Melbourne (part one of the quilting/alcohol/food escapade)

I'm not sure whether the universe was in alignment to try and stop me from going to Melbourne and Adelaide last week, and to try to put me off ever going again, but at some points it did feel like that. I'm sure there might have been a distinct possibility that the world would tilt on its axis when Shay and I got together.
It started with my flight to Melbourne. I arrived at Sunshine Coast airport to find the weather had suddenly turned bad and they were not sure whether the incoming flight would be able to land, which meant I couldn't fly out, hmmm.  It was a nail biting wait for an hour.  The airport was full of people waiting to fly and to pick up people flying in. Fortunately I was flying with Virgin, not so lucky the people flying with Jetstar, the Jetstar pilot wouldn't land and diverted the plane to Brisbane. Both Virgin flights that were due, eventually landed without any trouble. When I say the weather turned bad, I'm talking Sunshine Coast, Queensland bad, not the rest of the world bad. There's only one runway and it's short, so if  there are strong winds and very low visibility planes can't land. On Tues there were heavy showers, no wind and the cloud was low but not what I or anyone in the universe would call fog, and at times there were patches of blue sky and sun, and you could see for miles. Like I said -  lucky I didn't book with Jetstar!
So with the good luck of booking with Virgin I was off to my girls only week of mayhem.
On the day I arrived in Melbourne, there was a security breach at Melbourne airport which apparently caused chaos, fortunately after we had left the airport.  (I had absolutely nothing what so ever to do with it!!!!!!!)
Score - Universe 0 Me 2.

Arriving in Melbourne the weather was hot and sunny, the exact opposite to what I was expecting and had anticipated when packing my suitcase. I stayed in Melbourne with Julie who had stayed with me over the Christmas break when it was THE most dreadful wet, and cold weather we had ever had in a summer since I have been living here. SO of course just to rub it in, the weather in Melbourne was absolutely perfect, sunshine, blue skies and nice and warm, well it would have been perfect if I had packed summer clothes, not winter!!!!!
Universe 1 Me 2



This is the only photo I took of my two days in Melbourne, and I took that in the first hour.  I think I was having too good a time after that to remember to take any more.
We spent the time shopping, eating, drinking and catching up, it was lovely.
Julie took me to a few quilting shops and also to some very nice clothes and shoe shops where I may or may not have picked up a couple of things.
I certainly bought some fabric, I'm still keeping the global fabric economy ticking along nicely.
My purchases.

 A lovely bundle of lusciousness.

 Some basics.

 Liberty fat eighths.

 Munki munki!!!!!

Kaffe shot cottons and a couple of Japanese fabrics. The "button" one I had been searching for, for awhile so I was very happy with these from Patchwork on Central Park.

 I can't remember where I bought these. A shop in Hawthorn from memory. It's amazing what a couple of days of wine with meals does to one's memory, cough cough, ahem!

A few stash builders and some Panache from GJ's Discount Fabrics in Brunswick St, Melbourne. Wow they have lots of fabric there.
All this fabric was shipped home because my suitcase was packed full already with all my winter clothes, (so useful when the temp is in the high 20s and low 30s), and a couple of summery purchases so that I wouldn't die of heat exhaustion over the next few days.  This meant that I had lots of lovely parcels of fabric to open when I finally arrived home, it had double the impact, nice!!!!!!
Universe 1 Me 3

I had a great couple of days in Melbourne, beautiful weather, fabulous shopping, lots to eat and drink.  Julie lives walking distance to some lovely cafes, and great shops (no quilting shops unfortunately), we had brunch, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner out and I loved every minute of it. We even went to an old Melbourne haunt of mine from the 80s and had a cocktail or too.
It was a fabulous start to a brilliant week. It also prepared me for the mayhem of Adelaide!!!!!!!! All of which you are going to have to wait to hear about in the next post.  (I need to get my story straight, and make sure I don't jeopardise any future travel plans to Adelaide!!!! Lucky I don't need a passport to go back to South Australia!)