On the March long weekend a few weeks ago we drove down to Port Fairy (a lovely little town on the Victorian coast) to its annual folk festival. The shortened name is PFFF for Port Fairy Folk Festival, but I think there should be a couple of extra Fs thrown in (for Fun and Fabulous). It really is a great event, not strictly traditional folky, but a great mix of musical styles, with local and international guests all contributing to the audience's enjoyment. Highlights: American singers Nanci Griffith (who we also saw in concert in Melbourne later that week) Kim Richey and John McCutcheon in separate performances; Brian Kennedy from Ireland, Genticorum from Quebec - how energetic they were!- Dougie McLean from Scotland and Ego Lemos from East Timor. It was, as always, a pleasure to be there - for the music, the people, the food, the incidental conversations and entertainment. We came home with sore hands from clapping so much, and with several new CDs by John McCutcheon (who is also a wonderful storyteller), Kim Richey and Ego Lemos. Brilliant!
Last Saturday I spent having a last-minute panic over a project I was making for a swap for my Friends in Stitching online group. We were all doing designs by Leanne Beasley, and although a few of us chose the same patterns, everything looks so different. In the end, my bag turned out well and my partner likes it, which is the main thing. My partner sent me 
a gorgeous cushion. There are some wonderful Australian designers, and Leanne is one of my favourites.On the Sunday I got together with some work friends to learn how to make soap. It was quite an eye-opener - all that stirring and measuring - but enjoyable too. One of the nice things about the day was just getting together; we all work at different branches of our library service and rarely see each other. Now there are emails and phone calls back and forth about the progress of our blocks of soap. We plan to get together in about a month, once it has cured properly, for show and tell. It's fun to learn something new.
7 comments:
Lovely bag! Leanne's certainly got lots of beautiful projects to choose from
Look like a lot of fun. Love your bag that you made. for Kerri..
Hey Jan, glad you liked the PFFF - we are booking in for a few days in the school hols with our caravan. We love it there too.
Sounds like a great weekend! Love concerts.
Your swap gift is wonderful...I love Leanne's designs too. Soap-making sounds great, I'd love to make goat milk soap, but I'd have to get a goat first and I think my neighbors would squawk!
your bag looks great.......I have plans to stitch that stitchery.......
Your bag turned out great. Good luck with the soap making. Happy days.
Bev.xoxo
Jan - it was lovely to meet you at SIT. Thanks again for all your help with my little stitching adventure and for the gift of the needle. It has changed my life! I'll be blogging about it soon.
all the best - Susie (Yarnplanner)
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