Resin Classes in April

You might remember in November we did some great resin classes with Sylvia Nevistic and we had an absolute ball creating beautiful pieces.

Well she has kindly offered to come back and let us have another play!!  This time we will be starting with the making of the moulds and then creating our own individual resin pieces from them.

This will be a series of 3 classes held on the first three Saturday afternoons of April. More details are available on our web

I can't wait - I keep looking at things thinking that they would look great as a brooch or a bangle... or on a chain... or in a ring... or.... or....

Hope you can come and join the fun.

School Holidays

Happy New Year!!! (slightly belated - there goes the first of the NY promises - blogging more)

I can't believe its 2011.  The end of last year was full of both sadness and happiness for some of our friends and family (some of which is still continuing). However, I am truly glad that we are in a new year and am looking forward to all the adventures that it holds.

Once again we have a schedule of school holiday activities for kids available.  They can be downloaded here.  (The pyjama class has commenced but there are still vacancies for others.)

This year I was also asked to do some classes at Jubilee Lake Caravan Park.  Below is some of the results from the Design a T-Shirt/Library Bag class which was just before New Year.  We had 14 kids of varying ages participating.

These textile textas enable kids to create and wear their own creative styles.  It was lovely to run the class outside under a marquee instead of inside and basically have a lot of fun.

Resin Casting

You might have seen on Jodie's blog a little while ago about our having two resin classes with Sylvia from Schmookville.  Here are of some of the molds we used with their precious cargo. As you can see we didn't restrict ourselves at all.



Bangles with lichen and moss



The makings of a necklace

 

Using Colour

Sylvia was fantastic in describing how to mix the resin and what things work or not in the resin.  Most importantly it was all about having fun and experimenting with colour and textured items.

The second week involved taking them out and sanding away all the excess bits and pieces.  I had to take a photo - just couldn't resist - meet the masked avengers!!  As you can see files and sandpaper at the ready.

Now for the results....  You can see how stunning the results can be.... And this isn't all that was completed.

I managed to pour a bracelet and a ring but have yet to finished the sanding.....



Bracelet has paper in it and the ring has a piece of tatting

I think everyone had a great time thanks to Sylvia's fantastic teaching skills and enthusiasm. 

We will definitely do this again next year.  Next time it will be a longer course - making our own molds. 
Drop me an email if you would like to join in the fun.

Tuesday night sessions

I am still sure that the weeks are going by twos at the moment!  Just when I think I am on top of things I realise that I have a whole new list of things to do...

One thing I have been meaning to talk about is our Tuesday night sessions.  On the first and third Tuesday of each month, from 7.00pm til 9.00pm, you can come and just .. well .. sew.

If you haven't done any sewing before and want to have a go, or just want to finish that item that you just dont seem to get time to do at home, then these evenings are for you.

This is the gorgeous Vanessa who wanted to have a go at sewing and decided to Amy Butler's Birdie Sling.

 

She has done a great job hasn't she. 

What we try to do during the night is work through the complexities of patterns, sew, drink tea (and sometimes wine) and eat biscuits (or chocolate).  In other words no pressure.

Just another quick note... Sylvia's Resin Class is filling up so if you are interested let me know.

Resin Jewellery Classes

We have a great resin jewellery making course at the shop commencing in November.

The course will be conducted by Sylvia Nevistic, who has been a jewellery & object-maker for 13 years.  She has taught jewellery making techniques for about 4 years & loves to pass on the skills she knows to those that want to learn.

In Sylvia's workshop, you will have the opportunity to make unique pieces of jewellery that reflect your own individual style. 

Various techniques will be discussed & used, such as using pigments for vibrant coloured pieces & embedding objects into the resin.

The course will be held over two Saturday afternoons on 13 & 20 November from 1.30 - 4.00 pm.

Some of Sylvia's jewellery works are shown below.

These resin pieces have items from our shop embedded in them - just think what you could do with some treasured objects from home!

If you would like to see some more of Sylvia's work, it may be viewed at her website & her blog.

Full details about the classes are available by following the link to Threadneedle Craft.

School Holidays & Stuff

I don't know how it's happened, but I've lost a week and soon it will be school holidays!!  Just when I thought I'd caught up, now I realise that is never going to happen.

We try to do some fun classes during the school holidays & we have a range of beading, papercraft & beginner sewing classes.  Mind you, the "beginner sewers" are amazing & create beautiful work.

Here are pictures of some of the things we will do & elements we will use this time ...

Beading - a circle bracelet with matching earrings:

Papercraft - decorating a journal using some of the fabulous Kaiser papers - particularly, the "Secret Bird Society" range of papers. 

Here is an example of the papers we will use ...

As for sewing - well you have seen the "Sweetie Petites" (as seen here) - they will be for beginners to attempt & will be completed during the class. 

Also, we will complete Jodie Carleton's "Happy Pails" (as seen here).  The pails will be a great introduction to embroidery, since they have hand-stitched elements in the design.

All the details & times can be downloaded from our website at Threadneedle Craft.

Workshop - Embroidery Floral Bag

Denise Longmire is a talented local who will teach a course in embroidery design utilising a number of design techniques & embroidery stitches.

The bag shown below illustrates the beautiful work you will complete.

This course will give you the confidence to create your own embroidery designs & you will learn the techniques required to create your own works of art.

We're planning this class to commence in May, over a series of four weekends (probably fortnightly).

If you are interested in this class, please contact me via phone or email.

Journal Secrets

I have a regular group of school girls who are becoming very accomplished with a needle & thread.

The journal cover design below, from "The Janelle Wind Collection", will be the the project for our next class during the Easter school holidays.

As usual, we will have other school holiday classes as well, including papercraft & beading. 

The workshop schedule can be viewed by visiting our website.

Rudy the Reindeer

This is "Rudy" the Reindeer, a Christmas creation from Melly & Me.

I've helped to make about ten of these cute critters, with a group of local school girls who have been learning to sew with me during the last few weeks.

We will have more workshops for kids during the school holidays. You can view our class list at www.threadneedle.com.au

Best wishes for Christmas to all our customers ... I look forward to seeing you again in the new year!

Learn to Sew for Kids

Here are photos of some very accomplished young ladies who have just finished making handbags in our recent after-school "learn to sew" workshops.

The workshops were held over a 4 week period during the beginning of the school term.

We will soon begin another after-school workshop series where we will make "Rudy the Reindeer", a cute soft toy from Melly & Me, just in time for Christmas.

We will also begin a machine sewing class for adults on Tuesday evenings for 3 weeks, commencing 3 December, where we will make the Bella handbag by Moonshine Designs.

Wheat Bag Pig

So much has been happening since my last blog!

First, I want to show you a talented group of girls having fun making wheat bag pigs. We started with four in the class, now there are seven!

The girls have been working hard after school every Thursday this month. The design for the pigs is from the book, "More Softies".

Also shown below, are two I made for my boys so they could be cosy in bed during Daylesford's cold winter!

More news to follow later this week ...

Jordyn, Georgia, Isabella & Lily (with me in the middle)

Cute Wheatbag Pigs from "More Softies" ... my boys
have named them "Pig-Boy & Piggle"

Drunkard's Path

Jody Abel of Daisy Patch Quilting, will lead a workshop at Threadneedle Craft Daylesford on Sunday, 26 April from 12.30 pm to 4.30 pm.

This gorgeous, contemporary quilt, based on a Drunkard's Path theme, is an opportunity for you to use your funkiest fat quarters.

Further details can be obtained from the "classes" page at www.threadneedle.com.au.