Things seem to get busy and I forget.
I went to Adelaide last week with three friends (some of the friends mentioned in an earlier blog) for a week of sewing and fun (and just a bit of wine and chocolate..) while we attended Country Bumpkin's Beating Around the Bush event. My friends and I spent the week at workshops run by Michele Hill, who has studied and adapted William Morris designs to applique. Her quilts are really beautiful, and she is a superb teacher. Funny, generous to the extreme, and really accomplished, even though she keeps on saying, 'but if I can do it, anyone can!'.... and we all wish we could! :-) One of the nicer memories of the week is of us sewing away, while Michele read to us from a book by William Morris...another great memory...Michele coming round the class and giving us all massages with a little hand massage gadget...bliss....
On our first day of "Afternoon Tea with William Morris", where we appliqued and made tea cosies, Michele gave us all three of her favourite afternoon tea recipes, one of which was lemonade scones. Well, later during the week, my friends and I decided that we would make the lemonade scones for our last morning of class. The night before, with the help of a little white wine and champagne we began making the scones. Libby, who hasn't made scones before, decided that if the scones were as easy as Michele ("..crikey! if I can make them, anyone can!") said they were, then she would do them... needless to say, it wasn't quite that easy, as Libby literally poured all the ingredients into the pot we were mixing them in...we didn't have any of the usual accoutrements that we are used to in our home kitchens...and we discovered that she had poured in soda instead of lemonade, and possibly a little too much cream...so the mix was just a tad too wet, but we managed to get them into the oven pan...too much laughter was rather hindering us... and we baked them and, well, they looked like scones. The next day came, we took them to class, along with lots of jam and cream. They weren't quite as buoyant as we hoped, nor quite as sweet as they should have been, but there weren't any left after morning tea, so they weren't quite the flop we thought they could have been! I will forever remember being completely paralysed with laughter while we were making them though. Poor Professor Pythagorus on sabbatical in the next apartment...when we left we left him a bottle of red to say sorry for all the noise we'd made that week!
We went to the SA Art Gallery on our first day in Adelaide, and loved lots of the art works on display...particularly enjoyed the "William Morris room". It isn't exclusively all works by WM, but by others who were also known in the Arts & Crafts Movement of the time. It's well worth a visit if you are in Adelaide. There was also a lovely modern art installation of a ring of crows on the floor, all in different postures. I loved that one. I think Libby took a photo of it - we discovered later that we weren't supposed to take photos! I will ask her for a copy of it, and post it if I get one.
True to my form lately , I didn't take any photos while I was away, except some of a beautiful hedge at I think it was Henschke wines in the Barossa... see above. So much for my photo a day resolution... [Note to self: I will have to review my new years wish list and see what I have accomplished. Another post another day.]
We had a great week in Adelaide. I don't think I have laughed so much since I don't remember when. And came home with some good new techniques to use. Particularly on a quilt that I had started for my sister-in-law...for her birthday a couple of weeks ago...now she might just get it before Christmas. :-)
