Have you thought about making a quilt to capture your memories of a special place?  This week in Fiji is a marvellous opportunity to do just that. You will have a rich choice of subject matter in and around the resort where we stay – the mountainous landscape, the view over the bay, the tropical gardens…or you might like to use a scene from a nearby village or the nearby market. No matter what the inspiration, creating a landscape quilt is an achievable project.  The process combines making decisions about design and colour choices as well as incorporating accurate construction techniques.

Over the week, Gloria will show you how to choose the subject, what aspect to focus on, how to make it come alive, and where to begin. She will then guide you through the process, looking at how to translate what you see into an image in textiles. By the end of the week you will have had the opportunity to produce  a wall hanging depicting a scene of your choice.

You will need to bring basic sewing supplies and a sewing machine, and she will supply hand dyed fabrics, fabrics to paint and the paint.
Gloria Loughman lives by the sea, on the beautiful Bellarine Peninsula, in Victoria.

She has been teaching patchwork classes for many years and enjoys sharing her knowledge and skills with others. She likes to challenge students to design their own quilts but is also happy to provide patterns for those less confident. Her classes are very popular with lots of students coming back. She has also travelled extensively overseas teaching classes in New Zealand, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, South Africa, and Japan.

Over the years she has dabbled in many areas including strip piecing, bargello, colourwash, fabric dyeing and painting, and machine embroidery After completing some studies in design and colour as part of a Diploma of Art in 1996, she began to make her large vivid landscape quilts depicting the Australian bush. Most of the textiles used have been hand dyed or painted and feature extensive machine embroidery. These quilts have won many major awards in Australia, Europe, Japan and the United States. Her quilt ‘Kimberley Mystique’ was the winner of Australia’s most prestigious national quilting award in 2003.

She has also curated eight exhibitions of Australian quilts to the United States and have had the privilege of judging at many major shows. She has had a number of solo exhibitions, including an invitation to exhibit at the prestigious NEC Show in Birmingham, UK. Her book, Luminous Landscapes, was released by C&T in January 2007, and her second book, Quilted Symphony, will be available in January 2010.

Programme

Saturday 30 October
Arrive Fiji and fly on to Savusavu.

Sunday 31 October
Morning workshop: an introduction to the week. Learn about designing a landscape quilt.  Look at different colour choices.  Begin to design quilt, concentrating on the background.  Poolside lunch and coconut cutting demonstration, followed by a walk around the resort gardens.

Monday 1 November
Morning workshop: Watch demonstrations of fabric painting then have fun painting your own unique fabrics.  Paint fabric for your sky, water or any other areas of your background.  After lunch you will have some free time for snorkelling, swimming and relaxing.  Or there’s an optional visit to town, visiting geothermal hot springs, local market and shops.

Tuesday 2 November
Morning workshop: Time now to construct the background of your landscape.  Simple construction techniques will be outlined including mosaic piecing and invisible appliqué.  There will also be a tapa making demonstration.

Wednesday 3 November
Morning workshop: Today we will look at the various techniques that can be used to create trees, buildings or other elements on the surface. Appliqué, painting and machine stitching will be explored to give extra texture and dimension to the landscape. In the afternoon we will have a boat or beach outing.

Thursday 4 November
Continue with individual projects.   In the evening we will go into Savusavu for drinks at the yacht Club and diner in town.

Friday 5 November
Finish individual projects, concentrating on quilting and looking at various options for borders and binding. End session with a show and tell.  Afternoon visit to Vivili village for traditional meke (dance).  Final diner.

Saturday 6 November
Return home.

Beading is a richly rewarding craft, easily accessible to beginners and continually fascinating and challenging to experienced beaders. There is great delight to be had in sitting together making original pieces of jewellery, sharing ideas and designs, and simply taking pleasure in the process of creation. And what’s more, it’s a fabulous holiday with one of Australia’s most experienced beaders as well.

Programme
The course runs for 6 days, and includes both workshops and excursions. We start the day with breakfast from 7.30 – 8.30am. Workshops run during the morning from 9.30 – 12.30, followed by a light lunch. The afternoons are for relaxing, going on local excursions – or just continuing stitching at your own pace. During your free time you can take optional outings to the local black pearl farm, Waisele waterfall or snorkelling on the reef; you can book a massage, go swimming – or read by the pool. We’re happy to help you arrange any of these. Dinner in the evening is at 7.00 pm.

Annlee Butler introduces herself:

“Although all my formal training and degrees are in business management and marketing, I found very little satisfaction or creativity in this type of work. About 18 years ago while working long hours and looking after a family I needed to find a way to relax and decided to knot a strand of my grandmothers glass pearls. I enjoyed it so much I was soon looking for more beads. I have grown to love all aspects of seed bead work, including loom work such as Kumihimo and off loom free form techniques like peyote, herringbone, spirals and square stitch etc I have mastered most of the known techniques and a few of the more difficult techniques such as tambour beading.

In 2003 I was invited to the Masterclass at Bead and Button with master seed bead artists Viginia Blakelock and Carol Perrenoud, which took my work from just-for-fun to wearable artwork.

When I returned home it was time to do more with my beads, since then I have been teaching regular classes, designing and selling bead work through local galleries, become a member of the bead society of Victoria and enjoy entering competitions to expand my creativity.

I look forward to spending a creative week with you and experimenting to take your work in exciting new directions also.”

Click icons to see larger images of Annlee Bulter’s beadwork.
Photography by Alex Mullen 0421 187 500.

Detailed Classes Outline
This 6 day course is designed to take you from inspiration and ideas to finished designs in wearable beaded work. Each day will start with an elementary section. This will then be followed by hands on experiment time using the elementary notes and discussion so each student can work on areas that they wish to improve.

Day 1  – Saturday 18 June:
Travel day to Nadi and on to Savusavu. Daku Resort is 10 minutes from the airstrip, and you will be welcomed to Daku with a traditional Fijian welcoming ceremony.

Day 2  – Sunday 19 June:
Morning: workshop. Inspiration Day and where to find it, how to make it work in your design, how to focus what you want to achieve with the use of stitches and textures.
Hands on: students would be asked to bring a picture or an item such as a focal bead or finding that inspires them. This will be the start of a project which each student will design and can be continued during the week or taken home to work on.
Afternoon: Tapa (bark cloth) making demonstration.

Day 3  – Monday 20 June:
Morning workshop. Stitches techniques day and making stitches work for your design.
Hands on: Using Annlee’s Sampler book of stitches, make up small swatch samples of beading stitches to keep as a reference. Stitches include: peyote, right angle weave, in both circular and flat, even and odd count, some of the more unusual stitches such as African helix, chevron, St Petersburg chain, and other interesting variations.
Afternoon visit to Savusavu town for shopping.

Day 4  – Tuesday 21 June:
Morning workshop. Components Day. Adding shapes, flowers, and style to your design by the use of components. The different ways to capture a cabochon will also be included in this section.
Hands on: students will stitch a variety of items such as a herringbone tulips, a lilly in herringbone or peyote, small peyote flowers, leaves in Russian style or using peyote stitch, shapes such as triangles and squares. These items can be used in your own design project or taken home to use later.
Afternoon boat / beach outing.

Day 5 – Wednesday 22 June:
Morning workshop. Getting it all together day. Finishing designs with a professional look. Discussion will include how to add clasps correctly, using wire and beads together, working over structures.
Hands on: students will bead over a wooden bead using a choice of right angle weave or peyote stitch and then experiment with adding components or fringing to complete a beaded focal bead.
Afternoon: free time.

Day 6 – Thursday 23 June:
Morning workshop. All that other stuff. This discussion will cover a variety of subjects that will include: how to write good instructions, how to value your finished project, how to market and sell your designs, what judges look for in a competition piece.
Hands on: Annlee will spend time with each student working on any individual projects or subject they need more information on.
Afternoon free time.
Evening drinks at Savusavu Yacht Club and dinner in town.

Day 7 – Friday 24 June:
Morning workshop. Tying up the ends.
Afternoon visit to village for meke (traditional dance).
Evening: class show and final dinner.

Day 8 – Saturday 25 June:
Depart Savusavu at 8.30 am to get to Nadi for afternoon flights.

Cost:
One week (twin share) $2280 ex-Nadi ($3180 with international air fare ex Sydney)
Single supplement: $300