Friday in Melbourne

Woohoo........I just returned to the hotel after a MAMMOTH BLOGGING FESTIVAL. I am dead tired but I WILL NOT LAY DOWN MY HEAD UNTIL YOU HAVE ALL BEEN THERE TOO.

Where do I begin....ha, yes, showered, caught train to Craft Fair....that's right...

The first thing I saw after some wandering around in a daze was this:

Jodie from Ric Rac has taken selvages to the next level. Unbelievable!

Then I saw a "Stitch Bar." You sit on a tool at the bar and choose a craft activity from this menu:

Naturally, I chose the librarian:

The bartenders showed me how to do the back stitch, and I did very well...but within 10 minutes I became agitated, impatient, annoyed, hot and bothered. I so much want to be crafty, but it just doesn't come easy to me.

Then I went and introduced myself to Jodie of the selvages. I fell in love with her Zipper-Mouth Monsters:

I also wanted to send this fish, immediately, to BabelBabe.

Suse arrived soon after, Suse! Suse! Hello Suse! It was a wonderful moment. Being with her is like reading her blog, only a million times better. We sat down together and chatted like old friends and watched Jodie being interviewed on stage.

This is what she did when she noticed me taking photos of her. She reminded me quite a bit of Kim, only crafty. Or, as Suse quite rightly pointed out to me, Kim is a lot like Jodie, only a gourmet cook.

Here is a photo of the 3 of us. Can you tell that I am very very happy and excited??!!

And what do we have here? It's Aunty posing with moi.

And this photo is dedicated to Eurolush who wants her entire house to be made of selvages.

We wandered around quite a bit, chatted with other bloggers and crafters, I shall give more details later (I took notes, really)....But for now, moving on....Suse, Suzie (who organised the dinner, thanks Suzie!!!), Janet and I tumbled into Sandra's car. She was going to take us to Suse's car.

Suzie is in the middle, Janet and Suse on either side of her. I will tell you all about what we talked about, but not now...too tired....

I'm really pleased with this shot. It's Suse driving, looking at me as if from a photo in her blog, but NOT, because she was REALLY THERE WITH ME. Woooo hooooo!!!!!!

Here we are at a fabulous Lebanese restaurant, not all bloggers have arrived yet, soon both tables will fill up as the sun sets outside the window.

Clockwise, from bottom left - Caroline (Stompergirl), Lisa (Frogdancer), Liz (Linoforest), Cathy (Tinniegirl) and Michelle (Quiltingmick).

Lisa and Liz:
This is a photo of Ellie from Petalplum of Red Seed Studio fame, who I first met via Anna from Sweden, and now...in person!

Everyone was asked to bring a handmade gift, and here they all are on the table:

Stompergirl received my gift, most exciting, what could it be? What could I have possibly hand made?

It's a book of a selection of my blogging poems!! I called it "Poems from the commentbox." I hope she enjoys it.

What did Frogdancer receive?

Beautiful wool from Suse, so good you can eat it for dessert!

Janet received a fab owl made by Sandra's daughter:

Suse was most excited to receive a stupendous stash from Ellie:

And this is what I received. I immediately knew it was the perfect gift for me.

Introducing...........drum-roll please...........

Sing Along with the (sometimes very naughty) Mrs. Mill. This box was hand made by Cathy from the cover of a vinyl record:

Inside I discovered an amazing collection of paper objects - old tickets, stamps, pages of books, maps. Much of it seemed to be, at first glance, in the theme of the sea (believe it or not! How perfect, huh??!!). I have promised to keep in touch with Cathy and send her pictures of a stupendous collage I can see in my future...and maybe even a poem to accompany it!!

Here is Ellie with her adorable kidlets, Suzie and also Stompergirl admiring a piece of fabric:

Cathy is on the left, and next to her is another Cathy - Miss Marzie.

Facing that Cathy is Lara of Thornberry fame, and next to her is Liz.

At the other end of the table were the young and trendy gang from Ink and Spindle, and in the red shirt on the left is Kristen.

Suse and Sandra talking over tea:

I probably muddled a few names up, please forgive me and send me a comment so I can correct it. I also know that I inadvertantly left a few bloggers out...I simply lost track of the details in the grand excitement of a most wondrous day and evening. As I sat on the tram on the way back to the hotel, clickety clacking along, I thought to myself:

"We are so lucky to have each other."

I shall post many more details tomorrow...I took notes you see....I take my job very very seriously.

Did you enjoy yourselves??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I may or may not have danced along with the restaurant's resident belly dancer. You have been warned, as photographs of a shocking nature may surface on some bloggers' posts. But not mine, because I couldn't have taken a photo of myself while belly dancing...if I had danced...hypothetically speaking, of course.