Sew much fun.

You know, you could just go to Craft Camp at Sewjourn and just sit around crafting things till you were cross-eyed, with a bit of chat and food in between. Or you could come to our Craft Camp and you could:

• enjoy a blissy massage from the lovely Kaye of Green Frog Massage who is very good with the relaxo stuff but also strong enough to snap raw corn cobs into thirds when required.

• have a mini tap lesson on the verandah. (I must commend Eleanor here and now for her extraordinary potential, she really was the rootinest-tootinest tapper in the wild wild west)
  

• enjoy one of Shula's high-quality coffees, as you see Eleanor doing here. Shula brought her own coffee machine with her. I think I may have explained before how the 'camp' part of Craft Camp is maybe a bit of an understatement for how we live there.
  

• get a little lesson in Japanese cookery from the wonderful Yuki, and then eat the nicest nori rolls and Asian salad straight afterwards.
  

• learn to do your craft even when one or more large cameras are whirring away in your face. There was almost a riot on the last day when Shula sat down in the studio with her fabulous embroidery.

... which then led to this madness.

• play a game of Pictionary so loud that it could be heard from across the highway, and in the process learn about Steiner camels and exotic sapphires, and how one person's microphone is another's cul-de-sac.
  

from L-R: Kaye, Yuki, Eleanor, Jan, Suse, Lisa, Kate, Janet.
(And apparently we are still partly playing that same game of Pictionary over in this comment box)

And in between all those larks, you could also craft till you were cross-eyed. Although. I was much less productive this time, partly because I was there for less time, partly because it took me a while to accustom myself to Jen's machine, and partly because I was following a pattern from scratch which my non-technical brain found challenging.

But voila! I made a teatowel for myself, and I made this little skirt for my niece.



There was more, of course, much more, but I'm looking forward to reading those bits when the others blog it. Meantime I'd like to say a huge thank you to all the girls who came along and made it such fun: Kate with her pretty blue hair and our special connection over a Pictionary board, Lisa who regaled us with stories of the Worst Date Ever (let's just say that you oughtn't ask a quilter about her "blankies"), Yuki who let me use her overlocker and quietly helped me with the intricacies of making a tiered skirt, Jan (Sewjourn's owner) who gave me gorgeous rainbow-presents (part of a swap) and quilty help to first-time quilter Suse, Kaye who brings her mobile massage magic to the Princess Room and makes you feel like a Princess in the process, Eleanor who flew all the way from Sydney to be with us, Shula who drove me there-and-back and helped me cook dinner (I must also confess here that my Mum helped me cook dinner too, by preparing the spanakopita mix for me, thanks for that Mum, they loved it). Extra-special thanks to the two wonderful organisers - Janet who employed the ruffle-foot on her machine to great effect and Suse who made the most gorgeous quilt picnic blanket lap quilt out of vintage sheets. It really was an excellent weekend with a great bunch.