Playways

Many people know that I run a course called Playways on the Net - I started this in 2001 mostly because I just couldn't manage to go and teach all over the place - just gets too exhausting all this travelling and packing and unpacking - it was for all those people who want to play and experiment with all of this textile stuff and do machine and hand stitching etc. There are nearly 500 people on the books now, although many aren't very active at all. But that doesn't matter - there are no deadlines and hopefully at some point each student finds a kickoff point into something creative. That's what it is all about - playing and exploring. There are students from all over the world which is so wonderful and the work which arrives is always so exciting - I am for ever amazed at the diversity and creativity of everyone involved. They also get to chat to each other, if they wish, on a yahoo list. We load their finished work onto a student only gallery and put a little taster from module 2 onwards on the public gallery. As well as completing 5 modules, they also complete 2 projects during the course and these go onto a special projects place.

I thought you might like to see a couple of pictures of the latest project from Jo Boyle in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Jo is such a creative lady - I first met her at Embroidery 2000 in Auckland when we took a stand and pretty well sold out on day 1. Jo has created the most fantastic memory for her daughter's 50th birthday - I am sure her daughter will treasure it for ever and it will become a family heirloom. The two pics I have her are the box Jo made to store the treasured pages and one of the pages from holidays at Whangamata. You can see them all if you are a Playways student - on the projects page!


Many thanks to Anne for sending the link to Yaga - the creation of cloth is what I am trying to achieve with my embellisher fabric - seamless and unique. I suppose some people will say I am creating felt but it is much more than that.

I won't even try to load pics relating to my vessel. I have stitched and burnt and had a naughty sewing machine this afternoon but progress is being made. In my last visit to the dreaded Spotlight, I found a ball of interesting yarn for $1 (!) which is just going to be right for using somewhere on and around the vessels. Plus Penny has been out collecting punches from teh dreaded Spotlight so it looks like I will have to go visit them again.

The mobius wrap has me fascinated. I finished the first one but it is more a scarf than a wrap - might be suitable for the Pembrokeshire coastline.

We had a lovely relaxing lunch at Veritas today - the weather is glorious and summer is here.