Filling in time

March 21, 2014 thecraftsessions

So I am working really hard on nailing down the last of the details for this years class list and registration details. And we are so close. So very close and so very excited. Big announcements will start early next week including some new teachers and all of the new classes. (Many pretty pictures...) Jump on our mailing list if you want to be kept up to date.

And so things have been a little quiet here on the blog......my apologies but unfortunately there aren't enough hours in the day and also I have no words left. None.

So I thought to fill in a little time I would throw you a few photos from last year's event that I haven't published. Just to get you in the mood.....

I do just want to add one caveat before we begin with the photos (where it looks like everyone knits). There were people at the event that couldn't knit. Lots of them. It isn't a prereq!!

Getting the dyebath ready with a nice cuppa tea.

Blankets ready to warm the knees of the people doing the natural dyeing

Leslie doing her thing in Improv Patchwork

The beautiful Yarra Valley Conference Centre

Stitching around the fire pit.with teachers Anna and Jules

The lovely Martine learning to sew with knits - all about the joy!

Cutting some gorgeous oldschool Ink & Spindle fabric.

Kirsten Johnstone - one of our super talented knitting teachers - the only good photo I got of her....

Colourwork class with Camilla in her Agnes

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Felicia x

An update on The Craft Sessions 2014

February 28, 2014 thecraftsessions

The lovely Leslie doing her Block Printing in Leslie Keating's class.

So a super quick one today as I am still away and really struggling with internet access. I feel like things have been a bit quiet about this year's event - September 5-7th just in case you were wondering - and I just wanted to let you know that it wasn't because we weren't working on it. We are planning our little hearts out!

We have some wonderful new teachers and many new classes. Mainly new classes in fact. There are only one or two classes that we are repeating (due to super popular demand) and there is so much goodness there. I am bursting to tell you about what we have planned. So very good!

As we did last year - we are focusing for the most part, on traditional hand crafts that are fibre based. We know we can bring you classes that are taught in ways that make these skills and techniques more accessible. Classes that focus on empowering you, and increasing the joy you get from your chosen craft. Again, we have a fantastic balance for all levels of crafter - new crafters right through to those that are already super skilled. There are also plenty of opportunities to dabble in a new-to-you craft.

In addition to all the new - many of last year's teachers are coming back, which I am so very happy about, as they were fantastic. This was confirmed in spades by the feedback we got from last year's participants.

So some "dates" - sometime around mid March we will be announcing this year's lineup. I'll let you know as soon as we have them up via the mailing list and then the blog. We will give you a registration date as soon as the classes are finalised.

I can't wait to share it with you.

Felicia x

PS. If there was a class that you didn't make last year but are desperate to do then leave a comment. I'd love to hear it. I have a week or two left of wiggle room before things get locked down.....speak up lovely people!

Dates for The Craft Sessions 2014

December 10, 2013 thecraftsessions

So lovely people I have some news for you today - as we have hinted at - The Craft Sessions weekend retreat will be running in 2014. And for all you eager folk (who have been emailing me and messaging me! ) today I have some dates for you to pop in your calendars. We wanted to give you as much notice as possible so you can figure out if you are able to come, and make the arrangements you need to make. So many of you travelled long distances to be with us last time we hope this makes it easier.

The Craft Sessions 2014 retreat will be running from Friday 5th September until Sunday 7th of September in the Yarra Valley.

We are busy working on the workshops at the moment and they are looking even more exciting than this year. The workshop descriptions, teacher list and class schedule will be released in early March of 2014. This means you will have a few weeks to consider what your class preferences will be, before registration opens.

Registration will open in early April 2014. Spaces at the event will again be limited, so please consider registering early to give yourself a better chance of getting your first class preferences. This year we were able to give everyone pretty much exactly what they asked for, but there will be more people next year so early is better.

We will be tweaking the schedule a little to give you more of what you want (thanks everyone who came for your eval forms!) - more free time to enjoy crafting in the company of new friends, while enjoying the beautiful surrounds. We will let you know what that will look like in March, along with a few other small changes we have planned to make the weekend even lovelier than this year.

So just to summarise...

Workshop descriptions, teachers and class schedule information available early March
Registration opens early April
The Craft Sessions 2014 weekend retreat September 5-7th

We would love to hear your thoughts? Anyone interested in coming? Any classes in particular you are looking forward too?

I'm excited already and it is 9 months away....it will be soo fun!

Felicia x

NB. We will give you exact dates closer to the time so please join our mailing list to be sure that you are notified if you are interested. Also I haven't updated our website yet with the new dates. They will be up soon....

The Craft Sessions - Part 4 - October 2013

November 24, 2013 thecraftsessions

So I kept thinking that I needed to do a summing up post. A post that encapsulated the weekend and I kept putting it off. I think it's because all that happened is a bit to big to put into words - at least in a single post. I realise we are up to Part 4 already and you may be chuckling at me saying something along the lines of "just get on with it already". So I will....and really the only way to tell it is with photos...so here goes.

What happened was exactly what we hoped for. A weekend of community, crafting, learning, encouragement, time away from our busy lives and the love....

We introduced ourselves

This was reception. Photo by Siri Hayes — This was reception. Photo by Siri Hayes

Pre dinner knitting. Photo by Siri Hayes

Leslie Keating who took our improvisational patchwork and block printing classes. Photo by Siri Hayes.

This is me - laughing so much you can't see my face under all the laugh lines... Photo by Siri Hayes. — This is me - laughing so much you can't see my face under all the laugh lines... Photo by Siri Hayes.

Sophie Parslow who took our Sewing classes. Photo by Siri Hayes

Leslie Keating and Melissa Wastney  - two of our teachers. Photo by Siri Hayes. — Leslie Keating and Melissa Wastney - two of our teachers. Photo by Siri Hayes.

Writing down why we came... Photo by Siri Hayes.

The very lovely Anna Farago who helped to run the event!! Big love to you xx Photo by Siri Hayes.

And the equally lovely Claire Fischer who helped organise. You are an inspiring woman xx Photo by Siri Hayes.

We were taught!

Georgie Hallam teaching Intro to Design. Photo by Felicia Semple

Julia Billings on her way back from the walk during the Dyeing with Local Colour class. Look at that lovely face! Photo by Felicia Semple — Julia Billings on her way back from the walk during the Dyeing with Local Colour class. Look at that lovely face! Photo by Felicia Semple

Sophie teaching the Sewing with Knits class. Photo by Felicia Semple

Leslie Keating teaching Freeform Patchwork. Photo by Felicia Semple

And we practiced new skills

Wiksten tank class with Sophie. Attaching binding. Photo by Felicia Semple

Embroidery class with Melissa. There is about 50 gorgeous photos from this single class. Photo by Siri Hayes.

Intro to design. Photo by Felicia Semple

Anatomy of a quilt. Photo by Felicia Semple

The lovely Leslie Sorenson block printing. Photo by Siri Hayes.

Siri Hayes in Freeform Patchwork. Photo by Felicia Semple

Embroidery from the Natural World. Photo by Siri Hayes

We made!!!!

Vintage Baby Shoes. Photo by Felicia Semple

Freeform Patchwork. Photo by Felicia Semple

Block printing by Anna Farago. Photo by Felicia Semple

Work by Anna O'Brien who taught our Quilt class. Photo by Siri Hayes.

Freeform Patchwork by Brianna Read. Photo by Siri Hayes.

We said goodbye

Goodbyes included afternoon tea with some delicious organic pastries from Loafer in Fitzroy. Photo by Siri Hayes.

Leslie Keating, Melissa Wastney and Anna O'Brien - some of our ace teachers. Photo by Siri Hayes.

Class of 2013. Photo by Simon Bird under Siri's guidance.

If you have got through this mammoth post - hurrah to you! I hope you enjoyed seeing some of what we got up to.

I've been getting emails from some of you wanting to know about dates for next year. We will let you know early in December. Good news is that there will definitely be The Craft Sessions 2014. We look forward to seeing some of you there.

Felicia x

Some housekeeping and a sponsor thank you

November 15, 2013 thecraftsessions

Handmade gift from us. Fabric on the left from Maze and Vale and on the right from Ink and Spindle. The one on the top right has some gorgeous binding I think I purchased from Kristen Doran at a market many moons ago. — Handmade gift from us. Fabric on the left from Maze and Vale and on the right from Ink and Spindle. The one on the top right has some gorgeous binding I think I purchased from Kristen Doran at a market many moons ago.

So just a couple of housekeeping things before I get to the saying thank you part of the post.

Firstly I wanted to let you know that I am going to try to update the blog twice a week moving forward - Tuesday and Friday. It may or may not happen but I thought it would put it out there to get the intention flowing. Wish me luck!

Secondly I'm planning on (finally) doing a full post about The Craft Sessions October 2013 retreat next week. Siri Hayes, a lovely crafter who I am lucky enough to call my friend, also happens to be a photographic artist. She agreed to help out on the weekend by taking some photos alongside me - some very pretty photos to show you next week from the two of us.

The final thing is that I wanted to let you know that we would be filling you in on dates and plans for next year at the start of December. We are already having fun dreaming up what comes next....so join our mailing list to be the first to hear.

Thank you sponsors!

A gift bags were ace! I know that that probably isn't the right thing to say, but I was just so thrilled when all our lovely sponsors jumped on board and provided us with the prettiest stuff. We were all very lucky not-quite-campers.

First we had a beautiful organic cotton bread bag or vegie bag which held all the loot. These were kindly donated by the loveliest Claire from Organic Gertrude.

We were then lucky enough to have Lara from Ink and Spindle donate a whole print run's worth of fabric to us in a custom The Craft Sessions colourway. I am so in love with this fabric - it is simply stunning!!! Have a look at their super new website. You can design your own colour way. Very fun and so very generous.

Next up was a discount voucher from the lovely Lisa at Tessuti which came on a very pretty card. And a gorgeous softie print from Lisa at The Red Thread - so cute.

Sunspun kindly donated a ball of Rowan Felted Tweed along with a super cute cuff that suggested patterns you could make with your one ball. Amy, who is the new owner of Sunspun, also kindly brought a whole heap of gorgeous things that they are no longer stocking in the store and just let us pick what we wanted.

Next up we had a discount voucher from The Fabric Store. They also donated two $100 vouchers which we gave away on Saturday night - names-in-a-hat-style. One went to the lovely Bridget who had a birthday the next day which made me happy.

Morris and Sons donated 50 different colours of their new 4ply 100% Australian yarn. I think there are 62 in total - so many colours my kids were quite astonished when I tipped them all out ready to pack.

My very good friend Mara from Printspace - who designed our logo - custom designed and donated an exclusive The Craft Sessions 2013 "I Craft For Joy" print. We gave these out as a parting gift when people were leaving. A little something to take home.

We were also lucky enough to receive some raw organic chocolate from Loving Earth. It got lost in transit and arrived a bit late but we have managed to figure out a way of spreading the luvju love...

And finally there was a handmade gift from us. A needlecase (sewn by me) made from Ink and Spindle or Maze and Vale fabric. Big enough to fit a little pair of scissors and some pins and needles. We will be putting up a tutorial in the next few weeks that shows you how to make one. So check back my friends, if that is of interest. They make super gifts.

So thank you Sponsors for the gift love! What a great way for our participants to start the weekend.

Felicia x