Back from Forum

Well I am back home again after the most absolutely fabulous week at forum in Rockhampton. This was the first forum I have been to but it definitely will not be my last! I drove down by myself, Bill was very rude and asked if I needed a roof rack to fit everything in that I was taking. The requirements list seemed to go on forever, of course we didn't use half the stuff, but needed stuff that we didn't have. Jacinta was wonderful though, she always said not to worry, she had it!!!

These are a few images from the show and tell day at the end. I haven't had time yet to take photos of some of the things I made, so will post them another day. We must surely have had the messiest work area, we dyed, painted, stitched, tore things up, ironed, used the heat gun and generally had an inspirational time. I am a plodder so I didn't have much finished, but that didn't matter. What I am cross about is that I didn't photograph the wonderful doll and stuffed goose which two of the others made. They were just so good.

This is some of the silk paper we made and some of the silk hankies which were dyed with landscape dyes (the ones Jacinta uses all the time, glorious colours).

Some more samples showing themarkmaking and alchemy book cover on the right.

Then I wandered round the room to take some photos to share of each of the different classes. This one was making jewellery from junk, fascinating to look at, the ones doing it loved the course, but not one that I would bother taking.

Ken Smith took a Free machine embroidery class, he does such detailed, intricate and controlled work. One of his students produced this interpretation of the barrier reef. I loved it.

This next picture was from the class Making your marks felt. There was some really lovely stuff there too.

I loved the shibori results, but I could never sit there and tie the knots and bits and pieces you need to do to achieve these spectacular results.

Again, I loved the shoes, but unfortunately I could never manage the handstitching required. Everyone who made shoes said they are very comfortable. The leather is so soft, but there was a lot of homework for that class to get finished before the end of the week.

This last photo is from the storytelling class. They had a heap of fun and said there was no pressure on them at all.

Rockhampton Grammar is on a very hilly part of the city so we were stretching our legs no matter where we went. Of course I didn't take photos to show, silly me. Hopefully there will be another forum there in two or three years time, so I will try to be back again then. We were sharing the school (particularly the dining room) with a large number of young footballers (12 to 14 year olds, I think), as well as about 20 netballers, but they cooked their own food in the home economics room. Our classroom was immediately above so we saw quite a bit of them. they were very proud as they won the competition they were playing in - not sure how many other schools from other places were playing, but they are usually pretty large events during the school hols.

Boarding school is more than a bit different from when I was there 50 years ago, but some things never change. The dining room food was very good on the whole - and especially a yummy sweet potato and spinach salad we had every day - but evening desserts were just as bland as I remember from my schooldays. I took my own coffee plunger and coffee with me - Jacinta would happily have pinched it if she could, she persuaded someone else to take her to buy a coffee before we started working each day! We had a Rocky Grammar schoolgirl in our group so she was able to purloin an urn for us to use to make our own coffee during class time. Jacinta used to make the trek to the dining room to see what they had to eat to bring back though!

More tomorrow, I need to cook the dinner and go to a committee meeting at the Botanic Gardens. That will be a real celebration too as the man who has been acting curator for the last 18 months has just been appointed Curator. He is wonderful so we are all very thrilled.

Bookmarks and more

Thank goodness, I am back in business. I have been trying to post these photos for obout a week now, with no success on my previous blog, so now I have a new one.

I hadn't had time to post for a while as I had to make these bookmarks (in the middle of trying to catch up on the accumulated office work from while we were away). I sell these as souvenirs at the local Botanic Gardens shop, and while we were in Townsville a lady came in with her elderly (?) mother who was looking for souvenirs. The daughter nearly had a fit and said she had already had to buy a new suitcase for her mother to take home all the stuff she had bought. Mother, not to be outdone, grabbed six bookmarks and said 'Right, I can fit these in my handbag, so you can't be cross with me now"!!! I suspect she is younger than I am so not really elderly - the lass telling me this story in in her early twenties!

I am really hoping to have some time to experiment and practise more techniques soon, the year is vanishing fast. My sister is coming to visit for a week shortly, we usually spend a couple of days creating together - I love having a kindred spirit rather than working in isolation .

I have lots more to tell, but dinner calls - I need to finish getting it ready, some lovely corned silverside, which has been in my slow cooker for most of the day. I have only had a slow cooker for a few months, they are wonderful.