Soul Craft 2018 - Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Won.

Wow! So I've tried to write this post many times. And it's hard. It's hard because it was just so special but rambling on and on about how special it was can make a person seem gushy and inauthentic. But as my Dad reminded me yesterday on the phone when he called me to tell me to "post already", I don't need to say that much as the photos will speak for themselves.

We set out to do something really different with Soul Craft. We wanted to create a space where we could come together and share, share our love of craft and share a bit about ourselves. We wanted to talk about how hand making improves our wellbeing, how it sustains us. And we wanted to create a space that facilitated connection with others - where saying hi to someone you vaguely recognised from online was welcomed.

"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!" is what Coach Taylor gets his players to repeat before they go out on the field in Friday Night Lights. Now you might think that Texas high-school football and Soul Craft have little in common..... except that "clear eyes, full hearts" is exactly what happened.

Everyone arrived with such joyful, invested, interested, open energy that we couldn't help but have a good weekend. Conversations were had, and because the hearts were open and our passion was shared, the conversations were of a depth that doesn't normally happen so quickly among groups of strangers.

Lovely women you blew my mind with what you brought with you - your joy, your kindness, your enthusiasm, your stories. It showed me that it is possible to create spaces that are different - spaces that fill us up, sustain us and connect us.

So thank you! Thank you for coming. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for showing up in such a beautiful whole hearted way.

Felicia x

Teachers, Scholarships and Registration.

Registration weekend is upon us. It's actually one of my three favourite weekends of the year! Obviously there is the actual retreat, and now, the upcoming Soul Craft, but I also adore registration weekend. It's where I get to find out who is coming to the retreat this year. Always such a fun surprise, with an almost uncanny 50/50 split of new people to people who have been before.... some of them many times.

I love love that the community we have created as part of this retreat and how incredibly welcoming it is. And it shows! Each year about half of you come alone - which I know from your emails can be a bit confronting - but I promise you will be welcomed. The retreat has always attracted such an incredibly welcoming, friendly and joyful bunch of women!

I also can't wait to see your preference forms start coming through (after you purchase your ticket you get a link to the preference form) as I adore seeing what you are interested in each year. It's never quite what I think :).

I really believe we have put together a super-special line up this year with a bunch of new teachers alongside some of our favourites - but 19 of our 21 workshops being new this year I just know that there will be something in there to interest even those of you who have been many times.

The full workshop list is here and the workshop schedule is here so you can get busy planning your choices.

So now, a quick reminder about all the details, and changes, and news, we have about registration to The Craft Sessions 6th Annual Retreat this Sunday 6th at 5pm!
 

The Important Dates

Scholarship application's close this Saturday 5th May at 5pm. All the details can be found here.

Registration goes live this Sunday 6th May at 5pm. All the details can be found here.
 

Scholarship Applications are Still Open

Our scholarship enables someone with ongoing financial stress, who would not be able to participate in The Craft Sessions, to come and enjoy a true break. As well as a full place at the retreat, we also provide the recipient with $500 to spend on transport, or materials, or babysitting, or whatever you would need to make coming a possibility. I grew up in a household where ongoing financial stress was just life, and so these scholarships are something really important to me.

Applying is a simple matter of answering a few short questions - it should take about 10 minutes of your time. The scholarships are awarded by an external panel and your details will not be announced.

Please get your application in by this Saturday 5th May at 5pm. We would love to have you join us. All the details are here.

The Important Changes

All of the details can be found on the retreat page but the most important change is that we have made the retreat three full days and nights for the first time. We kick off on Thursday 6th of September and finish up late on Sunday 9th September at 4.30pm.

We have made this change because you have asked us too, and we are thrilled that we will all have more time to really retreat into the space and get to know one another. More time to make, to walk, to talk and to sit in the beauty that is the Yarra Valley.

The Teachers

Finally I wanted to point you too our updated Teachers page before you had to submit your preferences. One of the things we ask you on your preference form is which teacher you would most like to have. It is something that we do our best to fulfill - and so this is your chance to get to "know" these wonderful women a little bit before you need to make a choice. That said - you often answer "Don't mind" - which we totally get, as we love them all too.

Non-Residential Places

We are offering non-residential places again this year and they are a great option for those of you who don't mind arranging your own accommodation. In the past we have had many people stay at Devine Escape (which is a 5 min drive away) or use airbnb to find accommodation in beautiful Yarra Glen or Healesville. These tickets are also a great option if you live locally. You still get to fully participate in the retreat - having all your meals with us (except brekkie), doing morning meditation, workshops, sit and knit around the fire.

Best wishes for registration. Claire, Jenn, Martine and I can't wait to meet you all.

Felicia x

Our Craft Sessions Annual Retreat For 2018!

Well, there has been a lot of Soul Craft talk around these parts, hasn't there? It's pretty exciting, and pretty big, and so we have been focused on getting it done. 8 weeks to go lovely people!

However, in the back ground we have been quietly, diligently, and excitedly working on this year's annual retreat. Big changes are afoot in that this year - based on popular demand! - we have extended the retreat to a full three days. A retreat where we can truly retreat for three days in the beautiful surrounds of the Yarra Valley with friends old and new, engaging in craft. More days = more joy!

All the details are up on the brand new 2018 Retreat Page but the important bits are;

1. - The retreat runs 5pm Thursday September 6th to 4.30pm Sunday September 9th 2018.
2. - Workshops will be listed April 29th, with tickets going on sale May 6th at 5pm!

We will have a pile of new classes and some new teachers as well as old favourites - just as we do every year - we always try to mix it up a bit, and I'm thrilled with the balance we have struck this year.

Excitingly this year we will have Mary Jane Mucklestone joining us from the US to teach colourwork. I got to meet her last year, and just know you will love her. Her depth of knowledge and the generosity of her spirit are wonderful. I learnt so much that was totally unexpected in her class.

So stay tuned - April 29th we will go live with this year's workshops!

If you want to be kept up to date about all things The Craft Sessions then please join our mailing list here OR if you are more interested in Soul Craft then please join our mailing list at the bottom of the Soul Craft page.

And please have a look at the retreat page. All the details are there.

Felicia x

PS. You can take a look at some of our past retreats by having a look at this page. Just to get you in the mood, so to speak. :)

I believe in a beautiful stash.

Stash Less is an ongoing series where I talk about creating a conscious stash. Have a look at my Stash Less project here....

I had a lovely woman on the phone the other day tell me that she felt kind of embarrassed with her love of materials - and talking about how she loved purchasing - in front of me because of Stash Less. The whole conversation made her feel a bit naughty, like she was doing something wrong. Which reminded me that it had been a while since I've stated "I believe in a beautiful stash".

I love purchasing beautiful things too. I love having them and holding them and opening a cupboard that contains them. I love having possibility at my finger tips.

The point of Stash Less was not to not have a stash, and not even to necessarily have a very small stash - but rather the point was to have a conscious stash. Because at the start of Stash Less that is not what I had. I had chaos - too many things and the wrong things. I had overwhelm. I had guilt.

What is a conscious stash?

A conscious stash is a stash of materials that supports your making practice. It should have materials in it that inspire you in quantities that are usable for the kinds of things you want to make. A conscious stash is one that holds possibility and inspiration.

It should not overwhelm you with it's size or it's chaos, make you feel guilty, frustrate you because there is so many things in quantities too small to use or that don't go together. If it does any of these things then in probably needs some work.

When your stash isn't conscious then it isn't as useful and inspiring as it should be. The possibilities are too disparate and too vast which leads to a brain that zips all over the place and constantly feels like you don't have enough time. And that "I don't have enough time" feeling - that we all have sometimes - sucks time and your energy. And who needs that?

Recently I went away for two days to write my book. When I was planning to do it there was a possibility that I could have extended it to three, when Martine wisely told me not to do it. "Three will make you feel like you have 'all this time'. Two won't and so you will feel a sense of urgency and get a lot more done". She was right.

And this is the case when we have too many materials. We are often overwhelmed by possibility of what we could do, which takes up energy. This leads to do less of the thing we really want, the thing that fills us up, which is the making part of making.

We all need tension in our lives. Tension helps us to prioritise what is important to us. And this is the case with our stash. When we have enough materials that we have a few wonderful project options available to us, but not so many we are stuck in indecision, we are in a happy place.

---

And speaking of tension, let's talk about the marketplace at Soul Craft.

The one thing that I didn't want Soul Craft to be was simply a big market with a few classes tacked on. I wanted Soul Craft to be our dream festival - with nourishing beautiful food, things to delight the senses like our exhibition, places to really get involved like our community projects and our craft dating, ideas to expand our hearts and minds like our talks, and community building in a million small ways.

I also wanted to have a marketplace to support your making for the coming year. But a small marketplace where I could bring together a bunch of amazing and thoughtful stores to the one place. Due to our vast geography, we often only get to see a small variety of materials in person, and many of us do much of our shopping online. While I'm grateful to have online shopping I have also made some howling mistakes....

And so at Soul Craft I have pulled together beautiful shops, brands and businesses - each with special goods, many of which have a great story. Weaving, spinning, yarn, fabric, embroidery, quilting, books...... my plan was to provide you a place whereby you could see and purchase what you needed to compliment your existing stash.

We encourage you to plan your purchasing, to come with a list and know what you are after. To know what will support your making over the coming year, and inspire you, to make rather than overwhelm you.

I have a strategy for these types of events (and for many of you coming from a long way away - trips!) which I've blogged about before where I come with a list which I mainly stick to, except for one special purchase. My special purchase is something beautiful, off piste and satisfies the rebellious part of me that is totally anti-list. 

And to help you build a conscious stash - we have put together a Soul Craft Marketplace Page which we are launching today. This will show you who, and what, will be coming to the market so that you can think about your purchased before the event.

Many of these businesses have mentioned to me that they are happy to receive emails from you - asking them to bring specific things along to the Soul Craft Market for you to look at - so please feel free to browse their websites and ask them to bring specific stock.

Because conscious is where it's at; it's how we live a more satisfied life.

Felicia x

Join the #soulcraftalong!

By now I hope you've heard the tagline....

“Soul Craft Festival aims to celebrate craft and connection!”

One is not more important than the other. This festival celebrates how craft creates connection, and how our connection elevates our craft.

And so we were brainstorming what we could do to help you all get to know one another before the event, when a super obvious idea floated to the top. We should start a knit-along and a sew-along and weave-along as most of you attending will engage in either knitting and/or sewing AND many of you will be making something to wear to the festival.

And so I give you the #soulcraftalong! A joint knit-along/sew-along that aims to celebrate craft and connection in the lead up to Soul Craft Festival.

Why so much joy about the #soulcraftalong?

Well - because it means;

1. We can find one another on the socials before hand so we can see who else is coming, and maybe make some connections in the lead up to the event.
2. We will already know one another a bit through chatting about our projects.
3. We will be able to “recognize” one another on the day because we will already have seen one another’s projects.*

All about the connection and all about the craft!

So how will it work?

To participate you simply need to start making something that you plan to wear to Soul Craft Festival. It might be a frock, some leggings, a shawl, some socks, a sweater, a coat – any thing you like!

The only other thing you need to do is to have a ticket to Soul Craft!

I’m so sorry lovely people who are following along from over-the-seas or are in Australia but aren’t coming - but the #soulcraftalong's primary aim is to help connect people who are attending Soul Craft!

Special AVFKW yarn for my childhood sweater.

And will there be prizes?

Yes. Always. Just for fun and for joy. Not because knitting and sewing are a competition. They aren’t. Obviously.

At this stage I’m thinking there will be three prizes;

1.     A knitting prize to be awarded at the event

2.     A sewing prize to be awarded at the event

3.     An interim prize on May 9th – for WIP photos and participation in the #soulcraftalong

Now I don’t know what they are yet – my apologies! But I wanted to get us started and I will gather the prizes over the next couple of months. We are always lucky as we have amazing shops who support us and give us gifts of true beauty. I promise you they will be good.

I’m thinking that the knitting prize will be a sweaters worth of beautiful yarn and a pattern or two, and the sewing prize will be a frock or two's worth of fabric and a pattern or two. And maybe the interim prize will be a bit of both.

I have a couple of ideas for judges who I will share with you soon.

Which brings me to our #soulcraftalong facilitator Bex!

I’ve asked the lovely Bex to facilitate the #soulcraftalong because to tell you the truth I’m a little strapped trying to make sure this festival is magic. Some of you might know her from Instagram @bex_inreallife? She will be highlighting some of your beautiful work and will be crafting along beside you (as will I). She is another good woman – both a knitter and a sewer – who will be chatting to you all via the @soulcraftfestival account on Instagram about what’s what. I’m so happy Bex is on board to help out with this.

Are you, Felicia, participating?

Great question and the answer is yes?!? I hope so??

I’m trying not to overstretch myself, and I have birthday knitting and sewing to do for the kids, who are currently lovingly grumpy that they aren’t getting as much homemade as normal because I’m a little busier with this festival malarkey.

That said, I’m hoping to participate by making a sweater (probably the childhood sweater using my special purchase from AVFKW) and some pants (my half cut-out Terra pants) that were gifted to me by Nita-Jane. And maybe maybe some socks using Viola's Favourite Sock pattern and the beautiful yarn from the top of the post from Miss Click Clack. I often claim I don't like purple** but these colours are heartbreakingly beautiful.

Giveaway!

If you are participating - leave a comment on this post by this Sunday (March 25th) 9pm EST - and let me know what you are thinking about making. I have one beautiful goodie-rich gift-bag leftover from The Craft Sessions that I will send out to one lucky (ticket-holding!) winner.

So crafty Soul-Craft-attending women, are you in??

Felicia x

*I once met a lovely woman in a national park south of Sydney, not because she recognized me, but rather because she recognized the smallest kid’s Nani Iro skirt!! Such a lovely memory of a beautiful day – we later met up and had icecream at the farmers market she recommended - a wonderful connection with a good woman.

**Another fine example of me being off-base :).