Markets, Markets and More Markets!

I haven't really done any new stitching since my revelation that stitching while somewhat drunk is not the best idea. I'm not even game to look at the poor little piece I sabotaged. 

What I have been doing this weekend is going to markets. Lots and lots of markets! Well okay THREE markets but that's a fair effort in my books.

#1
Saturday 7th December
Nagambie market;
8.30am - 12.30pm

Nagambie is a small (but exceptionally scenic) town about 90 minutes from Melbourne.  It has the most incredible lake and hosts regular rowing regattas.  Also if you're interested in horse racing it's the home of Black Caviar. 

My sister and I were driving by on our way the Shepparton and decided to stop in for a rest and have a look at the market while we were there. 

Rowing was on, weather was lovely and the market was small and cute - much like the impression the town gives. 

Some general craft stalls, the usual market bulk goods (socks/dvds ect), a few fruit and veg, goat meat, olive & goat milk products and the local scout group had on a sausage sizzle. There was also some music in the form of a busker - she was very good and added an nice element to the whole thing. 

We brought delicious apricots for ourselves and the grandparents. Before I came home today our share was already mostly gone.

Basically a sweet little country market. If you're passing by or headed that way for some rowing stop in and waste 30 minutes or so browsing. 

#2
Sunday 8th December
Rose St. Artist' market;
60 Rose St. Fitzroy
11am - 5pm

Love it! This is a regular weekly event (every Saturday and Sunday) I'm ashamed to admit how often I DON'T make it. In fact it may actually have been a year or more since my last visit. 

As it says it the name this is an artists market so a fair bit of locally created higher end artist work and creativity. It's only small but has a very diverse mix of items that never fail to satisfy.

There's also the draw of Brubswick street itself with its many cafés and quirky shops. 

The market was as sweet as I remembered. I purchased some photo prints by a local photographer Esther Frieda. She had a lot of Melbourne but I liked her nature shots more. The three I purchased felt very calming when I looked at them together.

There was so many nice things. I kind of regret not buying some sweet Melbourne made soap - it smelt so yummy. There were several stalls with jewellery but all different styles so keeping it all diverse, I was tempted by a couple of pieces but held back from spending due to the fact I don't wear enough jewellery to warrant the purchase. I was also seriously tempted by a mixed media artist working with iconic Melbourne images, looked so nice like home but interpreted through someone else’s eyes - someone who loves it just like you.

I plan to repeat this soon; go in early, have breakfast at one of the multitude of nice cafés, check out the market and maybe have a coffee at the café next door then spend the rest of the day browsing along brubswick street! Through vintage and alternative fasion, spaciality shops and just plain interesting stuff. Yay. 

Probably lunch at Bimbo Deluxe ;) or may go rebel and eat healthy 0.O at the Vegie bar? So much to choose from.

#3
Sunday 8th December
The Big Design Market;
Sunday 8th December 2013
10am - 5pm

I had no idea this market was on until I saw a postcard for it at the Rose st market, it was on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'd had the vague idea to check out what was on at the Royal Exhibition Building on the way back from Rose street but finding the postcard cristalised the thought. 

Wasn't going to miss it :)

Wow, big. Lotsa stuff, not too much duplication. Though I ask all out there what's with the ugly chunky resin jewellery? and I don't understand the 'bespoke drinking jars' by Rainy Sunday at all. Really not at all.

There was a lot of interesting stuff to browse. I saw a lot of people sporting bags from 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and yes I was tempted to buy one of their tshirts as well. Quirky.

There was also some nice Melbourne inspired works but they came with 'Australian' prices which meant they were way overpriced and oustide of what I was willing to pay. Nice to look at though. Tempted again by a really nice screen printed pillow but it was a 'limited' edition. I don't want a limited edition pillow I want one I can use.

I ended up with a lama brooch from Kimono reincarnate. Hehe. LAMA :)

And lastly lets all look at the ceiling.  

Frog it!

Don't stitch after a few drinks.

That's all I have to say.

Piccadilly Market - Geelong

A wordy post today. 

On Sunday bf and I drove to the Piccadilly market in Geelong, an hour out from Melbourne.

Enjoyment is probably proportional to how long it takes you to get there. If you're in the area, go for it. In Melbourne? Make sure you have some other reason to be there as well. Otherwise it's a long drive that will probably take twice as long as browsing the market does. We were pretty tired from the drive even before we started browsing, though walking the wrong way up the street in 30degree weather probable didn't help. We found the market eventually.

In saying that it is a nice reasonably sized market with decent selection of local craft and goods. Its also located on the north shore a hairsbreadth from the bay, so nice scenery.

We'd anticipated the need for some extra incentive to make the trip worth it so came prepared with a picknick lunch (courtesy of the bf - he's a sweety). We found a nice little tree and ate on the waterfront. Nom nom. 

Conveniently there was also another local market on along the waterfront and a vintage car/bike show the 'Geelong revival'. So it turned out there was no shortage of things to do and see.

There are also several antique wholesalers in the area. We stumbled into one and felt like we'd wandered into the 1940's. And the building was massive. While by then we were pretty tired the Brougham street markets was probably the highlight of the trip. We'll have to do it again sometime.

More from the Land of Secondhand

More secondhand shopping! 

This time it's a glut of cross stitch. I'm currently very happy and shopped out. It actually looked like someone had had a mini stash clean out.  There was 10 or more cross stitch kit just hanging there waiting for me when I dropped in to Savers - ringwood.  I managed to leave some that I found less appealing on the shelves for someone else to discover but still feel like I got more than my fair share.

So without further ado I give you my lucky purchases;

Cost a whole $1 AUD.

If I get the time I'll make it up for my Nan for Christmas.

My favourite, $2 AUD. I feel guilty it's such a bargain.

Sleepy kitty close up.

Big bag of mixed floss, it'll find a use I'm sure.

Very interesting floral bell-pull $3 AUD.

My phone randomly rotates my photo's. I give up.

And again $3 AUD for a serious bargain on the kookaburra.

I love kookaburra's they're so very distinctive.

Secondhand Shops = much love

I love looking around secondhand shops. You never know what you'll find. I also conveniently live within walking distance of five.

This weekend I visited Savers - Greensborough (a suburb in Melbourne). Twice in fact.

Savers is a chain of secondhand goods mega stores in the US, Canada and Australia. They give a bit of their profits to charity but I'm pretty sure the company makes a fair bit considering all the stuff they sell is donated and I'm sceptical of how much (%wise) actually gets redistributed to those in need.

Their pricing of items also seems a little bipolar, some good stuff is reasonable but absolute rubbish will have ridiculous prices and some things you could get cheaper new at a normal shop. Just plain odd.

Will this stop me shopping there? No but it is something to keep in mind. It helps avoid the big spends on stuff I don't really need.

But on from the depressing and slightly bitter.

I won't go through all the stuffs I brought but please admire the little lace butterfly. He was a bit costly for what he is at $4 AUD but two days later I still don't regret it so I know I made the right decision.

He's much cute.

Hosier Lane Yarn Graffiti

Melbourne has some dedicated graffiti areas and some talented artists.

It's a good combination. 

I sometimes wander around and take some pictures of the graffiti like a tourist. :) It's fun and gets me out and about for hours. 

Recently I had some time to kill waiting for a friend in the city and decided to spend it visiting some of the graffiti sites. 

In one of the more popular and well know sites, Hosier lane, there was also the added enjoyment of seeing some stitchy creativity. 

I would not have the patience for something like this!

And a close up. Just FYI as well the bars actually start above head hight.

Further down the lane and it's some mixed media; crochet and tile

This one isn't Hosier Lane and it's isn't stitchy but it is Melbourne and it is very very cool.

More to Life Than Books

I envy those crafty people out there who can compete those big works or are seemingly constantly productive. As you may be able to tell, I'm a fairly slow spasmodic crafter. But I do try to complete what I start and EVENTUALLY move my ideas from concept to creation. Sometimes it even works.! Anyway today I finished a more random bit of cross stitch I thought I'd given up on. And I'm actually fairly happy with the outcome.

Some while ago I saw a chart for sale on etsy (i think?) with the words "there's more to life than books" some cross stitch books in the middle and then the words "but not much more." At the time I thought it was cute but not for me. Bit too pastel/cutesie.

But after thinking about it for a while I did decide that a variation might suit one of the multitude of bibliophiles I know. I didn't buy the chart, for one it wasn't quite what I wanted and more importantly I'd forgotten where I'd seen it. Instead I got the crazy idea to throw some aida into a hoop and just start stitching. No planing - nothing.

Understandably this resulted in some hiccups that ultimately resulted in me putting the partially completed work aside in disgust and forgetting about it for a year. 

1) I used the same size hoop my finished product. Stitching right to the edge was hell. You'd think I'd have put it in a bigger hoop at some point. But nope, just carried on with the small one.

2) I'd decided to use charms instead of cross stitching the books...you'd think with all the crazy scrapbooking/embellishing going on in the craft world charms in the shape of a book would be easy to come by. Think again, there were some expensive (very nice but expensive) charms made of silver and such but nothing nice and reasonably priced. After a ridiculous amount of searching I finally found something I could live with on eBay. Thank you China. 

3) realise I'd stitched the 't' and 'h' in the word 'than' too small. Improvised rather than frog. 

4) really really should have thought out the last line better. It ended up extra shquished and looking a bit like the dogs breakfast. 

And lastly the charms dangled but due to the limited space there wasn't room for such shenanigans so I stitched them in place with a little hoop in each corner.

All this was done in black floss.

And that was about where I left it. Most of the writing done and charms attached. 

I was cleaning recently and stumbled across it again and on second thought decided that actually it didn't look as bad as I remembered and made a mental note to finish it.

I did the last few cross' in the bottom line. A whole 3 required I think. Then added a backstitch line under the books to tie them in better - this worked really well I think. And lastly I used the leftover floss from the owl quickie freebie kit I finished last month to backstitch around the words. This gave the work some colour and made the squished bottoms line legible. 

Some felt on the back and all done.

the lights not the best but oh well, here's the finished product: