Mid-week break, with craft

On Wednesday the Mister and I took off for Sydney for a couple of days of F&F&B (fabric and friends and books). It had been a stinker in Canberra the days leading up to our mini-break, so we were really looking forward to sea breezes and, let's be honest, hotel air conditioning.



We (I mean I) decided we'd pop into Tessuti Fabrics in Surry Hills on our way to Potts Point. But first we had to quench our thirst at the Lord Albert Hotel down the street with a little non-alcoholic beverage.



Thirsts quenched, we went to Tessuti. Thank heavens for the husband sofas and good reading material because I was about to go a little crazy! I found this gorgeous fabric that reminds me of the rusty fabric my friend Wilma makes by leaving fabric in her back yard in the rain for weeks with washers and steel wool wrapped inside it. Ironically, this fabric is 90% cotton 10% metal.  And sheer as anything, but I had to buy it so I could make a skirt out of it. Don't worry - I also bought underlining for it.



And then maybe I bought some cotton silk voiles, and another underlining, and threads. Not too bad for an hour of shopping in the heat.



The real reason we were in Sydney though was to visit our friend Patricia. She came to our hotel on her way back from work, and that evening we traipsed around Potts Point and Kings Cross for an hour trying to find a nice place for dinner. In the end we dined about 50 metres from our hotel, at Fratelli Paradiso. My goodness - it was so good. Possibly one of the best meals I've had in Sydney, and I failed to take a photo of my pasta scampi, or my pannacotta, or Patricia's delicious looking cannoli. You'll just have to believe me. It was really good.



As much as I miss having her in Canberra with me, I love that she's become such a great excuse for us to visit Sydney too.



The next morning I was up early thanks to the sun, and on looking out the window decided I was not tired of this view, even after staying at the same hotel for almost 17 years.



Today was the day I decided to give up coffee for a while. Silly, silly me. But I was off to a great start with this freshly squeezed mango, banana, pineapple and grenadine frappe. Yum.



And then this heart-stopper of a breakfast. (The baked beans were rubbish, and who puts lettuce on a breakfast plate anyway?)

And then it was off to check out our favourite store in the world, Kinokuniya Books. With a caffeine-withdrawal headache of astronomic proportions.



I seem to have gone right off quilting, general craft/sewing and crochet books lately, but show me a dress making book and I'm all over it. I was thrilled to find that Pattern Magic was now in English - I have lusted after it for so long! Along with Vol 2 of that series, I bought a couple of books on garment construction, and a quilt pattern.



Then a few hours later it was time to get back in the car and drive home to Canberra. Thank goodness for the cricket on the radio - going home always seems to take so long.



But as soon as I got home I washed all my fabrics, plus another Tessuti fabric I bought before Christmas, and with the hot wind blowing they were all dry in 20 minutes.

If I hadn't been so tired I would have sewn something straight away. Imagine if I'd had a garment to show you in this blog post? That would have been insane. Instead you, and I, are going to have to wait.