Trip to Melbourne

It was my son's birthday on Tuesday. The last time I saw him was in the middle of February, when my mother was in hospital and thought unlikely to recover. Since then, of course, there have been lockdowns and travel bans and the desire to avoid places with lots of people. But now Victoria has gone 27 days with no new covid cases, there are no active cases anywhere in the state, restrictions have lifted, and the prospect of sitting in a train with strangers for over an hour isn't as worrying as it was earlier. 

I drove to Ballan station, and got quite a surprise when I drove into the carpark:

Normally all those spots are taken! One of these three cars is mine. There are some other cars behind where I am standing, but there are about 100 empty spaces, where normally I would expect less than 10.

While I have been not travelling, upgrade works at the station have been in progress. There are now two platforms, although the new one isn't operating yet. They are expecting it to be in service by the end of January.

This sign is new. I thought it might be warning of swooping magpies, but the subtitle, "About the artwork" had me looking everywhere for the art.

It turned out I had already walked over a part of the artwork. It is in the concrete pathway:

The train to the city was not crowded at all. There were about 6 people in my carriage, so it was easy to maintain social distancing. The city was also not crowded:

I took that photo at about 1:00pm. A normal lunchtime would see hundreds of people just on the tramstop. I was sitting waiting for my son, who had said he would meet me at 1:00. I had finished my city shopping early, then found this shaded spot to wait. It was good to see that more than half of the people walking around were wearing masks, even though masks are not compulsory outside any more.

This was the shopping I did:

A few mainly Japanese items that are not easy to come by out in the sticks! The matcha-flavoured KitKats were an impulse buy after Pamela recently posted about Japanese KitKats.

Eventually I met up with my son, and we found somewhere with outside tables to eat lunch. It was good to see him again, and under far less stressful circumstances than our last meeting. We had a good talk, then headed our separate ways. 

The train home was much more crowded unfortunately. Until we got to Melton every pair of seats had one person in it, but at Melton many school children boarded the train. I ended up with a tiny little girl sitting next to me. She looked like she could only have been in Prep or grade 1. I took comfort in the idea that very young children seem less likely to spread covid. I was happier sitting beside her than some of the blokes I saw on the train who were "wearing" their masks under their chins!

MIFGS 2017

It has been three years since my last visit to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.  Here are a few of the things that caught my eye today.

I loved these elephants. I'd probably even have room for them:

 Just probably not the bank balance.

I still don't understand this sort of thing:

Or this:

The over-the-top Indianness of this made me smile:

I've never seen a display by ISKCON here before.

There were a couple of things on this stand that I might have liked for the garden:

But they were a bit pricey. Those succulents are spiral aloe, Aloe polyphylla, and were $200 each. And one of the planters I liked, which is right on the left of the photo, was $400. Of course the only reason I didn't buy either of them is that they would have been too awkward to bring home on the train.

Of course the Show Gardens are inspirational

 and interesting

 But here's what it is really like trying to get a good view of them:

Lastly a few quirky entires in the hanging basket competitions.

A hobbit house under a bonsaied oak tree:

An Asian gentleman fishing under a bonsaied fig tree:

And a succulent helmet? hat? hairstyle? created by turning the hanging basket upside-down:

It was a great day out!

Day in the City

Today was my regular monthly get-together with quilting friends in Melbourne. I stitched down binding as we spoke of many things.

I don't think I have touched this since our last meeting a month ago, but I'm about half way round now.

Today is also my son's birthday, so after the quilting meeting I spent some time with him. Together we visited the Myer Christmas windows, which was a lovely reminder of something we did every year when he was little. Back then we lived in Carlton, and walked into the city. It's a bit more of a trek for each of us now. The windows tell the story of "One Christmas Eve" by Corinne Fenton. I wasn't familiar with the book, not having any small children around. But my son and I both found the windows charming. There are lots of cute reminders of my own childhood, like hula hoops and a child swinging around on a Hills hoist. But here's my favourite little touch:

 A tyre swan in the garden!

Making the Australian Quilt 1800 - 1950

Trip to Melbourne to see a fantastic exhibition

at the National Gallery Victoria - Federation Square, until 6th November.

Wonder what they do with these banners after the exhibition?

The exhibition is marvellous! Wonderful quilts, fascinating history, displayed so that you can get a good view of everything. The gallery wasn't very busy, so I could spend as long as I wanted looking at each piece. And for some, that was quilt a while! I enjoyed examining the details, seeing the choices the maker had made when there wasn't enough of a particular fabric to complete a design, or how a maker had assembled patterned fabrics to make a unique design. 

I bought the book:

which is packed full of photos and info. It includes a few things that weren't on display, like this fabric on the back of one of the quilts:

I love the shapes, which would make an interesting quilt in themselves. Then I wonder why there is no Welsh symbol around Queen Victoria?

The gallery is selling a couple of silk scarves with images of quilts, but they were a little out of my price range. But I consoled myself with this remnant of patchwork-themed silk/cotton fabric from Tessuti, which I will turn into a scarf:

Also at the gallery another exhibition, Glenn Murcutt: Architecture of Faith, opened today. It is a fascinating inside look at the design of a new mosque under construction in Newport. It looks like a beautiful building, so I hope I can go and see it in person once it opens.

Where Am I?

It looks a bit tropical, but it isn't really. It's inner-city Melbourne. I'm one of 100 Victorians participating in sessions this weekend for a "citizens' jury" on obesity, and this is where I'm staying rather than travelling back and forward.

Media article about the citizens' jury here.

This is the culmination of a process that has been going for the last 6 or 7 weeks (because I just wasn't busy enough with all that new house and moving home stuff going on). We are meeting in a building with this view:

which is a bit different to home.

Tomorrow I'll try to remember to get a photo of the food provided at lunchtime. It's the healthiest spread I've ever seen at a seminar!

Missing Building

Met up with some quilting friends in Melbourne today. As I waited for the tram to go home, I was standing in sunshine that I couldn't have stood in a year ago:

Here's an article showing what it once looked like:
City office tower faces demolition

Anyway, it is sad that it is gone. It was a very modern building when I first encountered it. And apparently once had Melbourne's first rooftop restaurant.

Mid-Century Modern at the NGV

Took a break from house work to visit the NGV's exhibition Mid-Century Modern: Australian Furniture Design.

Whoops! Wrong gallery:

These colourful bears are part of "You started it...I finish it" an installation by Paola Pivi, at the NGV International. I really wanted to be at the NGV Australia, a short sun-shiny walk away.

This is more like it:

Above are "Contour" chairs and settee designed by Grant Featherston in 1953, with a blow-up of a November (didn't note the year) Home Beautiful cover featuring them.

Below, a "Form Line" dining chair designed by Fred Lowen c1955, in front of the August 1956 Home Beautiful cover:

The cute drinks trolley on the cover is also in the exhibition.

There are lots of interesting and stylish pieces on show, but some would be hard to live with I think. For example, take this room designed by a leading interior designer of the era, Marion Hall Best, for a Sydney client:

"Rondo" chairs designed by Gordon Andrews, with a rug by Mona Hessing, and "Industrial Revolution", a wall piece by Jack Meyer. This wall piece looks amazing, but its flashing lights and accompanying clunky-whirry sounds would drive me nuts after a while. I hope it had an "off" switch somewhere!

The Next Stage and I

I just met an internet friend in real life, and as usual with internet friends, she was just as nice as I expected! Maria from The Next Stage is in Melbourne for the Let's Get Stitched weekend. Today she had some free time, so we visited a few Melbourne landmarks together. It was fun to act a bit like a tourist in my own town.

This wall of vintage machines is at one of our early stops, the place where Project Runway Australia contestants buy their fabric, Rathdowne Fabrics and Remnants.

Another stop - the beautiful reading room of the State Library of Victoria:

I spent a few hours studying here in the days before the domed roof was turned into a skylight.

Later in the day we almost gate-crashed a wedding being held under another beautiful dome.

Here's Maria and another happy shopper in the gorgeous L'uccello vintage haberdashery shop:

Would you believe I have never actually been to this shop before? Today I bought some needles and some trim, but I'm sure I'll be visiting again.

Thanks for being a tourist with me, Maria!

Summer Read

The State Library have brought their "Summer Read" program outside this year:

Red beanbags and boxes of books to read are scattered around the lawn. Details on their website here.

The books in the boxes are all either set in Victoria, about Victorians or by Victorian authors. And I haven't actually read any of them!
The battle for Lone Pine: four days of hell at the heart of Gallipoli by David W. Cameron
A world of other people by Steven Carroll
Sisters of Spicefield by Fran Cusworth
Love with a chance of drowning:  a memoir by Torre DeRoche
The memory trap by Andrea Goldsmith
Blood witness by Alex Hammond
Night games: sex, power and sport by Anna Krien
Is it just me? Confessions of an over-sharer by Chrissie Swan
Father Bob: the larrikin priest by Sue Williams
The swan book by Alexis Wright
I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of them showed up in my book club this year. The club's books come from our local library, and they seem to specialise in books by local authors they can get to do readings in the library.

SCQuilters CBD Get-Together

Had a lovely day in town with seven other members of SCQuilters (Southern Cross Quilters):

I cut apart triangles I had sewn at home yesterday - forgot to take a picture until they were all cut apart, but they were half-square triangles made in sets of eight. Here's a blog post explaining how to do that in case you aren't familiar with the technique. I pressed my squares open with a handy little wooden gadget which was made for me recently, then trimmed them to size. These are pieces for the extra blocks I'm making for the summer mystery quilt.

Here's a couple of views of Collins Street from up at tree level. Looking west:

Looking east:

After such a nice day, I got home and found this beside my front door:

I think this time a cat is probably the culprit. Once I had re-assembled the pot and its plants as well as I could, I added some skewers sticking up out of it. I put some in the planter which keeps losing plants as well. I'm hoping the skewers will deter neighbourhood cats from trying to use my plants as litter trays. We'll see.

On a happier note, here's a little gift I was given by a friend at the get-together;

She thought my "new" treadle machine would like some vintage needles. Thank you! They look right at home on the machine.

Market Stall

An attractive stall at Vic Market. Someone with an eye for design has used an umbrella, some galvanised vessels, and blackboards for prices to create a unique look.

Ripponlea

Today I went to see the exhibition of wonderful costumes from the TV show "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" at Ripponlea Estate. I really enjoyed the exhibition, which has been extended until 1st December if you haven't seen it yet. Approaching the house from the driveway:

Unfortunately you aren't allowed to take any photos inside the mansion, so I can't show you even a glimpse of the clothes or the way they are arranged inside the house. I was particularly fascinated by the mock-up of the workroom of the designer, Marion Boyce, with some of her extensive stash of beautiful fabrics on display, as well as notebooks and half-made costumes.

The ban on photography doesn't extend to the gardens, fortunately, and I spent quite a while wandering around the grounds, seeing parts I haven't previously visited. The fernery is something I do remember having seen before, but I still loved it:

The windmill is new since my last visit, but is a re-creation of one which was there originally. You can climb the lower part of it to get a nice view of the heritage apple orchard, where some of the trees are still blossoming. The windmill is part of the water recycling scheme for the gardens.

The perennial borders will look wonderful later in summer, but not much is flowering at the moment. On the right side of this footpath is a dahlia garden with only small shoots up so far.

I loved this wrought-iron flourish on a fence:

Somehow on previous visits I have missed seeing the lake! Here's the view across the lake from the tall pavilion at the southern end of the garden.

The gardens in the foreground feature some interesting succulents. Looking back from the other side of the lake you can see the waterfall:

Willows, waterlilies and irises:

Reminding me of the Monet exhibition.

The western side of the house:

The terrace in front of the house is lined with a bed of Lorraine Lee roses, which fitted the 1920's theme of the day, being bred in 1924.

All in all it was a gorgeous day!

Poppies

Poppies starting to open at the Legacy Garden beside the Shrine of Remembrance.

Avenue of Elms

Elms looking very spring-like, covered in green flowers and seeds, but no leaves yet.