melbourne's cafe

After Brisbane, we visited Melbourne and stayed at my sister's tiny apartment :D....all 7 of us (mom, dad, 4 of us and my lil sis).  Though cramp, we all had fun and loved each other's company (specially when the children are asleep hehehehe).  Whilst my parents, my sister and my parents' friends went to The Great Ocean Road to see the 12 apostles (7 now???)...The four of us took our time and had brekkie at Three Bags Full in Abbotsford...WE LOVED IT THERE!  My egg benedict came out beautifully and ooohhh sooo fresh :)...the chai was really nice too, though a bit on the heavy side :).

From here, we thought we should try one of the best coffee place in Melbourne (so the locals say....), we went and try St. Ali and we TOTALLY understand why this place won the hearts of so many people :). The coffee was nice and my cuppa chai was PERFECT :).  I fell in love with St. Ali :)...we are yet to try Cumulus...but it could wait till our next visit to the number 1 livable city in the world :D.

xoxo, www.liaspace.com

pulang kampung

Helloooo...I know it's awfully late...but to those who celebrated Idul Fitri...I'd like to wish you all a Blessed Idul Fitri :)...We went to Australia (again :p) during the Idul Fitri's holiday....we first arrived in Brisbane, the Misfits' kampung...they were born there, after all :D...It was a bit sad seeing all the familiar streets, places and surrounding...sad because we no longer have a house to go back to...My parents decided to rent out the house, since none of us are living in Brisbane any longer...it's sad being an outsider in your own "home"...but we managed to have fun...I went to my friend's COOL shop that was just open on the 25th of August in South Bank called Scrumptious Reads, a must place to go if you're around the area...I'll post some pictures of her paper cups-shop-installation!

We also took an afternoon at the Lone Pine's Koala Sanctuary...as expected, Big M was so excited..she petted the kangaroos and insisted on taking a picture with a Koala...Lil M was the total opposite of Big M :) but they both had a blast :).  We were like tourists in Brisbane...the next day we walked to South Bank, stopped by fresh food market...bought some delishh cakes and nuts, then took the Brisbane Eye.  I love Brisbane...it will always be my home :)

xoxo,
www.liaspace.com

an afternoon with a lovely lady

This morning I called Gwen of Busy Smockers and asked whether she has some Amanda Jane's needles in stock...and to my luck, she has! So I went to her lovely home and we were greeted by her kind hospitality. I LOVE Gwen's little workshop...it has just about EVERYTHING you need for smocking and heirloom sewing. Her wardrobe is packed with so many beautiful heirloom dresses and smocked dresses. Gwen was VERY helpful and kind..tending to my every questions and gave me some tips and tricks and I bet she would've been an excellent teacher (hopefully I'll be able to learn from her on one of my trips here). She recommended me a good beginner's book and a good basic smocking pattern. She gave me a bonus of a very lovely magazine called Creative Needle, which unfortunately no longer in business, which is too bad, since the magazine is absolutely lovely. Thank you, Gwen for a lovely time at your place :)

another beautiful day in Melbourne

The other day I went to GJ's discount fabric. It's not the prettiest shop but it sure is complete! They have a whole section filled with quilter's fabrics and other quilting needs. The staff was very nice and understanding of my little misfit (who accidentally dropped a whole box of needles!!!!). Overall a nice shopping experience, though their quilting fabrics are of standard price but they do have some discounted fabrics on the second floor, though not a lot. Their store is located at: 43 Lygon St, East Brunswick. Phone: (03) 93802989. I don't think they have a website.

far far away

Today, we went to 2 fabric/patchwork shops! One is called Patchwork on Central Park, which is a lovely small shop...they have quite an extensive collection, including beautiful japanese knits and I saw some Nani Iro's fabrics as well...nevertheless, I was proud of myself for not buying anything! Since I will be going to Japan next year...Here are some pics of the place. I have a thing with small cozy little shop :)

Lucky I have a wonderful husband who would drove me all the way to Bayswater (it's far...believe me) without complaints :D....The shop is INSIDE a tile showroom with its store sign half wrecked outside...We've missed this place and good thing I called in justttt in time before they closed at 4:30pm!!! The long drive was well worth the time :) I finally got my book A stitch in Time by Rosalie Quinlan and found an interesting book called A Boy's Story by Anni Downs. But what made me sooooo extremely happy was the new (currently HARD TO FIND) PVC fabrics by Rosalie Quinlan....I bought 3 PVC garden fabrics and the red one is her cotton garden fabric...Found some bias tape as well :)...I'm... H A P P Y...thank you, dear...

rose street finds

What I bought from rose street...

A ceramic brooch and a few prints from Linogirl

Bought 3 prints from Belafonte :)

rose st artists market

Finally we went to rose st. artists market! Though at first we got derailed to the beautiful and interesting Brunswick Street's shops...in our quick stroll (before we rushed back to the car afraid we would've been ticketed) I found an interesting store called Wilkins and Kent...very very cute shop! I wanted to browse more but we had to leave :(...but I stole some snapshots :D

After lunch, we finally got to the market (very very late afternoon)

I love the rose st market :D...I found a few interesting things there and bought some too....

I bought a few things from Linogirl, she's very talented and I love her ceramic art :D

If I am unable to sew, I would've bought some clothes from Bobbins and Bliss...they're really cute! and I saw 1 fabric similar to mine hehehehehe

That shop at the end is called ,Chestnut too bad they don't have a website...but they sell plush toys, baby bibs (shaped into flowers) and scarves.

There was this cute little place selling covered buttons, covered earrings and such...but I didn't take her card...

That shop at the end sells very cute lampshade! It's called two layers of cells...I'd love getting some but maybe next time :)

As we walked out the closed section, I saw this cute store selling cute plush toys made mostly of woolen fabrics but I didn't get the card too

There was a shop called Shadow Theatre, the sell really cute shadow on plywood

and that sums up our little rose street market experience

while you were sleeping...

We arrived in Melbourne and after having a long nap, we finally had enough energy to go about...too bad all of the stores were closed...so we went to Ikea :D...where I bought some fabrics and misfit had some ice cream (messy messy messy) and we were all happy :D

KCH from Melbourne

I know it's been awhile...since I went to Melbourne last time :p....but I forgot to show you what I got from Craft Victoria. It's a Kitty Came Home PVC covered clutch...I finally came around googling KCH and found her other interesting creations...totally love them :)

the rest of my days in Melbourne

Well, between helping my sister move to her new apartment, I had the fortunate chance to venture a few more interesting shops of Melbourne :).

1. Bustle and Bows - I love this shop, it's small, intimate and has lots of embroidery stuff, including smocking equipments, patterns and A-Z book series. The shop keepers were all very nice and helpful. I wish they have more of this type of shop, here in Melbourne. I bought the pattern to a very cute smocking-embroidery dress for my Misfits :).










2. Amitie - I've died...and gone to fabric haven :) at least the one in Melbourne :). They stock a lot of fabric range! Including those exciting Japanese fabrics!! Even more than the one at Addicted to Fabric...mmm or maybe the same? hard to tell...I LOOOOOVVVVEEEE their quilt displays! They make me want to start (I mean..try) quilting again.









3. Ink and Spindle - Oooooo how wonderful it felt when I finally got to see my fabrics...my beautiful fabrics by Lara Cameron. A wonderful person, a talented designer and a groovy studio :). Would definitely be coming over again in the future to pick up more wonderful fabrics :p