crafty hijinks in ballarat

We all had the most brilliant day yesterday at the inaugural Crafty Hijinks get together. 

Superbly organised by the fabulous and hysterically funny Gillian and Jodie, it was a day filled with fun, friendship, sharing, and generosity.

gillian & jodie 

Giveaways and raffles were organised with fantastic items generously donated by some wonderful people, classes given in colour theory, rag rug making (a hilarious tutorial given by Jodie) and Bec showing some of the ladies the technique of making hexie flowers using the glue method (which incidentally is my favourite way of making them too).

There were several stalls selling all sorts of crafty goodness - Emma of Ballarat Patchwork (who will soon be closing the doors of her lovely shop for the last time, sadly), Nicole Mallalieu of You Sew Girl, Camille Condon of Curlypops, and Claire Gee of Matching Pegs.  

I won this gorgeous pattern in the giveaways, generously donated by Claire of Matching Pegs - thank you Claire!.

I was actually astounded by the sheer volume of items donated for the giveaways and raffles, and the generosity of the people who donated them.  Not that I should have been; quilters are among the most generous people I have ever met.

Bec

Marg and Tracee concentrating hard on learning to make hexie flowers

Sue enjoying her day

a room full of crafty ladies

our friends Christine and Melody, (great photos of the day also on Melody's blog) from our Mill Rosies bloggers group 

Marg and Tracee having a great time

 Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea was provided, and there was more than ample for everyone.

The day was concluded with a visit to The Crafty Squirrel, the gorgeous shop of Morgan Wills, who opened her doors especially for our visit.  This shop is absolutely well worth a visit if you are ever in Ballarat.  Morgan is very talented, and the shop is a small but fascinating place with so much to look at, and of course buy, and we all could not resist bringing something home with us - for me some gorgeous red and aqua buttons (including the cutest little red squirrels), some plastic sewing needles for rag rug making, some beautiful Valdani thread, a babushka gift tag which I plan to use as a bookmark, and a bag of buttons for use in some future crafty doings.

The consensus was that a wonderfully fantastic day was enjoyed by all, and we would all be back next year - with bells on!

Thank you Gillian and Jodie!