I'm so easily pleased!

Look at my new, old clothes line! My clothes line used to be behind the house, and hidden from the sun. Mr M&M has made me a new prop clothes line and I love it! The clothes are all hanging to dry in the sunshine. I remember my mother had a clothes line like this when I was a child.
Can anyone else remember these?

Carole x

"Now is the hour, when we will say farewell..."

Desert Road looking mean

After what can only be described as a wonderful week, it was time to say goodbye to all the tutors who I got to spend time with every single day, and the amazing students, some who came from as far away as London and Melbourne to do my classes. I made some exciting new friendships born out of the love for fabric and creative goodness and it was hard to say goodbye to those who did two classes with me and especially Di who had such faith in me and my classes that she opted to do all three, spending 5 whole days with me. Saying goodbye was harder than I expected.

There wasn't much snow left along the roadside after a week of sunshine. But the pockets that were left looked pretty.

When I got home I unpacked all my art gear and remembered that two of my students had given me thank you gifts at the end of the classes. They were totally unexpected and I was a wee bit overwhelmed by their kindness.

Thank you Jenny, I am thrilled that you enjoyed the class so much. The hand wash certainly does smell heavenly and will be put to good use!

And Sian, how lucky was it for me that you decided from the other side of the world to come and do my classes? I was so touched that you gave me this wee gift and I love everything the precious wrappings contained, especially the shrinky! You certainly know what brings me joy! Thank you so much. x

To all the students who decided to take my classes, THANK YOU. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did. To those who didn't, you missed some light hearted fun days with like-minded people.

If any of you are interested in doing classes, the ones shown here over the last few days, or new ones, I suggest you get a small group of girlfriends together for a weekend. I love to travel, so send me an email and I'll design something for you, and come and spend the weekend with you. I guarantee everyone will have a great time!

Hugs,
Carole x



 

As Symposium nears the end....

This lovely sunset was taken from my room, I could sit and look at this view all day, but I usually collapsed on my bed when I got back to my room! lol

The last morning of Symposium was my embellishment class where the girls were embellishing themselves. I planned to have the last day of classes a fun easy going relaxed class as I thought everyone might be tired and weary. As it worked out I was right and the girls were happy to have a relaxed class that they didn't need to stress over.

More dyeing although the sun wasn't much help.

More fabric spread over surfaces! Lovely!

This may look like a harmless wall of the school building, but my class was right next to it, and if your eyesight is good you'll be able to see that the little sign on the left says, 'Merchant Mall'. What it should say is: Danger: KEEP OUT!

Some of my students work....

 Amazing eh? Don't you just love it all!

And that was the end of the what was the best experience ever!
Carole x

After the Gala Dinner.....

The Symposium Gala Dinner took place on Saturday night and the tutors had to sit one to a table. I met up with Louise on the way there who had been a very creative and lovely student at my free motion class so when she asked if I'd sit at her table I agreed. We had a lovely meal and were entertained by 'Cindy from Samoa' who sang while we waited for our meal to be served. He sang 3 sets, but his Tina Turner act was very well done, not only did he look like the famous Miss Tina, but he sounded spot on.

The next morning was the first day of the journal class and the sun was out and to took the opportunity to enjoy it as much as possible.

This class was so much fun and as you will be able to tell, I encouraged the girls to 'create freely'. They took me at my word and in a short period of time all surfaces, including the floor were covered! It was wonderful :) (we had to ban the cleaners for the night!)

Here are some of the journals.....

Kerry's

Catherine's

Di's

Sian's

And don't you just want to look through this yummy journal? I was thrilled to see them leave the class with their journals pretty much finished but I know they'll be adding bits and pieces for a wee while to come.

One proud teacher and her students.

Carole x

 

Classes begin!

The first class was the wall hanging class, 'The road to my house' and once the heater had warmed the room up my girls were off! Some very pretty backgrounds put together and then they started on their free motion stitching.

What do you think of Catherine's gorgeous background she's binding? I love the patchwork of colour.

Here are a few works in progress.

Sian's

Di's

Catherine's

I'm sorry I can't remember everyone's names! But you can see these girls put a lot of energy into all the free motion stitching and then all the hand embroidery. I was very proud of what they achieved by the end of two days. Each student had a unique hanging that told stories of where they had lived, their families, places they had been, journey's they had taken. Each of them had embraced free motion stitching and created amazing stories.
Well done girls!!

 Back soon with some more pics.
Carole x

What a wonderful Symposium!!

Well, it's all now but a memory, but what a wonderful memory it is!
2500 enthusiastic and talented women took part in the five days of stitching fun, all tutored by a dedicated and inspirational team of tutors that live to share their ideas with others.

 I thought I'd share a few pics of my week in Taupo teaching my three classes. Hope you can get some idea of the enjoyment and creative gorgeousness that was happening over the week. I'll post over a couple of days so that I can stop and get some dinner in between!

 

The trip started well with a picturesque trip through the Desert Road in the central North Island. (There's a huge mountain hidden in that low cloud). There were No Stopping signs up and the snow had been graded to the sides of the road. And when I got to the northern end of the park the cloud cleared and there was a stunning vista of mountains.

Then it was on to Taupo and to unload my car, check out my classroom (below), which was set up for 16 students ready to go.

Then it was onto the Great Lakes Event Centre to drop off my exhibition piece to be hung with the other tutor's quilts. While I was there I decided to have a walk round and look at all the beautiful work. I didn't take 100's of photos as there were so many beautiful quilts. But I did have a favourite. 

This was my favourite. It was called Apron Strings and it was made by the very clever Jeanie O'Sullivan. What do you think?

Then it was onto to find the tutor's exhibition.

And there it was, hung on the wall. It was included with works from artists like Pam Holland, Susan Brubaker-Knapp, Susan Cleveland, Robbi Eklow, Gwen Marston, Jenny Bowker, Michelle Hill, Gloria Loughman, Lisa Walton, and some very exciting New Zealand artists like Joanne Dixey, Hazel Foot, Jane Rixon, Sonya Prchal, Noeline Johnston. Just to name a few. 

After admiring all the quilts, I checked in and got ready for the opening ceremony.

This is the view from my room.

 

Easy on the eye don't you think?

Back tomorrow with a few more pics for you. 

Carole x