I have been travelling around the countryside visiting two lovely shops. The first was at Loxton in SA which is a gorgeous, albeit small town about 170kms west of Mildura. The second was in the northern suburbs of Sydney at Bilgola.
Loxton has a HUGE shop (where the workshops were taught) called Almond Grove Crafts which I spent ages looking around and still didn't see everything (probably lucky for me as I wanted it all)! Patterns and fabric and lots of bits and pieces! It is owned by Trish and Mark who were wonderful hosts. The workshops went over two days, with different students each day, Natalie (from The Birdhouse) teaching one group, and me teaching the other. I can't show you yet what I taught here, as I am teaching the same projects in another workshop at Jukejema Quilting Barn in Nowra on the 8th and 9th of August. I will do the big unveiling after that weekend. Of course the 'students' were equally as lovely as Trish and Mark, so all in all, lots of fun. It is so wonderful to see so many people enjoying the art of patchwork and sewing!
Trish (on left) is the owner of Almond Grove Crafts, and Natalie from The Birdhouse (on right) was the second tutor.
This is the group from my first day of teaching - many completed their projects which was brilliant!
There was also an unexpected student in the form of a Joey (6 months old) who was being hand-reared by Peta. He didn't do much sewing....
I had a few hours in the morning to see the sights of Loxton before flying home. The Murray River had more water than I expected to see, and there were even some house boats floating around - I think I'll have to have a go at that soon....
I came home for a day before the journey to Bilgola. I haven't been to the northern beaches of Sydney for many years, so this was refreshing! I looked around before the workshop, and couldn't believe my eyes that there were people braving the waters!! I was rugged up in jacket and scarf - brrrrr!
This workshop was equally as lovely with Jann and the girls looking after us with delicious food and much fun and laughter. Again, Jann's shop is a delight with brilliant fabric choices. Yes, of course I spent too much ha ha. The classes were held in a school hall 2 minutes down the road from the shop. There were actually four tutors, each with their own group to work with, which was wonderful as, every now and again, you could go for a small walk and see many different projects underway.
I taught a punchneedle workshop here, and below is a pic of what was on offer (yes - there will be a pattern for this, but no, not for awhile). The girls could choose either a box or a button to make. Most chose the button, which they could finish in class, but some were a little more adventurous, and even created their own design to work on!
Here are Sol and Marianne working away on their punchneedle
Everyone working (aka 'playing') hard at the Bilgola workshop....