Melbourne!

I have just got back from a week in Melbourne with the young Mr and various combinations of my friend Liz and my husband.  It was mainly a holiday to give us the chance to introduce the young man to aeroplanes, trams and the fantastic dinosaur display at the museum.  Added bonuses were the Dreamworks exhibition, Zumbo's and the aquarium! 

I also made a point of making a craft pilgrimage to L'Uccello which was conveniently just around the corner from where we were staying and to GJ's discount fabrics, which I had heard a lot about and which was definitely worth the trek to East Brunswick.

So L'Uccello...the pictures say it all really:

It is the most beautifully presented haberdashery store I think I have every seen.  Every nook and cranny is packed full of buttony, ribbony, fabricy goodness.  The feel and theme is definitely vintage - the materials are soft and mellow, the buttons are mother of pearl, Bakelite or lovingly cleaned and restored originals from mid century.  Silk flowers and embossed gift cards burst forth from delicate displays and of course there is ric rac, bunting and threads galore.

This was my (restrained, yes restrained!) purchase:

Complete with beautiful carry bag.  There is felt, ribbons, buttons, Liberty fat quarters and glittery bird gift tags.  I left soooo much behind.  Honest.

GJ's was more your large fabric store kind of place.  Despite the "discount" title it wasn't cheap.  There were some $2 fat quarters I didn't buy for the sake of it.  Liz had some luck in the dance fabric section and I found some beauties on the bolts in the quilting section.

All of these are 1/2m cuts except for the foxes.  That's 1m because you can never have too many foxes. :)