I'm hanging in there...

...well, not really. I prefer somewhere a bit warmer actually. I bet you can't believe I'm in Australia in this photo. Check this out if you don't believe me.

A wombat in the snow. There's a sight you don't see every day!

We were on top of Ben Lomond mountain in Tasmania, where we just had a lovely holiday. The boys were desperate to see snow (it never snows in Perth) so we decided to fly across to the other side of Australia to find some.

They loved it.

Tasmania is a pretty special place that we had been looking forward to seeing. We almost didn't go though as a week before we were supposed to leave, my Dad was taken seriously ill while on holiday in Spain. I spent a week on the phone trying to get news and didn't feel at all ready for a holiday, but he had improved enough so that we felt able to go when the time came. All I can say is thank god for the ipad, free wifi and Skype! I'm pleased to report that he is now over the worst and feeling much better. It was all a huge shock though and explains my lack of blogging, answering comments and general appearance on the internet. The imac dying to the tune of a $1500 repair bill didn't help either. I'll hopefully get back to normal soon.

Keep sewing!

  

Camping in paradise

Just back from a lazy week camping in Dunsborough, which is about 3 hours drive south of Perth, WA. Ah the joys of camping! I missed my bed but I LOVED being out all the time in the fresh air. We basically lived at the beach and had picnics for every meal. Bliss.

The first night it was fish and chips. Yum. I have no idea who the smiley guy is but he sure brightened our picture!

We needed something quick to eat that first night as we arrived to find that we had a tent but the poles were still sitting in our garage at home. This turned out to be my fault as I packed all the clothes, food and camping equipment while Mr Meggipeg was at the library choosing some holiday reading. Anyway, after a quick dash to Dunsborough village we bought a tent (from a very small selection), which was fine, but rather cosier than our usual tent!

Truffle spent every night bed hopping...

...and every day swimming.

The boys went fishing for the first time...

...and both caught fish (but we're softies so we threw them back)

Such a special time. Loved it. See you soon Dunsborough ❤

Stay tuned for some pictures of our meggipeg holiday outfits!

Bali holiday

Cocktails on Legian Beach

This isn't a travel blog, but I can't resist sharing some photos from our holiday in Bali. We had 12 days there in mid-May and it was absolutely glorious. Unlike many Perth people, we don't travel to Bali often and I had only been once before, 15 years ago when I was young and single. That was a totally different holiday! This time we wanted to spend some time discovering the country, so we travelled around a bit and stayed in four different places - Sanur, Amed, Ubud and Seminyak. Driving around Bali takes a long time, even short distances, but I didn't mind at all as there is so much to see on the way. All along the roads, even in remote villages, are houses, shops, fields and mountains, full of people going about their daily life. I loved catching glimpses of Balinese life as we passed by. What struck me the most was how creative the Balinese people are. It seems that everyone is making something beautiful all the time, from the simple, but beautiful floral offerings everywhere, to beautiful stone and wood carvings, paintings, silverware, batik, clothing and more. Not to mention the stunning modern wicker furniture and water features - I could have furnished my house and garden many times over if only I'd had a shipping container!

Sanur was a lovely place to wander and explore. Everything is easily accessible there and the people were charming. Our driver, Nyoman, was bursting with personality and we had some fascinating conversations with him about Balinese life.

Sanur Beach

We loved the fruit smoothies and cocktails!

We had a fantastic day at the Bali Safari Park

From there we travelled to Amed on the north coast. This is a quiet village where you can really get away from it all as the tour buses are too big to navigate the winding mountain roads to get there. It is beautiful with the mountains rising up behind the beach. We had a relaxing time and did some snorkelling from a Balinese wooden boat.

Matagiri restaurant and hotel on the way to Amed. Stunning view and delicious buffet lunch

Part of the Amed coastline

Off snorkelling on the Balinese wooden boat

Balinese boat

Sunrise from our hotel

We stayed in Ubud next, in central Bali. Ubud is an interesting town with a very lively market in the centre, where we bought all sorts of interesting handicrafts. The surrounding villages and rice paddies are beautiful, but it looks like a hard life for the rice farmers. We had a brilliant time white water rafting through tropical jungle on the Agung river. One of the highlights was when four Balinese women hitched a ride across the river on our boat, balancing their baskets of washing on their heads the whole time!

Ubud market

It was 400 steps down to the river. The jungle was beautiful. My legs were jelly! Yep, we had to go back up 400 steps at the end!!

The fish doctor in Ubud - what a weird feeling, like a strong electric tingle.

Last stop was Seminyak for some shopping. We loved the Legian and Kuta areas for fantastic shops and markets. I had a leather jacket made by Cahaya tailors on Poppies Lane II in Kuta. They did a wonderful job of copying a Burberry coat I wanted and the fit was perfect. They made two jackets (one also for my husband) in just over 24 hours then delivered them to our hotel. They were prepared to fix any problems with fit or style until we were completely satisfied. I highly recommend this warm, friendly, helpful and talented group of guys (I'll take a photo of the jacket when I have time).

BB gun and bracelets on Seminyak beach

The boys were very happy to have a real BB gun each and as many Pokemon cards as they could carry. Look out for a larger Pokemon bag in future posts. The Balinese love boys and everywhere we went, adults were playing gun battles with them.

I could write so much more about this beautiful country and it's charming people, but for now I need to get back into the sewing room. That lovely Balinese fabric is calling me...

...oh yes, and the food was amazing too!

Fabric shopping in Bali

I've been a bit quiet over the last couple of weeks as we have been away having a fabulous holiday in Bali. Before we left I had written down the addresses of fabric shops that I'd hoped to visit - there is apparently a whole street full of fabric shops in Denpasar. However, travelling with two young children didn't make it possible to get there :(

On the last morning of our trip I decided that I would just be too disappointed if I didn't see any fabric at all, so I left hubby and the boys in the hotel pool (that's our room in the picture - gorgeous!) and hired a driver to take me to nearby Kuta to a large shop there called Alta Moda (in the new Galeria mall). I was able to spend an hour browsing the three floors of fabrics (I could have easily spent longer there). As soon as I entered, an assistant came to help me. I had expected this from reading about the store, so I was quite happy to ask her to help me find what I was after. She was very helpful and polite, as all the Balinese seem to be. I had hoped to find some Metalicus-like fabric (two-way polyamide stretch), but they didn't have exactly that. I did find similar and lovely stretchy fabrics though, which I bought. Most of the fabrics there are medium to light weight, nothing really suitable for winter, but a massive selection for spring and summer. There is also a large selection of suiting and evening fabrics, which I hardly looked at. There were loads of patterned fabrics and I'm sure a quilter would be very excited in there. There were certainly loads of fabrics that I have never seen here in Perth.

The shop is very fancy, with mirrors everywhere. I wandered around the three levels and chose various fabrics that caught my eye - several stretch knits, lycra, linens, an interesting cotton with patchwork and ruffles, a lovely large net-type fabric and more. The fabrics I chose were priced between AU$2.50 to $7 per metre. So cheap! Every time I chose a roll, the assistant would take it downstairs for me. When I had finished choosing, I sat in a fancy chair and a flurry of activity began. I was brought each roll of fabric in turn and asked how much I wanted of each. Then seven assistants worked to measure, cut, package neatly in individual bags and record the details of each fabric! I ended up with 11 fabrics, mostly 2 or 3 metres of each, for a total of AU$82. I was pretty happy with my morning's efforts.

Next time I go to Bali I will definitely be going to the Denpasar fabric strip. Now I've had a taste of what's on offer I want more!!!! I hope this post will be useful for people interested in buying fabric in Bali. I searched the internet for hours before we went away and found very little information. If anyone has comments, questions or more info about fabric shopping in Bali (or anywhere), I would love to hear about it.

Stay tuned for the creations I make with my lovely new fabric.