STACS and more...

I was invited to give an evening talk and a day's workshop at Shrewsbury Textiles & Creative Stitch this week.

They asked for my talk 'Pathways and Towpaths' where I show my hangings, framed pieces, fabric books, sketchbooks and workbooks as I talk about the various processes and techniques I use in my textile and mixed media work.

The weather on the Tuesday evening was particularly foul.  It was really difficult driving through the torrential rain.  Kudos to all those who turned up - actually about 90% of the group.  Well done ladies. 

The next day 9 lovely ladies attended the workshop.  I showed them my explosion books.

In the afternoon most of the ladies made a master collage sheet.  This involved cutting or tearing bits of magazine or painted papers and glueing them onto an A3 sheet of cartridge paper.

I had taken a selection of papers for them to use as well.

Sadly I seem to be missing one person's collage.  Sorry to whoever that was.

They then made their card version of the explosion book while the collage sheet was drying.  After which they turned the collage sheet over and having made a square template drew 12 squares which they cut out.  Drawing the squares on the back stops people thinking about which bit would look good.  These squares were then glued to the book.

This last one didn't have all the pieces glued down.  Some of the others were not completed because the ladies wanted to do more to the collage sheet at home.

I was absolutely blown away by the books they produced.

Thank you STACS for inviting me.

       

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Last week I spent three days at Littleheath Barn doing a fabric dyeing workshop with Leah Higgins. My inspiration was labels - the negative and positive labels we put on ourselves.  Not an easy idea to portray in fabric.  I found the first day a bit difficult because I couldn't see my way with it.

 

The next two days were spent adding various layers through different techniques onto pieces of fabric.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

       

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On the Sunday of our long weekend away, the younger Hoppers went to The Hole in the Wall beach whilst Roger and I went round the Booderee Botanic Gardens.  It was a very hot day and the Botanic Gardens were much cooler, thankfully.

We packed up the house on Tuesday morning and Andy drove us into Huskisson where we visited the Maritime Museum.  The kids had a treasure hunt to do and I took photos of a decaying boat.  As you do!

The last 3 days of the holiday were really hot.  We made one last visit to the Wollongong Botanic Garden on the Wednesday.  There was a beautiful Arts & Crafts style building at the top of the garden.

We went to watch the eldest grandchild play in a soccer match on Wednesday and I went to see our granddaughter's gymnastic session on Thursday.  Apart from that we spent the last three days resting and reading and generally sharing life together.

On Saturday we got the train to the airport and our flight home.

Armchair travelling is over for another year.  I hope you enjoyed the journey.  I took over 450 photographs during the 3 weeks - I've only shared a very few over the last few posts.

Back to textiles next time 

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice 

       

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I loved the road trip but the real reason for travelling all the way to Australia is to spend time with the family.  Although we get sent messages, videos and have FaceTime calls it's always good to be in the same place together.  

We had a quiet day on Monday.  On Tuesday Roger and I took ourselves to the Wollongong Art Gallery. There was an exhibition of Aboriginal Bark Paintings.

 

 

The three of us went to have lunch at a Filipino restaurant at Towradgi Beach.

After lunch we continued south to Sanctuary Point and the holiday accommodation we had booked for a long weekend.  It was on the shore of St. George's Basin.  There was a path along the shoreline that the children could take their bikes along.

We spent the next day mostly lazing about.  I read two books and Roger went for two walks.  It's not often we just do nothing.

       

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We continued our drive south via Urunga, Nambucca Heads, Scotts Head and Stuarts Point to South West Rocks.

At South West Rocks we asked at the tourist information if there was anything interesting to see but we told there wasn't apart from the beaches.  Fortunately we found otherwise and visited Trial Bay Gaol.

 

 

It had a really interesting small museum.

Continuing our journey we visited Smoky Cape Lighthouse, Cresent Head and arrived in Port MacQuarie.

Driving further south we saw yet another lighthouse.

And then drove along the Lakes Way Road to Bulandelah. 

Saturday was our last day of wandering around.  We went to Fingal Bay and then drove into the centre of Newcastle.

On Sunday morning we visited yet another museum. Then drove out to Newcastle Beach along with what seemed to be the rest of the world.  As we sat in a traffic jam I spotted this guy on a lamp post.

We drove to Hornsby for a late lunch and then along various motorways around Sydney to our destination near Wollongong, to stay with our son and his family.

Thank you for joining me today
Bernice

       

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