Hello everyone
Postal strikes over and at last I have some time to sit down and tell you about the Beating Around The Bush convention in Adelaide, Australia. BATB is a bi-annual convention hosted by Country Bumpkin, who are the publishers of Inspirations magazine, I attended the last one in 2012 (read about it here) and was privileged to be invited back to teach 5 days of workshops in October 2014. There is always so much preparation involved prior to one of these events, my proposals went in a year before and then it was a full few months of booking aifares, applying for visas, ordering supplies, packing kits and sending them over before finally getting on the plane for the long flight to Australia – there we go!
My sister and family live in Perth, Australia and it is a wonderful opportunity to stop off and catch up with them before connecting to Adelaide. This year I took my sister along for a few days to help me set up the classroom and spend a bit of quality time together and have a good catch up. I thought she may be a bit overwhelmed with the immensity of needlework students and teachers, lots of chatter and very noisy but she fitted in well and was the perfect assistant – she even insisted on colour co-ordinating the chairs in my classroom at each table (so I gratefully stepped aside and let her do it!).
It was wonderful to meet up with old friends again, re-unite with students and teachers. The tutors were accomodated in a lovely hotel overlooking the Glenelg marina in Adelaide and we were transported by bus every day to Immanuel College where the classes were held. The bus would stop en route at different hotels to pick up students and whilst observing the constant chatter and excitement on the bus, it occured to me that we are so fortunate to be part of such an event with so many like minded people – I dont think people who are not embroiderers could appreciate what a privilege it is!
The classes got underway there was much activity, (and sometimes silence while the students grappled with new techniques). We were royally fed with tea, cakes, and lunches in the College dining room. I believe there were in the region of 300 students and 30 teachers from all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Uk, USA, & Europe. Below are some photos of my classes. THey were such lovely students, and I was so proud of them for almost completing their projects in the workshop time!
The team of Country Bumpkin staff were always on hand to help and deserve a big thank you for the amount of work and preparation that went on behind the scenes to make this event a happy, fun and productive time for everyone. There were events organised almost every evening after class, including a quiz night, visit to the shop, exhibition and a lovely tutor dinner which gave us teachers a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas and chat at length about our work. You can find more information on the Inspirations Blog Post.
On the last evening there was a superb gala dinner with Jenny AIden Christie as the guest speaker – once again she enthralled us with her stories of the Royal School Of Needlework, she is such an excellent speaker and I was in awe of the fact that she used no notes! There is just too much to share with you so if you would like to hear more about it and see some examples of the prize winners have a look here on the Inspirations Blog Post.
Next time I hope to share some news about the new book. Meantime wherever you are be it winter, spring, summer or autumn have a wonderful weekend and many happy stitching hours. Trish