Wednesday, April 28, 2010

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)
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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... which then led to this madness.

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  • 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.
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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.

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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.

22 comments:

  1. "Blankies...!" Don't get me started....

    I think my board-game-loving-son will get a Pictionary for Christmas. So much fun!

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  2. and now I'm a blankie maker too.

    Hoorah!

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  3. Thanks for letting me visit! I hope you enjoy your rainbow pressies and watch out in your mailbox for the rest REALLY soon!

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  4. Sounds wonderful!
    I'm looking forward to craft camp at Sewjourn in July.

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  5. Oooh, was that MY spanikopita mix, the one I sent you a couple of years back? Huh?

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  6. My son calls all the quilts in our house "lankets". I've come to be fond of the term, particularly because he can pronounce "quilt" properly but persists with the word he gets a bit wrong.

    Glad you had a good time. I'm still very jealous I couldn't come.

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  7. No! But I will make that one day. *hangs head in embarrassment*. This was my Mum's recipe and she pretty much made it up for me so that I just had baste the filo pastry and pour on the mix.

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  8. Oh Stompy, this is a most wondrous post!!! I love this post, in fact, I want to pick it up and give it a big kiss and hug.

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  9. Oh man... I am so insanely jealous of the fabulous time you girls have. Although I thought you just got back from craft camp. Are you guys earning frequent crafter points?

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  10. Yay!!! wasn't it the best!

    I'm loving your photos and now your post. Am sitting down to do my photos tonight.

    Will be psyched for pictionary nest time around.

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  11. Oh my goodness, to be in a room with you, Shula, Suse and dear Eleanor! I am happy for you, sad for me because I wasn't there.

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  12. It was the best ever Pictionary game I have done. I think I did quite well drawing the abstract camel picture under such an extreme pressure... Thank you for your fabric, too. My tunic is so bland without that pocket. What a wonderful weekend I had!

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  13. sounds great, I'm very jealous but earning going away points as we speak.
    What the heck is a ruffle foot?
    J

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  14. Dear Anonymous J,

    A ruffle foot is what happens when you have an urge to tap-dance really really fast like your teacher....but then you try it in the privacy of your home in front of the mirror...and you realise that you can't:

    "I tried to tap-dance like my hero Miss Caroline, but I just looked like a complete ruffle foot."


    E xxxx

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  15. hehehe...I love Eleanor's definition of a ruffle foot!

    Looks like you had a lot of fun.

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  16. Yay!! It looks divine, Stomper. I can imagine Eleanor tapping away at a little shuffle, kick, hop. That's where my tap career began and ended I am afraid :-)

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  17. Eleanor was right - between you and Frogdancer I feel so glad that it was such a fantastic weekend - I knew it would be with such a gorgeous bunch of girls..

    and just a teeny bit sad not to have been there!

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  18. That really does look and sound like so much fun!

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  19. Sigh. SO . Jealous. Again.

    I wanna tap on the verandah..... and make 'blankies' and play pictionary, and...and....(why do I not live in Melbourne?)

    Glad you had a great time, it looks ACE!!!

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  20. Damn you girls know how to craft camp! Congratulations, all, on tempting Suse over to the Dark Side.

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Don't let the cat get your tongue.