Fibreswest has moved to a new venue – the Narrogin Agricultural College, which is situated on a beautiful 1,404 hectare commercial farm which supports both crops and livestock. They run commercial Merino sheep, a Suffolk stud, Black Angus cattle and a free-range commercial egg production enterprise. Much of the food we ate came from the farm and it was delicious. The college also operates as a school with students completing various vocational courses.

The class I was in (Linda Stokes, Print, Stitch, Paper and Fabric), , was situated in an industry standard trades facility, so we were surrounded by engines, cars, high quality tools of all sorts (cue jealous menfolk), and there was even a combine harvester in our classroom!.

We had a lovely week playing with paint, paper and fabric and I used my gel plates! I did find that things were a bit busy and cramped for me to work very well, but I made lots of notes and over the next couple of months I am going to rework the curriculum and that should anchor the information in my mind.

This is my tiny part of the table, and I had someone opposite me. Some of my work is on the floor and I had to use the chair to hold my equipment.

I did produce quite a bit but these are the pieces I put in the class display at the end. On the right are some stencils I made on my cricut, in the middle is some fabric I printed with blocks and gel plate and on top of that is a little bag I sewed from a small piece of fabric. The book is made from a gelli printed cover and hand stitched binding. On the bottom on the left is a piece of fabric I glued and printed and on top is a piece of calico I collaged and free-motion stitched. I quite like a couple of the pieces but my lovely husband loved them all!

The exciting news of the week though is that I have had my very first exhibition entry. Arts Narrogin hosted an exhibition called “Beyond Indigo” and I entered my Tauko Centrefold top made from a very ugly free pair of jeans, and a Stokx Flirt Skirt made from three pairs of free jeans. The hearts are promoting women’s heart health as part of the Sew Do It For Heart challenge.

I did give a three minute talk about the making, which was fun. I wore my denim pinafore, Pattern Union Felix jacket, with a collar added, and the denim zero waste Tauko magazine Louvre beret made by Liz Haywood.

My friend Fran took this photo. I had mentioned that I always use a Havel’s stitch ripper to take jeans apart and these two (Jan and Betsy) wanted to see it in closeup. I do look like I’m yawning, or something, but I’m not. Goodness knows what I’m doing!

I had listed the outfit as not for sale, but was thrilled and flattered to get a call from the gallery asking if I’d be prepared to sell it as one of the visitors had fallen in love with it and wanted it. I decided not to sell it.

The exhibition was a fabulous event. The gallery was packed for the opening and the other galleries in Narrogin were also well frequented. We all had a wonderful afternoon excursion into town!

I took so many photos, but here are three exhibits that I loved. The parrot is an animatron by Susie Vickery and under it’s wing it says “endangered”. The four lengths of weaving show the daily walk of Louise Wells, during the different seasons. It’s made from old sheets she dyed.

This is my friend and fellow committee member, Meagan. We have chosen the same class each time we’ve done Fibres West, so know each other well. Meagan is an art teacher so is very skilled at creating art works and is always most encouraging. Please note the decorations; this bunting was made by one of our late members, and I’m pleased that she used some of my destashed fabric.

It was so good to walk round and look at the work of the other classes. Bottom left is the class taught by Mary Hettmansperger, called “Alternative surfaces in jewellry” and the students were really productive. The middle photo shows the classroom of Fiona Gavino “Fibre Sculpture & the Expression of Place” and on the right are some of the baskets and sculptures the students produced.

Jo Hamilton taught a class called “Contemporary Crochet Portraiture” and here are a couple of examples of student work. I just love the face on the right and am blown away by the lady on the left which (who?) was crocheted by a 21 year old – so talented. I can’t imagine being able to produce anything like this with a crochet hook!

The garage sale is always a highlight of these events and there were many, many bargains. I did restrain myself a bit (only a bit!). This was my bed at some point. The bag at the front contains a really generous gift from my friend Fran, from Geraldton, and the yellow Singer sewing box contains beads and bits and pieces. I bought the roll of fabric to make a cushion for my son, the red is my raincoat, and of course my new dressing gown doubled as an extra blanket for those cold wheatbelt nights. I had to find a spot in the tiny room for all this before I went to bed!

People donate clothes to the garage sale and anyone who knows Liz from Woven Stories Textiles will not be surprised to learn that she often dresses up and wanders about. She did have an amazing hat on at one point but I only managed to capture her in this dress, which she wore over all her other clothes. She manages to look stylish under the most adverse circumstances!

Speaking of Liz, I was lucky enough to win a raffle prize and I happened to choose a wrapped parcel that I could tell came from her. When I unwrapped the parcel, I was extremely pleased that I had won a very pretty bag.

However, when I opened it I realised what a generous donation it was. Comments were made that it was as if Liz knew I was going to win the prize as the contents are so “me”. There are three fabric bundles, a skein of sari silk ribbon and a skein of sari silk cord. I cannot wait to make this into a few things. I have some remnants of those orange fabrics already in my stash, so there will be combining.

We have a sale called the 15×15, where small things (15cm x 15cm) get sold as a fundraiser for $15. I donated two zero waste Humpty Dumpties, by Liz Haywood, two sashiko cat coasters, two bowl cozies and an arm knitted denim scarf and was rather thrilled that they all sold really quickly. I bought this pop up felt sculpture. I just saw it and loved it and hadn’t realised that it was donated by another of our tutors, Dagmar Binder from Berlin, who is an extraordinarily talented felt artist. I am so delighted with it. It’s quite breathtaking when the strings are pulled and the felt pops up.

Here is a celebratory photo of the class on the last day. They were such a terrific group of talented women.

The committee all wore denim crowns (double down denim being the theme of the week) to let people know who we were if there were questions/problems. This is me helping get the garage sale ready. I was wearing it to class one day and a tradesman got out of his van, did a double take and told me I looked smashing. He made me laugh, and kind of made my day!

I took this photo when I got home. Yes, a small person has adopted my crown, but she’s happy to leave it at my house for occasional wear!

And here she is colouring in a little book I made during the course.

It took me a surprising amount of time to recover my equilibrium, and I’ve spent a lot of time catching up on lost sleep. I did have the most amazing time though, and am already looking forward to the 2027 event!