Bridging moments

Terrific Trev took me to Sydney for the January "long" week-end - to see the Picasso exhibition at the Gallery of New South Wales, to scour Oxford Street, the sales, the city arcades, to visit the markets, and to dine wonderfully at hand-picked venues. He is the king of travel planning, and I am a very lucky crafter as a result.

Before we left we walked along the Harbour Bridge feeder road, overlooking Circular Quay, to the foundation stone above The Rocks. The bridge was opened in March 1932, a week before my mother was born, so that was a bit of a moment as she, and the bridge, turn 80 next month.

And she is eternally grateful that her parents decided NOT to call her 'Sydney Bridgette'.

This week-end I have my first market - the very special Heavenly Harvest in the grounds of St Mary's Church above the southern reach of our very own Story Bridge.

If you have a fondness for Jane Marple's village of St. Mary's Mead, or the Parish of Didley, this is the market for you! You can take tea in a pot with its own eccentric cosy accompanied by home-baked scones seated high above the river on the Kangaroo Point cliffs, rifle the jumble, browse hand-made wares, take a self-guided tour of the church, and go home with farm-fresh fruit and vegies, sweet treats and great bread. It's a bit of a hike, and far from extensive or over-crowded, but that's part of what makes it so special.

And the site fees and other funds raised go straight to the restoration fund for the church.

My other bridge moment coming up is an exhibition in which I'm participating of paintings and other works inspired by our very own Brissie icon, the Story Bridge - not as monumental perhaps, but in its own way as structurally impressive as its southern cousin. I have contributed ten bags and pouches - no paintings on this occasion because I simply ran out of framing time, but thematic sewing is lots of fun, challenging to start with but in the end self-perpetuating. The exhibition opens on February 14th at the Robyn Bauer Studio and Gallery, Paddington (the Brisbane one) and includes work from ten artists.

Enjoy a Fabulous February!

Vintage Vignettes

For the first time in a few years my sister hasn't brought her family out from London to spend Christmas with Mum and Dad and the rest of us here.

And why does one say "out from London" - are we some sort of outer space in Oz, or do they get let out of a wintry UK, as from the penitentiary?

And does speaking of Oz loudly proclaim my own vintage?

We missed them all, as much as one does miss one's favourite little sister and her lovely hubby and dearest chickadees. But I had a lovely time shopping, in London as it were, on-line for their Christmas and birthday presents (my niece and nephew were born on the 1/1 and 2/1 respectively). I roamed Harrods and Fortnams, browsed Designers Guild and Zara, and shopped at the London Science Museum and Accessorize.


My cyber visits to London reminded me of how much I am drawn to English crafting, English vintage, and English quirkiness generally. I'm not particularly anglophile, but no one does eccentric quite like Britannia.

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Example: Seaside Sisters - who neither live near the seaside, nor are they related, but they work magic nevertheless. The sisterhood comprises three superlative craftspeople: Gillian Elam of Fabric Nation, Linda White of Handmade to Measure and Xtina Lamb of Printed Wonders.

Handmade to Measure

Fabric Nation

Printed Wonders

Example: Supermarket Sarah, whose walls retail to the world her chosen makers.

Vignettes are the name of the game on a visit to London - our visit in 2010 was like a sequence of snapshots - eye-popping or intriguing, kaleidoscopic or misty-viewed.

Viva la quirk!

Rule Britannia! 

©2010 SupermarketSarah