Saturday, April 17, 2010

An Outing

Knowing that being outdoors would help me adjust to the 15 hour time change, the four of us went to the Saturday weekly Paddington Market. It's a popular activity, held on the Paddington school grounds. Dozens of artists and assorted vendors offer their wares from vintage and designer clothing to jewelry, soaps, and artwork. On a beautiful autumn day it was a nice place to be.
I made a purchase that was tucked inside a pouch, adorned with this cute koala.Inside, this set of pewter wine charms.
A kangaroo, wombat, platypus, koala, kookaburra, and echnidna - all critters we don't see in Iowa! It was a great outing for the family, and I discovered that little Tay is a shopping trooper.
After several hours at the market, we popped over to the Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre to visit Spotlight.
I've heard about Spotlight through quilters' conversations, and found the store's merchandise comparable to Wal-Mart. The fabric and notions department at Spotlight is similar to that of a Wal-Mart, though I am aware that Wal-Mart is eliminating this area in their stores.

Department merchandise is varied and generally available at a bargain rate.
Fabrics sell between AUD$6 and AUD$20 a metre (39.5 inches).
I've discovered that we - at least in the Midwest - have it good! Our prices for quilting fabics and notions is extremely reasonable, even when we're paying $10 a yard for batik. Australia's a big island, so with import fees and shipping costs, it's only natural that the price for US fabrics would necessarily be higher. So while I adore Australia, and Sydney in particular, economically I'm very grateful to live in Iowa.
By the way, a clerk at Spotlight noticed my selvage bag! She commented that she'd only seen pin cushions made with selvages, and that she liked my bag.
Smiling,

3 comments:

  1. Good to see that you are out and about. The family looks happy and the weather looks good. Glad to hear that the selvage bag was noticed.

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  2. Gosh I remember the Paddy Markets from when I was in my twenties and Birkenhead Point, I'd forgotten about that little spot on the map. Yes Aussie prices are very expensive. You can understand why many of us did all our fabric shopping online from the US.

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  3. Ah, so now you've discovered the (in)famous "Spotty"! We have a love/hate relationship with it around here since it's our closest haberdashery/fabric shop, but is often untidy and has not been great on customer service until recently. So glad you're enjoying the autimn sunshine - and helping our economy!

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