sharing. Of course you can always look me up on Instagram 

Hope everyone is keeping well, healthy and fit! I'm still doing my daily exercises. I have got into a routine of hitting the gym for 6am sessions. The session lasts 45 minutes. I am home again by 7:00 and leave for work by 8:00. I try to do this 4-5 times a week, and if for some reason I miss a day, I make it up on Saturday.  I think I have become one of those gym junkies! 

Until next time

Nat

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

Seattle

We only stopped in Seattle for 4 days. I didn't plan to do anything myself, but Mr Notjustnat's wish

was to visit the Boeing Museum. We stayed at a hotel for the first time on this trip and it is right in the city centre, so we could go everywhere by foot. The first morning in Seattle we walked to Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. The market was just setting up, but was already buzzing with lives. 

After the market we went to SAM (Seattle Art Museum). As it happened, there was special exhibition on "Intimate Impressions" so we thought we might see something that we haven't seen before on the trip. We weren't disappointed. We found 2 small paintings by Edgar Degas and Edouard Vuillard.

When we arrived back at the hotel I received a text from dear LeeAnn, Nifty Quilts to meet up, if I was available. I was happy to meet LeeAnn. She is a quilter I have admired, and have followed her blog for a long long time. LeeAnn picked me up that afternoon and took me to her warm and beautiful home. On the drive to her house she told me one of her friends is visiting from NYC and would I mind meeting her too. Her friend is Victoria Findley Wolfe. It was double luck for me to meet both LeeAnn and Victoria at the same. We had a lovely lunch and visited my favourite kind of place. A Japanese Yukata fabric Okan Arts. "A small world" moment happened there. I had actually mail ordered from Okan Arts in the past and now I was standing in the studio. 

A brief visit to Seattle turned out to be another memorable visit. Thank you all textile artists in this world. You are so very kind, generous and lovely! Here are some photos from my Seattle visit:

Meet the Pike Place Market's famous pig!

Seattle sunset city view 

Basket spotted at Polish Pottery store

Edgar Degas, Dancer Backstage 1876-83

Edouard Vuillard, The Artist's
Paintbox and Moss Rosses 1898

LeeAnn and I at Okan Arts

Victoria, LeeAnn, Patricia and Victoria's
daughter and grand daughter

Double Tree Arctic Club Hotel, Seattle

We took the Cascade train to Vancouver.
Never too old to take a romantic getaway!

Breathtaking view along the way

Another breathtaking view along the way

Next stop was Vancouver. Again I thought it was going to be a week's stop for Mr Notjustnat to attend a professional development course, but as it turned out, it was a memorable stop. I will have to do a separate post for Vancouver.

My around the world in 80 days is coming to the end in a couple of days. I'm looking forward to getting home and have started thinking about going back to work and Christmas. Life will be back to normal and routine again. I miss my dyeing and the dye bundles awaiting me at home to be opened!

Until next time
Nat