Tuesday, March 6, 2007

The week that was!

Wow! What a week, I’m exhausted.

OK I will start at the beginning…..Judy and Michael arrived last Wednesday and after trying to find them at the airport in the rain we made it back to our place in one piece and relatively dry. We had a very casual evening and Steve cooked dinner for us all, yummy lamb shanks.

Thursday morning we had an early start and headed to Bunnings to get some last minute bits for Michael and left Judy in Spotlight whilst we did this. We met up with Lissy at The Old Cottage Café for a late breakfast and the sun was trying very hard to break through, so we managed to capture a few pictures in between showers. Welcome to sunny Perth? I think not.

Edited: Thanks to Lis for these photos too, my camera didn't make it out of the car! You saved the day again Lis.

Ok off to Fremantle and to drop Michael off to organise the trade afternoon with Artistic Journey. He had some amazing pieces of jewellery that he had made especially for the retreat. One in particular I had my eye on but of course someone else has bought it.

Next stop – to buy a jumper for both Judy and Michael – of course they were expecting warm sunny weather and so far we had nothing but coolish weather with rain.

I headed home later in the day and then back down to Fremantle on the Friday. Steve arrived mid afternoon from work. It was nice to have him with me on the weekend and spend some time together and see what happens at these retreats that I attend every now and then. It also gave him the opportunity to spend some time with Judy and Michael too.

On Saturday I was very excited about doing Michael’s shoe shrine class. Here is a photo of my unfinished piece…….”a work in progress” as they say.



I thoroughly enjoyed this class and Michael is a very entertaining tutor. I can’t wait to apply some of the painting techniques to my various projects. Just one small tip, Liquid Nails does not come off your hands too easily, believe me, until a very kind Evelyn offered me some baby wipes and voila it all came off. Thank You!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday was spent doing Lesley Riley’s Stitched Fabric Book class. This was nothing like I was expecting (in a good way) and I learnt some more fantastic painting, stamping and stencilling techniques. Here are a couple of my completed pages, still a few to go before I can assemble the book and one of Judy during the painting session.



We also learnt to create another style of book using interfacing which I will attempt to also finish off in the coming weeks. At the end of the class I had to laugh at the “mess” under Judy’s feet and there was none under me……hence these photos were taken to document the moment.


After classes finished and collecting all our borrowed gear from Michael like drills, Dremel tools etc. I headed home for a 1 ½ hour drive. I came home to washing on the line, dinner sorted and my girls. Gemma had been on camp since last Wednesday and they had both spent the weekend with friends. (Thanks to the Compton’s and the Scantlebury’s for having the girls for the weekend, which meant Steve could come too and join in the socialising part of the weekend).

Thank you to Jackie and Joanne from Artistic Journey for the fantastic weekend. I know a lot of effort and planning goes into these weekends and you and your staff did a wonderful job.

Monday I spent washing some more and basically chilling on the lounge and watching “The Lake House” with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock……good movie!

Today I think I am back on deck and getting some jobs done that are now annoying me. Oh almost forgot, I finished another bag over the weekend (you can see the first one I made being modelled by the lovely Judy on Lissy’s blog). It kinda puts it in perspective as to how big it is. Anyway here is my next effort…………..

I visited a great knitting shop in Fremantle, just around the corner from the Esplanade where we were staying. It was called “Yarns on Collie” and I purchased the best pair of Bamboo circular knitting needles, much nicer than the cheapies I was using before.


They have a huge range of wools and other goodies, so if you are nearby drop in and check out the shop.

I have to share one last photo with you that Steve took on the weekend whilst wandering around the streets of Fremantle. I think it’s amazing!



Anyway, back to work, I have a few more pages to finish of for Judy and then I get to start on an album of my own whilst coming up with a layout for the Hyden retreat. Best I not think about all of this too much or I will become overwhelmed.

Enjoy the hot weather and try to stay cool if you can.

8 comments:

Alli said...

sounds like a wonderful weekend! I went and had a look at Michael's work, definately interesting stuff, can't wait to see your shoe.

Megan said...

Well you certainly haven't wasted any time this past week, have you Sharon?! Your photos are all fantastic (I love to SEE what people have been doing lol) and how nice was it to spend some time with Judy. Good stuff!

Enjoy what is left of this week :-)

Megan xx

Anonymous said...

No wonder you are exhausted!
Sounds like you had a fantastic time catching up with friends.

Hope you are ok in the heat I saw it was heading up to 42 I hope you are near some A/C Sharon.
xxxx

Judy said...

Hehehehe - love the shoes/mess photo's - thanks for a great time - hope the back is better!
xoxoxox

Anonymous said...

Hi Sharon, It was great to meet you (and DH!) at the retreat. Your shoe is looking fab, I'd love to see a photo when it's finished! I also think the photo that Steve took is great, it holds a lot of interest and texture. Ux

Lissy said...

Sounds like such a great weekend at the retreat :) Classes look very interesting! Was super to catch up and I want some Berke's too :)

"Grendel" said...

don't do it Lis.. you have plenty of shoes!! LOL

jo said...

Was great to meet you at The Retreat Sharon and a big thankyou to you and your husband for helping out with tools and 'doodads'!
Your shoe is looking awesome.
Jo