To Canberra, and return!
Monday, October 1, 2012 at 6:44PM We went to Canberra for the weekend. (I know, it seems like I didn't say anything about it here, but that's because people who talk about going on holidays on the internet get ROBBED, and we like to keep our flash Kmart wardrobe and Ikea furniture out of temptation of thieves.) In fact, I was so excited about my trip I barely blogged, tweeted, or instagrammed at all. I wanted to talk about it but I was horribly busy.
But! The week before I went, I did have an excellent mail week. THREE new books!
All of the Washi. All of it. Now that it's OOP and Rashida Coleman-Hale is with a different fabric company, I thought, better now than trying to find it again later!
Plus I got some more out of print Heather Ross. I can't stop, guys. Mendocino, I'm useless. I just want it all. I was seized with a fancy to get the brown and aqua blue, with the idea that I'll make an all-Mendocino quilt (no solids). Have you ever felt that fabric? It is so incredibly soft. Imagine being under that quilt, snuggled up, drinking hot cocoa. Sounds perf, right? Because it would be.
I also picked up some other Heather Ross OOP fabric. Fishies, gnomes, mushrooms, and undersea fabric! It's pretty cute. I'm thinking cushions for my living room!
And, this is very exciting - my quilt labels came! I ordered them from Spoonflower after a solid evening playing with Acorn on my laptop, frowning at DPI and color charts and free font downloads, and what, don't look at me like that! I haven't done any designing in a decade! Truthfully, I was relieved they turned out at all. I ordered them on Kona and they are pretty dang sweet.
Piper and I have had a rough couple of weeks. I don't want to get into why I feel awful lately, but I suspect the little miss is teething, and she is just naughty. Everything is at full-throttle. Screaming constantly, not to cry, but just to be loud and heard. Even eating is a war. Food is glared at, dropped over the side of the high chair, or attacked.
The day before we left for holiday, I was supposed to launder and pack, and I couldn't get a thing done. She sobbed and screamed, and if I picked her up, she struggled and scratched, but if I put her down, she patted my knees until I picked her up again...and so on! It finally ended when I started bawling and I finally gave up (after three hours of this) and we went for a drive. She finally drifted off to sleep. I'm pretty upbeat, but that about did me in. I barely got the car packed, with Mr Poppleton's help, and we stumbled awake and left for Canberra very early, stopping for breakfast, coffee, and then lunch. We took our time getting out there and it was actually really nice.
Thankfully, our grouchy little miss slept most of the way there!
Our hotel - East Hotel - was amazing. We had a little kitchenette, a king-sized bed, and they provided a cot, but Piper preferred to be the middle bar of a capital H and sleep between us. (Teeth, HURRY UP. Srsly.) It was really new and very affordable for what it was (4.5 stars) and the staff at the restaurant, Ox, were just amazing. Really. Truly. Stuff like the bircher muesli was packaged in tiny little preserving jars! What is this, Pinterest Hotel? SO ADORBS!
And when we had our breakfast, I commented to Mr Poppleton that if there was a banana to grab it for the baby...and the female staffer went and found a banana, having just overheard our conversation. Then the same thing happened with orange juice this morning. Seriously, they are awesome, and there's a deli in the hotel. So lux. I would definitely stay there again and am kind of looking for an excuse to...hmm!
I also took the time out to have coffee with the awesome Danielle and offer my help in any way possible for the start of the fledgling Canberra Modern Quilt Guild! As I told her, I wished that ANYONE had said to me when I took over the Sydney chapter "Just call me! Or let's do a swap!" because no one really did, even though other groups started at similar times, and it has felt very lonely. I was really happy to be able to catch up in person!
And of course, I visited Addicted to Fabric.
Can I move in?
Because this...this is beautiful. *sigh*
We went to the War Memorial and caught the closing ceremony. They are honoring nurses and I'll be honest: I bawled. My grandfather was a Marine who served in the Pacific during WWII and I have a tremendous respect for the servicemen and women who make such great sacrifices. As a pacifist, I respect the fact that while I do not like the conflict, I am doubly aware of the people inside of it and how it will affect their life there and later.
We also visited Questacon (fun!), the National Museum of Australia (cool), and walked around Floriade twice, once for Nightfest and the next day on our way out of town. We braved the Giant Wheel and took Piper up, and she was absolutely transfixed! She jumped up and down at the top of the wheel every time and stared out over Floriade. I thought it was funny to reassure her, yes, she was taller than everyone else. :)
We came home happy to be back in the swing of things, and with a little swag! I bought a couple of mugs.
And this is my (somewhat) meager haul from Addicted to Fabric.
Anyway, we're glad to be home. It's already been a busy week, with technical glitches stopping up the website, and various appointments and meetings and obligations of everyday life running us off our feet. I had to come to a decision, looking over my obscenely busy calendar, so...
October I'm taking a break from SEWING and WRITING.
It's spring in Sydney, and the sun is shining, and my sixth-of-an-acre first-backyard-in-a-decade is ready to become a working garden. I love beautiful, sweet, shady cottage gardens, but as a stay-at-home-mama, I am really feeling the need to be a contributing member. So our garden is going to be a vegetable garden. I got my trays, seed-raising mix, and my packets of seeds from Green Harvest out. (I prefer to raise from seed - there is something just so magical about pushing that tiny seed down and a week later, a sweet little green seedling popping up. Also: much cheaper.)
It's all sorted now, ready to start sprouting, hanging out in my dining room! I've begun clearing the back of the garden where the raised beds will go.
I'm just so excited. I ordered even MORE seeds tonight - can't seem to help myself! But I'm sharing with friends. I did a little random scatter of my herb seeds yesterday, Jamie Oliver style, where I chucked them on a bed and tossed some new soil over them! We'll see how those go.
I will miss sewing, because I have a million projects on the table, but I am looking forward to a break from writing. November is National Novel Writing Month so I'm gearing up for that! Hopefully this year I don't lose interest by week two. :)
So that was our last couple of weeks! Whew. Feels like months! I'm looking forward to the weekend: more time in the garden, a visit to Grandma Jean, and hopefully buying a real lawnmower! I'll keep you all posted. :) Cheers!
Penny xx
Reader Comments (2)
I was so sorry I couldn't make Sunday coffee (damn birthdays!) BUT I'm glad you got to meet Danielle and enjoy Canberra at its most glorious! Hopefully will get to meet you next time you're down (great NGA exhibition this summer-Toulouse lautrec!)
It's taken me a while but I'm finally catching up on some blog reading! It was so great to meet you and I can't wait for some Sydney-Canberra collaboration in 2013! And also to getting our bee underway! D xx