What fun I had last weekend attending a stitching gathering in Hobart, meeting new friends, catching up with old friends, laughing, chatting, eating - oh, and not doing much in the way of stitching.
The occasion was the Quilted Crow's annual gathering - my first but definitely not my last. Leonie and Deirdre's lovely shop is in an old church with magnificent stained glass windows.
Our tutors, Leanne Beasley and Rosalie Quinlan, are just gorgeous - talented, funny, sharing; they each spent a lot of time at individual tables admiring our work or helping out. Leanne demonstrated satin stitch on my project after I confessed that I'm crap at it - Thanks, Leanne. She's a champion ironer too - she offered to iron the iron-on tranfers to the background fabrics for our chosen projects - what a star. Oh, and she signed my copies of Vignette - I love these mags and they will be even more treasured now.
I sat at a Tassie bloggers table - it was lovely to see my old friend Vicki again, to meet Fee and to finally meet face to face some of the Tassie girls in the Friends in Stitching online group I belong to. What a nice bunch they are!
The fun didn't end when the gathering was over - I stayed the night with lovely Jo and enjoyed checking out her huge - and well-stocked - craft room. Thanks to Jo and her family for their hospitality and to Jo for saying yes, we could make time for a quick visit to Salamanca Market. She scored a gorgeous little felted purse and I bought a wire bird for my birdie collection and some handmade wooden buttons. Not to mention the bits and pieces I couldn't resist at the Quilted Crow...
Next day it was a catch-up and coffee with a friend and her gorgeous little girls, then on to another friend's place for lunch and to stay the night. We used to be neighbours years ago in the country south of Hobart when our kids were young; it was lovely to see her and our other friend and former neighbour who came to lunch. Lots of laughter and reminiscing.
Next day my friend and I wandered through the city, ducking into a few shops including the Needlewoman, where I could have spent the rest of the day (and a vast amount of money). Wandering along the docks in the sunshine is a special memory; Hobart is such a pretty place but I lived there for some years and let me tell you it can be cold; we were so blessed with good weather. All too soon it was time for us to catch a plane to Melbourne. What a great weekend it was!
