Saturday 22 September 2012

FNSI, Our brand new office and a Travelling Pattern

Well, unfortunately, I did not get too much stitching done last night for FNSI.  Not surprising as I have had a very BIG week, but more of FNSI in a minute!

First, I need to tell you that my company has moved offices! The company has brought the educational and trade publishing divisions under one roof.
So,  no more driving through heavy traffic to Port Melbourne for Kaye!  Yay!

Now I:

  1. walk out my front door,
  2. take the "long" trek of about 50 metres to the Eaglemont train station, 
  3. catch the 8.25 train
  4. find a comfy seat, take out my stitching and then 30 minutes later
  5. I alight at Southern Cross Station in the city,
  6. make the even "longer" trek of 500 metres to my brand new office!
Enjoy the pics:


The office was once an old Railways Goods Shed:


historic Goods Shed South.

Built in 1889 for £72,943 17s 5 1/2d, (almost AUD$8 million in today’s money) Goods Shed No. 2 was a Victorian Railways building. 

Its original length spanned over two city blocks, stretching 385 metres in length making it the largest railway shed ever built in Melbourne. The building lay derelict for over 30 years and became redundant in the 1980s, later being bisected by the Collins Street extension which created the North and South side. 

As I walk across the Collins Street extension I can see my new office and this very large bird overlooking us.

 Here is the new foyer:

... and everywhere there are flatscreen TVs, which on the first day welcomed us to the new office.  Do you like the slogan - "Creativity lives here"?


 Here are some pics of various ares of the building:


Everywhere there are breakout areas where people can sit - each area is characterised by a gorgeous rug.  One day, I am going to roam the large building taking pics of each different rug design.





 Some of my very happy colleagues:


My new desk, with all of my stuff waiting for me to unpack.


Cool new meeting rooms:



One of the lunch areas:




The space age-looking board room!






 It is a very long building!


One of the new kitchens: (there are several, as there are about 470 people in the new office space)

 Cool new fridges:







A sound studio:







 The "cafe": comfy couches surrounded by free books for us to read:



I hope that you have enjoyed my tour of our new office. However, it is quite a big thing to have moved us all in this way - a bit unsettling, in a good way but still meant that I am really tired this weekend.

During the week, TraderVic and I went to see the Napoleon Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (no one quite knows how the State of Victoria can have a National Gallery!).





The exhibition was fantastic - so much to see!  Paintings, beautiful china, and so much more!  If it ever comes to your city, do pay it a visit.


Travelling Pattern:  I have been lucky enough to win the Lizzie Kate Little House Needleworks Summer Garden Travelling Pattern passed onto me by Mouse.  The Rule with this TP, is that you have to choose your backing fabric first and then choose your thread colours based on the backing fabric.  If you follow the link you will see Mouse's lovely finished design. The Travelling Pattern originally started with Myra, thank you Myra for starting the TP and thank you Mouse for choosing to pass it onto me.

This is the fabric which I have chosen for my backing fabric, now I just have to wait for the pattern to arrive:


I hope that you like it - it is a reproduction fabric from my old quilting stash.

Now, it is time for my FNSI update.  I didn't get much done as I have had such a big week, but I felt like working on Mary Wigham.  She is my go-to project when I feel like being soothed.  Such a pleasure to stitch.
This is what I got done last night (above) and below is my overall progress.  


Lastly, I was feeling down (we had some trouble with DFIL) this morning - so I made an impromptu trip to the hairdresser and had all of my hair chopped off!  (Well, not quite all, but you know what I mean).


Anyway, I am making corned beef with white onion sauce and Dutch Cream potatoes for dinner tonight so I had better get the meat on to cook.  Have a great weekend everyone.

hugs,

25 comments:

Mouse said...

oooooo love those offices :) think I might have to come for a day or two to explore ...lol DD1 thinks its cool too...
love your fabric (its a Little house Needleworks chart ..lol) what time were you up to last night ;)
can't wait to see how you get on with it .... its off in the mail in about an hourishhh to your pad :)
love mouse xxxxx
who is going to have her second brew of the day :) want one ???

sharine said...

New office,new haircut,your like a new woman:)

cucki said...

Lovely offices...congratulations for the traveling pattern
Super sweet stitching and lOvely hair cut.
Love for you xxx

Shirlee said...

What fun seeing/reading about your offices & seeing your work station! Now when you talk about these things I will have accurate pictures in my mind : ) Love the new haircut! I have always wished I could wear my hair short & look attractive like that.

Katy said...

Your office is amazing! I'd love to work in that setting! Cute haircut, and good progress!

Margaret said...

Wow, your office is wonderful! And the commute sounds nice too! Now I want to visit and work there for a while. lol! Love your haircut -- so cute! Love your Mary Wigham too. That Napoleon exhibit looks really neat!

Jane and Chris said...

Oh my goodness...that building is amazing...although I know I'd get lost in it!
Jane x

beagleAnnie said...

Hi Kaye,
It's so exciting to see your new office. Let us show its great rug collection.

Anonymous said...

Hello Kaye

Your offices look great!
Your stitching is lovely and that's a great haircut!

Bea said...

That is a terrific new office and I'm sure you'll feel settled very quickly.

Gorgeous fabric for the TP and Mary is coming along very nicely.

That's a great new 'do'. You look wonderful.

gracie said...

Love the tour of the new office spaces....love the backing fabric...I will watch for your post to pass it on!

Sarah Beth said...

I'm curious what is it that you do at those super cool offices

Karen said...

Terrific new office. Terrific new haircut. Terrific stitching.

*hugs and stitches*

Nicola said...

Amazing offices, Your employers have put a lot of thought Into providing a nice place to work

Jeanette said...

Thanks for the tour. Love the fabric & Mary looks great. Hugs,

Linda said...

What a great new building to work in. What do you do? Mary looks great.

Linda

marly said...

Fabulous office building. So many nice spaces and comfy areas! I love short hair and it looks very stylish. Mary is looking great.

ricketyjo said...

What a wonderful office! You are really lucky to have a place that thinks of things like the breakout areas - I've only worked in a place like this once, but it was fantastic and really helped people to get things done. Hope you enjoy working there :)

~Narita said...

Kaye,
I love your hairdo! You are so brave, I just can't seem to cut mine. Plus my husband would be so bummed... fnacy office. No wonder you love stitching. lol

Cathy said...

It must be so exciting to work in such a wonderful looking place! And I do love your new hairdo! The backing fabric you chose is lovely - it really caught my eye.

Meari said...

Wow that's quite the office space! Stitching on the commute to work would be great. However, right now my drive to work is less than 10 minutes, lol.

Catherine said...

What an amazing office space! Hope you are all settled in now and don't get lost in there.
Your haircut looks so cute!

Jennifer Wingard said...

Love your stitching and it's going to look fantastic. Your workplace is amazing!

Joysze said...

WOW!!! That's a nice building you have there. :D Must make going to work something to look forward to. :D

Nice haircut, Kaye. :D

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

What a great office to work in, thanks for sharing all the pics. My commute used to be very similar, I read alot and did alot of stitching. You also meet very interesting people on trains, we had 2 weddings and 6 babies!
I love the idea of this TP, it's a little different.

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