Fabulous Creative Retreat - Part One

This past weekend six brave souls arrived at the farm bright and early Saturday morning. The subject of the day was Fabric Printing in the morning. The concept for the afternoon was to embellish the printed fabric with Crewel Embroidery. I taught this same class last year over two days but this year, I decided to condense it into one day.

We start each class with a Meet and Greet on our screened in porch. This gives everyone a chance to tell their Fiber Story and it breaks the ice so we all get to know each other. It is fun to hear each person's Fiber Journey and it also helps me to know where each student is compared to the subject at hand. This weekend I had three new students and three returnees - Julia calls them three-peaters. I feel so fortunate that students like the classes so much that they will travel back to the farm. I also love to see how their skills have changed over the years and feel fortunate that I can be a part of their burgeoning artistic lives. 

After the short Meet and Greet, we headed down to my studio and dove in. Each student came armed with ideas that they might like to translate into a printed fabric. This group barely needed any help deciding upon ideas and motifs. Each student made their own printing stamps. They learned about the different paints I use too. 

We got right into stamping. 

Stephanie has been here before. She came with a motif in mind and we decided that it would make a great block design if it repeated around a central axis. 

Darby was inspired by the coneflowers in her garden. She also came armed with the book How to Be a Wildflower by illustrator Katie Daisy - you can check out her website and Instagram.  

Maureen decided upon paisley and heart motifs.

Ruth is fond of the traditional pomegranate motif. She printed on a natural flax color fabric and it is interesting how the fibers showed through the paint. 

Marji chose a very bold and graphic op-art design that I unfortunately don't have an overall view of. Here is a close-up of her stitching. 

Carol is a Decorative Artist who specializes in painted furniture. She came with a sketchbook full of ideas and printed a graphic design that she is going to heavily decorate with embroidery. 

It was an awesome day and I am so proud of the work that the students accomplished. Here they are - proud as punch. 

My friend Cynthia took the photo of all of us. She kindly did most of the cooking for us and the lunches were fantastic. Too bad I didn't get a photo of the spread. Lamb koftas, chicken, tabbouleh, gazpacho, green salad, homemade hummus, frittatas, homegrown squash and veggies, brownies and bar cookies. I so appreciate her help and support. 

Stop back for more tomorrow to see Day Two - Ceramic Tile Painting!