cafes

Wanderings

| poppypeach

Over and out for now with my crafting and sewing and to wrap it up I collected all the pieces from my work and made a another pillow which is stuffed with the smaller scraps as a memento of my time with my machines. I am now back to studying two subjects Developing Literacy and the Theories of Teaching and Learning both have a LOT of reading and now I am in planning mode so I can get my assignments done on time and balance the rest of my life living as solo parent with two tweenagers.

Last week was a long weekend so we went and did some house research as we are going to leave our lovely house sometime in the near future for the remodel. So as we were in a different part of the neighbourhood we checked out an amazing cafe The Boot Factory on Pentridge Boulevard. The crushed avocado, preserved lemon whipped ricotta with a poached egg was divine and their coffee was the best I have had so far. My favourite part of lunch was the vintage inspired decor complete with comfy couches and old wooden chairs and this gorgeous table lamp. I will have to visit again soon!

This lovely dress is from the same pattern a 1970s dress that was paired with the skivvy on the pattern picture so I thought excellent it can be layered or not for the changing weather. The dress was created for an up-cycled sari fabric which was once a maternity skirt. With the swing in the A-line, I felt it needed pockets so I added a couple of decorative pockets – I would not put my phone or anything valuable in there but it is fun for your hands!

This dress was another old pattern from the late 1990s I reckon that I used to wear a lot in many fabrics back in the day as it is pretty versatile. The skirt of the Japanese fabric was sewn together randomly and saved from the landfill as it was older and stained so I screen printed over the discolouration on the fabric pieced it together and voila a skirt with a top made from a $4 XL t-shirt.

The grey dress is a $2 Muse concert t-shirt cut up and mixed up with the XL tee and the skirt is from a dress I wore for my 30th birthday at Misty bar in Melbourne which is now permanently closed. It’s location was on the very cool Hosier Lane which is a huge tourist attraction with street art covering the walls of the laneway – I may have to go and check it out again and perhaps finally go to Movida to eat. This pattern is super comfortable and works well on hot days.

Looking around the neighbourhood I found the Penal Establishment of Pentridge with its bluestone walls and behind this huge entrance is another development with apartments and I am looking forward to how this all looks in the future with its inner city high density vibe going on. I love how heritage listed elements are combined with modern urban architecture.

Better get back to work as I have a couple of kids wanting the day off school so they can strike for Climate Change. It should be big with many kids taking time off school to show the government what they stand for as it is their future after all. Last rally I attended was the Womens March in San Jose, looking forward to my first rally back in Australia!

Feasting on creativity

| poppypeach

It was our last week together with my hubby in town until we are reunited again in April with our cat, I so miss my Bella girl! She will spend 10 days in quarantine before she is released to us when they both come home. I am so looking forward to patting her again. The plan was to spend some quality family time together and we went out to dinner for the CERES Tamil Feasts in support of Tamil men from Sri Lanka currently seeking asylum in Australia. It was a delicious spread of Sri Lankan food with fish as the highlight of the meal, and for the vegetarians, there was a vegan option. The fish was just how my mum makes her mackerel fish curry with a side of parrippu and other delicious goodies. It was hot for me but as I am not used to eating a lot of hot food so anything with a bit of chilli is a challenge these days. It was a 3-course menu and was so filling. We also celebrated with some alcoholic beverages on the side. The bonus too is that there was a chai tea the men make up that we bought to have at home – delish!

It was insightful to hear the men’s stories of how they have fled Sri Lanka in search of a better life only to be in detention for 6 years in Australia moving from state to state until finally, they came to Melbourne. Countries around the world all have their shame and this is Australia’s shameful contribution with their treatment of people who travel over here on a boat, crossing oceans not even knowing how to swim and risking their lives only to be locked away for arriving undocumented in this country. It would be a good thing for Australia to come up with a solution but the politicians are too busy infighting to even consider anyone else? It is such a shambles!

Enough politics, for now, the Tamil feast was at one of my favourite places in Melbourne CERES – the Centre for Environmental Research in Environmental Strategies at their cafe The Merri Table. It is such a special place to visit with chickens for the kids to enjoy and their market on the weekend plus the cafe which serves incredible food – I think I need to arrange a meet up with friends there soon.

As we were so full we decided to walk around at night for a bit to digest and who did we find – a cat called Gato who followed us for many blocks until he decided, these people are not giving me any more pats I will find someone else!

  • My hubby and I took a pic outside the Treasury building where we got married!

Saturday was a great sunny day and I met up with a friend at another lovely cafe in Fitzroy Gardens called Kere Kere Green where I enjoyed this flat white with a vegan toasted sandwich – yummo! The playing cards they give for your places are kept until the end of your visit and you use them to vote for a community outreach initiative that the cafe organises. Such a super idea for giving back to the community and such a friendly and happy place on the edge of the most gorgeous garden where I spent a lot of my lunchtimes contemplating cube life when I worked for a corporate company. I have so many peaceful memories where I felt so connected to nature balancing the boredom of a day in an office – we did make our own fun though!

This week I have found time for my creative streak to shine on where I have taken some of my old clothes and a fave fabric from my stash to make a couple of new pieces. I was realising my lack of clothes for winter and have made some layering pieces the top is from an old skirt originally kimono fabric and the dress is some fabric I kept from my fabric stash from 12 years ago (the rest of the fabric I donated on Gumtree). It has been so good to get out my old Janome machines and get busy. I only have 2 more weeks of freedom before my time is devoted to studying again, so I gotta make the most of it. The bonus was that my overlocker was already threaded and ready to go – now I am going through clothes that I originally threw out and I am going to repurpose them into new items for my winter wardrobe as the shipped goods will not be arriving until the end of April, so my leather coat will arrive just in time before winter.