My Monthly Stitch effort

This is my inspiration for my first Monthly stitch garment. As it is the anniversary of my mothers passing, and also the month of her birthday, I decided to use this photo as my inspiration.

 But of course, I couldn't find the exact pattern in my daughters stash, and as a pattern maker myself, I don't usually have any commercial patterns . So, using  her Simplicity 2910 pattern as my base, I traced out the pattern, decided I didn't like the collar, and drafted a new front and collar. Then, after cutting out the rather wasteful collar piece, I found I didn't have enough fabric for the pleated skirt that I wanted, so the skirt became a half circle with 4 pleats, 2 in the front, and 2 at the back. So, sadly, the only actual vintage pattern piece I used was the back bodice!

This petticoat is actually vintage, given to my mother by my Dad, when I was very little. In the 60's, when big skirts had given way to more slender lines, I was allowed to wear it and I can remember as a little girl , swirling around and around, making the tulle dance in the air. 

Many years later, I still had the petticoat, and used to let my own daughter wear it. Then one day I let some older girls wear it, and the little monsters climbed up a tree in it and ripped it. I was very distraught, and put it in a bag, to be forgotten for about 20 years. This month, by chance, I found it again, and decided to repair the rips

It was fun to make the dress, I thought I'd make it how my Mum used to make hers, with nice belt loops done by hand, no overlocking, just zig zag seams, (but I did do some french seams on the skirt).

I wore it on the "Whats the deal with Teal?" day because I had assisted in making Crazy Gypsey's dress, and it was sort of the right colour.

We went off for photographs. People did look sideways at this band of Giggly ladies. Then it struck me. We looked like a gay wedding party, with way too many bridesmaids, and I was mother of the bride/groom. AARGH!

Too late for the Cape-a-thon...

I am too late to post this on the monthly stitch, which is a shame, because I made this a month or 2 ago, and forgot all about it until I saw it at the wee sewing factory the other day. The owner Cheryl, has a daughter called Jessica. She often comes and watches me make patterns, and we cut things out of cardboard, sometimes fabric. For ages she had asked whether I could make her a red riding hood cloak. Jessica is 16, but has the misfortune in having MS, the youngest person in New Zealand to have it, poor girl. It is affecting her sight, and she has a hard time restraining her very amorous nature, she's very sweet but a bit of a handful!

After helping out at Fabric-a-brac, there was a piece of red velveteen that someone was selling. "that's mine!" I thought, knowing exactly what to do with it.  One Red Riding Hood cape for Jessica. I believe she has even worn it to school, and just loves it.

For my Mum, Sheila

This is a photo of my lovely mother, Sheila, and me when I was little. I LOVE her dress... and I so wish I had a waistline like hers! And the dress I am wearing was made by her with her Necchi Sewing machine, which is still working, 50 years later!

One year ago today my mother passed away. She was a very talented lady, a great sewist (she would have been amused by that word) a great poet, wonderful cook, and the best Mum  my sister and I could ever wished to have had. She made ALL our clothes when we were young. Matching dresses when we were very little, with big gathered skirts and bows that tied at the back. Lots of cute 60's shift dresses when I was younger,  in the 70's we had hot pants, see through blouses ! (What a little tart I was!) Christmas Day was always special, one year she stayed up till the small hours making stuffed toys for us. A lovely pair of grey donkeys.

I don't know where she got the energy from.

My Mum had a great owl collection. She loved owls, and was "Speckly Owl" when she was a Brownie Leader. It started with  a few,  then everyone gave her so many! And her favourite flower was the poppy. So gifts were easy, if it had a poppy on it, Hooray!

Having a laugh with a former work colleague, Brenda

 And as for the poetry she was constantly thinking up some funny rhyme, and every year we all got a Christmas "Rhyme-a-line".   

For many years my parents lived in the rural districts of Natal, South Africa, where she and my father had Watersong,  a Trout farm and cottages for fishermen to stay in. Being so far away from the nearest town made them very resourceful. One very special thing she would do was to embroider a card for us on our birthdays, and any special event. She must have made hundreds. I so wish I could hunt them down and compile a book.

I started to write about what happened to her, but it was getting a bit lengthy....

My poor Mum got Multiple Sclerosis. It was horrible, and over a long period, she got worse and worse. The right side of her body just stopped working.

My Mum was a fighter. She never complained, and refused to ever think that she would not be able to walk.  Her theme song was "I'm still standing" by Elton John.

She sat in the lounge every day, watching TV, sewing cards for us all. Now, that was a bit of a challenge, because she completely lost the use of her right hand side, so had to learn to sew , and write, with her left hand. She would keep my forgetful father on track, reminding him of TV programs, telephone numbers, and shopping lists. She recited recipes to him and he would make them in the kitchen.

One day she was stitching a card that said "out of sight, but never out of mind" for someone.  She got as far as "out of Sight..." and, then her eyes gave up. She had macular degeneration, and she just couldn't see the fabric any more. She really missed her sewing, and had to resort to listening to stories from tape Aids for the blind, but most of the time they sent her to sleep!

I went to visit her for her 80th Birthday. It was lovely to be home again. Sadly, a few weeks away from her 81st, the horrid disease claimed her.

She used to say 
"You never know what it will be, but Something is going to get you" 
and also,
"If I 'pop off', don't be sad. I can't stand the idea of ending up in a frail care facility"

So I try not to be sad, and remember how lovely she was.
Miss you, Mum
XXXXXXXX



 And here's a bit of my mums writing...

Alternative medicine is not new,

Mother had some secrets too.

All the minor ills she’d ease

With simple home made remedies.

For colds some chicken soup she made,

Then night time, hot fresh lemonade.

To keep the germs from off the chest

Some eucalyptus on the vest

Salt water made sore throats get right

(With socks wrapped round the neck at night)

Runny tummies ran no more

After custard powder, eaten raw.

When knocks on heads made nasty bumps

A rub with butter eased the lumps.

When over eating was the question,

Bicarb for the indigestion.

Cold water soothed both burn and sprain

And soon they were all right again.

Wounds healed up as good as ever

With soap and sugar, mixed together.

Aches and pains eased a lot

With the old hot water bot.

But best of all, and always there,

Was Mother’s Tender Loving Care.

Coffee at the Fainting Goat

I am wearing my long skirt, the one with the red flowers on a black background, the red top that matches and the silk scarf from Indonesia.

I will get in the wheelchair, go down the ramp carefully, up the drive to the gate where the tibouchina tree sheds it’s purple blossoms on the ground. Then I will turn right and travel past the poinsettia bushes on the verge, past Alison’s house,  where Sam and Ben will bark in greeting Then on down the road, not seeing a single person on the way, until I get to the intersection. On the right is the Fainting Goat so I will keep near the pavement and make my way to the wooden tables under the palm trees. Then a waiter will come to take my order and I will sip my coffee and watch the cars drive by.

But it won’t be today. It is three in the morning and I can’t get to sleep so I plan my adventures. The wheelchair is without batteries at the moment. They were taken out to make it light enough to go in the car, and yes, I did go in the car a few times, mostly to see health specialists. But now I’ve been housebound for a while and need to go out.

I’ve been diagnosed with MS. This is a medical condition where there is demylianation of the nerves. It is likened to an electrical system with broken covering on the wires. The electricity won’t get through and with MS the messages from the brain don’t work. I can say ‘Come on leg’ as much as I like but it stubbornly refuses to obey so gets dragged around. My right arm won’t work either. I was in Barbara’s sitting room in July 2006 when the doctor phoned to tell me the news. . Most of the conversation is now a blur. The thing about MS is that up to now there is no cure. You just have to get on with life.

I’m so lucky my husband looks after me. I wish I could be independent.

So that’s why I have this plan.

Well, the batteries went back into the wheel chair but we moved house before I could take myself off for coffee at  the Fainting Goat. But I do want to go one day. I’ll let you know when, and perhaps you will join me?

Sheila on her 80th Birthday

Once a maker, always a maker....

Although I've been a bit preoccupied with getting my girl better again, the urge to 'make things' has been lurking around in the background... and this weekend they all seemed to come to a head at the same time! Almost like withdrawal symptoms from a naughty bad habit that you have that you just can't kick, no matter how hard you try, one day you just lose the plot and go on a 'naughty-habit-binge'!

A little while ago on one of my forays into Spotlight, I spied some wool in lovely colours, lots of turquoise, blues, purples and earthy greens and greys, in an interesting twist which made it fat, and then thin. It was in a skein , and I purchased it on the spot, and thought I would make a scarf. I like scarves, I have far too many, but they are so great at turning something fairly boring into something different and 'flash' and they take no time at all to knit, or sew if they are fabric. I never used to like them at all, and then I discovered that as long as they didn't flap in my face, and hang down in front of my rather ample 'ladies' in front, I liked them.

Then I lost my big fat knitting needles. How can you lose big fat ones, for heavens sake? Luckily my Crazy Gypsy came to the fore, she found a pair at her house, so I was off! I knitted a test strip, and it looked awful, all knobbly, and not at all as I wanted. The lovely colour graduations disappeared and it was just darn ugly. I knitted 4 test pieces in all, and each time I wasn't happy. I even gave Buster the dog a piece to rip up, and he couldn't eat it, and abandoned it.

Then I remembered a top my lovely Mum knitted for me  way back in the 80's, where you do clever things with winding the wool around the needle and then dropping the wound up ones on the next row. Bingo! I had found the best way to use the wool to show off the  lovely colours. I started knitting on Saturday...

However, when I went through to the kitchen a few hours later, there I found a whole lot of stuff that my "Tidy Eye" character couldn't avoid, and I had  to clean up the kitchen, the bench top etc. HOWEVER, I did find time to make up a batch of lovely 'Wonder Wax' which I just love. I've got a lovely neighbour who has lots of bee hives, and sells the most lovely raw honey, and he sold me a block of bees wax.

 I heat up plain old salad oil, coconut oil and some bees wax and it makes the most amazing stuff, I use it to clean and  polish my saddle and bridle, I put it on Chocolate Box's (Horse) hooves as nail conditioner, (and on my hands too!) I take off my make up with it, rub it on my legs after a shower, polish my shoes and furniture with it.I know exactly what's in it and you could eat it if the urge hit you and it wouldn't hurt you at all. I did add a bit of essential oil this time so I really don't want to eat it !

 I found a half used pot of Body shop peach body butter and I melted that down and added it to a portion of it, and whizzed it up with a whizzer and it has made the lightest hand cream which smells divine.

Then I grabbed  my new bag of goodies that I got this week.. some henna from LUSH in Palmerston North, at the Plaza, with the dubious name of "Caca"

Whoops its sideways, wont turn round for me, so its staying this way!

Mixed it up.........

I plonked it on my head. My tidy place was getting a little out of hand.  Half way through washing it off in the shower the phone rang, and it was a fishing friend of my husbands, wanting to know if we were coming to see their new house that afternoon, when I was REALLY wanting to go riding with my friend Jill. The shower looked like someone had had an extreme case of diarrhoea which had even reached the ceiling! Washed it all off eventually...

Well, for all the trouble the hair looks fairly normal, not much difference!


I DID manage to have a ride on the beach, and go to see the new house too.

Sunday was Fathers Day and Evan came up from Wellington. We went to Foxton Beach river estuary as he wanted to do a spot of kite boarding. It was sunny, windy, and freezing! Thank goodness I had my knitting in the car!

I made a snood... not enough for a scarf. I love those colours!

Finished!

Its been a while...

My apologies for not posting anything for a while. As a lot of you will know, my lovely girl has been having a pretty torrid time at the moment getting her NF2 problems sorted out at Wellington Hospital, and it has been a very hard time for all involved. We ( my husband and I) spent a very strange day pacing round Wellington on the day of the surgery.It was probably the longest and hardest day of  my life, we were so afraid for our girl, even when the nurses had said that there was a very low chance of not surviving the surgery (1%!)

 I wandered into Made on Marion and saw Maryanne,( who, very rightly, said that Juliet was very unlikely to look at any form of hand sewing after her surgery, and she is only now, after 3 weeks, beginning to have an interest in sewing again ... Pinky Pie cross stitch, but I am her machinist for clothing for the present..)

When we finally got the call 10 hours later that the surgery was going well, and that the ENT specialists  were now finishing up, we were so relieved, but had to wait a further 2 hours before she was finally taken to ICU and we could see her. We were able to go and see her, 2 at a time, in the ICU ward. I am amazed that so many people are wafting in and out. I am grateful to be able to see my loved ones, its just I am terrified of all the germs being trekked in and out of each ward! So many people, who are having traumatic events in their lives. I will never look at Wellington Hospital as just a big building. Lives are being helped and saved all the time.

 I think I must have aged 10 years in that one day. About a week later, Juliet said "You and Dad are looking a bit haggard".... I'm not surprised!

 Jono (her partner),  Evan, (her brother), and I spent the following week at her bedside, quietly watching her fall in and out of sleep, and helping her out with anything that she wanted.. The pain killers kept her in a state of being aware for a short time, and then spells of sleep. It was the cutest thing, when she woke up, she brightly said "Hello!" as if she was seeing us for the first time that day... then a sleep a bit later, and again the "Hello!" when she woke up. She looked great, even in her head bandages, but we took no photos, we just didn't think about it. On day 5 the bandages came off, and the lovely surgeons had been very kind and only removed a bit of hair, so there are no nasty bald patches visible at all.

 It was a very calming and healing place for all of us. I became a lot better at Sudoku that week!

And now there is a long period of recuperation. I am so glad that right now I don't have much work on the go, and we can spend the days as we wish.  What a luxury that is. Many, many thanks to all the lovely ladies of the WBSN  for the lovely presents.  What a lovely group you are.

Taking pattern making to a new level...

I trained as a pattern maker, a long time ago. Way, way back in 1977. All the things I learnt back then have lasted all these years.. decades! I went to a place called Leggats Academy of design, in Johannesburg, and did a one year course in just about everything you needed to know. Mornings only, 5 days a week. Passed with Honours! I loved every minute of the course, and then ended up in a job grading patterns, which was a very lowly thing to do. Why, oh why, didn't I reach for the stars, and not accept the first job that came my way? Why didn't I jump on the first plane to Paris?



Well, the reason for that , fellow bloggers, is LOVE. I had met a fella who I thought was fabulous, handsome, and funny, and any thoughts of moving away from him was out of the question. So much so, that when he left South Africa, to return to work off his university bursary obligations, I wanted to go with him, much to the disappointment and chagrin of my parents, who had managed to leave Zimbabwe (Rhodesia in those days) and set up a new life in South Africa. After 32 years of marriage we are still together, so I know I chose the right one.

Anyway, I digress...

I have loved my job, and where it has taken me. I ended up as a freelance pattern maker and grader for smaller factories that didn't want to employ a full time designer. Lots of styles, lots of experience. Some pretty weird things too!  I was able to continue here in New Zealand, and was fortunate to be able to teach
 a bit at Massey.

Here's my farewell 'card' from my students... Drawn on a couple of pocket pattern pieces!

 I can't imagine how they can stretch a course to a 4 year degree, but have often thought it would be fun to find out and get that piece of paper saying I have a degree in Design.

I did attempt to retrain myself in computer pattern making while I was at Massey in 2000. Lectra, or Gerber, I can't remember. I absolutely hated it. That was an amazing epiphany, after grading for so long, being responsible for hundreds of trees being chopped down and made into cardboard so we could make these big unwieldy patterns, I thought I would really welcome a newer, cleaner, efficient way to produce patterns and clothing. But no, it was really horrible. Cold, and calculating, no excitement whizzing my pencil along a piece of paper, no soul.

So I went back to hand making patterns, and for a while I lost interest in clothing altogether and tried other ways of making money.

But now I'm back! When my lovely daughter Juliet http://crazygypsychronicles.blogspot.co.nz got involved with sewing, and blogging, she dragged me back to what I love doing most. Through learning about all you lovely sewist bloggers out there, and all the exciting indie pattern companies, I'm preparing myself for pattern making in this century, I've been given the opportunity to learn another CAD pattern making program, Optitexhttp://www.optitex.com/en/products/main_modules/pattern_design.

A whole new way of making things. 3D imaging to see how a garment will look. I'm enjoying the opportunity, but a sneaking feeling comes over me when I see the 3D 'avatar'.

 She has no soul.

However, when I look at a lot of real life models, standing in clothes in such a gawky way, not smiling, being clothes hangers for clothes nobody would like to buy anyway, where is their soul? Are they trying to be that same digital avatar? For instance, have a look athttp://www.twentysevennames.co.nz/client/projects/2011-06-01_00331550570995. Sad, very sad.

Compare that to lovely blogs of real people, in real clothes, who loved making their creations.  Smiling!

I'll take that anyday!

Teaching at Chalkle.... Flops and successes

This has been a very interesting month. I have met some really lovely ladies, teaching how to use Pinterest at our local library. I also me the 'Friends of the Library" and gave a talk on  Pinterest and the classes I hope to teach in the future. However, attendances haven't been what any of us have expected, and I'm scraping through financially. Teething pains. A new system in a new town. It will get better. I hope so, anyway...

My first class

But the ladies I have met! Awesome! Fantastic people with so many skills! That has been the best of all.  This is a small town, and you kind of think you know everyone, and then you meet people with such interesting hobbies. I have lugged my suitcase full of things I have attempted from Pinterest to the classes each Friday, and now things that have been made by others are coming through.

 Sadly, the last week, all I could show them was a bunch of flops, things I had tried and they just didn't work out very well.I have a memory of clotted cream when I was a child on holiday in England.  Thick, creamy, crusty toppings for scones. 

This is what it should look like- mine was so shameful I didn't want to photograph it!

I HAD to try it, so went out to a local dairy and got some (!!! Seven litres!) of unpasteurised organic milk. It was delicious, like drinking a milkshake, and I consumed too much and the next day had a rather shaky constitution. I scooped off all the cream and put it in my slowcooker for 12 hours. Pinterest posts had said 9-12 hours in the oven on 185 degrees F, but I couldn't bring myself to have the oven on that long, so opted for the slow cooker. Maybe that was what I did wrong.  I watched the temperature, but the result was a rather nasty creamy oily mess, reminiscent of rice pudding without the rice. FLOP!
As I had so much milk, I decided to make cheese too, with a kit that was given to me by my husband 2 Christmases ago and so I made Feta. But I got the temperature too high, and made a rather squeaky, rubbery block of cheese which my daughter says is Haloumi .A SORT OF A FLOP!
 And after that, the cheese kit instructions suggested I made ricotta with the whey and some extra milk. So I made that too! SUCCESS!

That night all I wanted to eat was boiled, plain vegetables.

The milk has been lovely, and today I need to go and get some more. Its fun driving down the country roads to get the milk, but I do wonder if I will keep it up.

Successes on Pinterest have been a lovely wool blanket which I knitted from some waste wool at out local knitting mill. I just love it. I was lucky to find some carded wool on  rolls in my bag of waste, which I unravelled and re-rolled and produced my big cream 'Blankie' which goes over our knees at night while we are watching television

My bag of waste wool

 I had to unravel the wool and rewind it

My knitting.. see how fat the needles are!

Here is a blouse which I attempted Ombre Dyeing. SUCCESS!

Other items I took in was the 'Toilet roll wall decoration', a picture I had managed to print onto curtain lining and paste onto a picture board, you know, the things which seem to come up again and again on Pinterest.

But I am kind of over all of it now.... time for a new Challenge. Pattern making classes start tomorrow!

create.

create. 
"As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, 
you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you"

Dieter F. Uchtdorf




 
 Tomorrow I will be holding my first Chalkle class, and its going to be about my obsession, Pinterest.
I hadn't even thought about doing a class on this topic, until I showed the convenor of the Horowhenua Chalkle classes, Kerry. She had never heard of it at all, and once I showed her what it was like, she suggested that is the class we should start off with. Sorry, I think what I have written is bad English, but its late and right now I should be tucked up in bed and not writing this blog.

I want people to be as inspired as I am about this website. I want them to find what they really love, and maybe find things that they didn't think they would love, and find themselves in the process.  Isn't that what an inspiration board is all about?

And yes, I know it can be a HUGE time waster!

 Then, if they wish, I'd just love to see them take one or 2 interesting things, no matter what they are, and be inspired themselves to make or do or learn about the topic. And if they would like to share with the rest of us, come back next week, and show us what they have learnt.

Life can get pretty tedious at times, work, eat ,sleep, and repeat the process. Lets try to break the cycle, and have a little fun!

Spots before my eyes

I am feeling dotty, 

the answer is, you see,

Today I did some cutting 

at the factory.

The designer has a fancy

for cloth of brilliant hue,

polka dots a plenty,

 in pink and white and blue.

A cute wee dress called DUSTY

was first to be laid down

Inspiration from the 60's

but the pattern made me frown....

With Polka dots abounding

My eyes had got quite sore.

Once that one was finished,

I had to cut out more!

A swinging shift called WILLOW

with big white polka dots

Chiffon which was ORANGE

My forehead was in knots!

I know that dots are trendy,

I see them every day...

On ladies on the TV

In every colourway.

I hope somebody buys them,

Styles our designer picks.

But I just don't like them,

they make me feel quite sick.

me made may

1

MAY 1ST Me made, but more like me-recycled
 The first day of May was the Chalkle launch. What does an old pattern maker wear to promote herself? I heard once that navy, red and white are good colours to wear to give an air of professionalism and  success. So, out came my old navy wool pencil skirt, originally purchased way back in 1996(!!!!) which I shortened a few years ago. In 1996 it was mid calf, and had a tight waistband, and so I had removed the waistband a while ago too.


Added to the ensemble was a felted wool jacket, also purchased a few years ago,not quite as old but it was a shapeless red block, so I have re-cut it to give it some shape. The white shirt is an opshop find, (old!)and I couldn't resist my red boots, called "kinky boots" at the last place I worked! I also had  made a wee bag to put my phone in, a few years ago I made a range of zippy bags and realised it would be good to have a small one for a phone.

Although I had my pattern stuff there, we are supposed to be starting with me teaching a Pinterest class. I thought I'd show people (who still haven't discovered Pinterest yet) how to navigate the site, and then make or do something from the things they discover, and bring it in the next week. Kind of multi craft/cooking/something else kind of class. However there's been a lot of intereest in the Pattern making class, which is good.

MAY 2ND
We had to get a load of worms ready for a home show , so the 2nd was a mucky clothes day. Jeans, and a red merino wool top (me-made) No picture!
MAY3RD

The home show in Wellington. Jill and I have a great uniform which we devised when we started up our worm business. We love green and black, our labels are a wonderful green, and the black looks amazing with it! I made all the shirts.

This is what we were wearing, but I didn't get a photo of both of us at the show, so this is a photo of us both with Jill's grandson, Patrick, at a show last year
and here's Jill showing the people at the show how to set up a worm farm. See how great the green looks? The "We've got Worms!" sign is me-made too.

MAY 4TH

Whew! Saturday! Horse riding!

I had arranged a ride with Tanya, a lady who works at the same place as my husband. She is yearning for a ride on the beach, so she first had to show us that she could ride OK. So today the dress was, Jodhpurs (me-made !) t shirt (not me-made). It was supposed to be dreadful weather , but it was fabulous. We had a nice ride up the hill, but I didn't take the camera. And in the afternoon, I hit the garden and didn't bother to change, hell I was dirty already, why muck up more clothes?

MAY 5TH

Sunday

A flop around the house morning, and in the afternoon I went to see my daughter Juliet. I wore an Ombre Broderie Anglais shirt (me-dyed) and jeans. I love the way the fabric dyed, and the anglaise thread didn't. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show up the ombre very well. It was my first attempt at ombre dying.

MAY 6TH
MONDAY. Ugh. the weather was a bit changeable, but not as bad as other places where the rain came pounding down and trees fell, and there was flooding. I had to do some cutting at the factory. Jeans and a  green merino/nylon top I made about 6 months ago for Levana. Luckily I got to keep the sample! but then the wind came up,  and it was so cold, I ended up wearing a polar fleece Swazi sample I found under the cutting table. Very toasty and , well,... UGLY!I still find it amazing that the same chemical that makes a coke bottle, can produce a lovely soft and warm fabric. Sorry all you fabric purists out there...

Have you heard of Chalkle?

Our wonderful new library and community centre, Te Takere www.tetakere.org.nz/  in Levin, has started a new community teaching concept called chalkle°   Originally started 7 months ago in Wellington, it is community education , but different to the past community education system, which was dissolved in a lot of areas by the present government. I really miss my cooking class that was held every week at the local school, where we made Mediterranean food, and then sat down and had a feast.

Silvia Zuur and Linc Gasking from Enspiral 

have teamed up to create chalkle°. Sylvia was at the launch tonight and explained how they sat down over a cup of coffee and were discussing the demise of community education, and , after quite a few cups of coffee, the concept of chalkle° was born. It has been running in Wellington for 7 months, and is doing very well. 

Levin is the second centre to start the chalkle° classes.The interesting thing is, anyone who feels that they would like to teach a class, on any topic, can join chalkle° , suggest a class, the amount they want to charge, and the days they would like to do it. The coordinator for chalkle° then puts it on the website and away you go!

I happened to hear about the project whan I went to the library and asked if they rented out rooms as I was keen to do pattern making classes. They whipped me in and are very keen for me to do pattern making classes. However, one day before the launch, I happened to say to Kerry, the coordinator, "do you know about pinterest?" She had never seen it before, and before I knew it, was asked to do a class on Pinterest. For a rather slow computer user, but luckily having a big mouth and a lot of enthusiasm, I am going to introduce people to Pinterest, and each week we will actually do or make something we see on the site. I do hope it works... it could be quite fun if I get the right people with the right attitude to come to the class.

And the pattern making? That class will pull in quite a few people I think, but has been postponed till next month.

If you are in Wellington, or the Horowhenua, look up chalkle°. Community education here we come!