Early morning take-off on Friday, dog-tired after staying up
late during the week trying to finish my fashion design developments. I put
them all on the usb ready to work on them on my laptop - at the airport my
laptop ran out of battery in 40 mins, and I had forgotten that I only had
photoshop, not illustrator on there!! With no book, and no tablet, I thought, 'well at least I can sleep', but that just would not happen! I even hoped that a
few glasses of wine on the plane would help, but no. So I sucked it up, got out
my notes, and familiarised myself with my presentation, as I had not had a
chance to do so before.
On arrival at Perth, I ran into my chauffeur, Jennie Abbott,
in the bathroom, which was well done. She kindly drove me the hour to Mandurah
from Perth, and deposited me at the Sebel, my home for the weekend. After a
quick hello with Barb Thoms, the force behind Common Threads, I settled into my
luxurious new home - wow!! It was not just a room, but an apartment, with a
lovely view. It was only early afternoon there, and it would have been great to
have a walk around, but by now my
tiredness was getting critical, so I showered
and crawled into bed with Shaun Sheep. Alas, I was still not to sleep, but
managed to lower my heartbeat and at least rest. I was roused at one stage
hearing a voice calling out, and wandered out in a towel to find the manager
stocking my fridge with Diet Coke, fruit, yoghurt, French Brie and crackers!! Having got myself dressed and out onto the
breezy boardwalk, I alerted Barb to the fact that I was up and out, and she
came to collect me to go to the garden party organised at a lovely park. It was
lovely - lights strung up, lounge chairs and
couches spread out, live music, a food truck and a bar - my kind of
night! After a few lovely brews from the Three Rivers Brewing Company, it was
finally time to sleep.Mmmm, beeer!! |
I woke thinking 'whatthehellwasinthatbeer' and then
remembered that I had nommed some of the French brie before heading out - a
more likely culprit for the absolutely insane dreams featuring giant rabbits, blue
guinea pigs, and a meeting with Alice in Wonderland. And people still wonder
how I come up with my ideas.....
It was an early start with a meet and greet brekky with my
co-judges, and newly appointed ambassador for Common Threads, Rayne Embley, who
will be hosting the showcase in May, and who got to model this creation by Louise Wells. See the video of the day here.
Rayne Embley in Louise Wells' piece |
After a briefing from Barb outlining the theme, sections and
awards, it was on to the very serious,
very organised business of judging. Armed with
a booklet of artist statements and photos, it was at times magical as
entries glided (or stumbled) in through the darkness to reveal their
self-illumination, or tinkled through, or simply walked out to reveal
themselves in full light. After a look through the artist statement, we were
all on our feet to get out from behind the table and examine the garment in detail.
I felt sorry for the young models each time we did this - we seemed to descend
like a small swarm of locusts each time! Those designers who were there were
able to come in and speak to us after we had completed our examination and
answer any questions we had. Mostly we just provided some
feedback, as the
artist statements generally covered the story behind them and their creation. One aspect I really enjoyed was the multitude of interpretations of the overall theme, 'Illumination'. Fortunately, we judges were in accord with our scores, so there were no tricky
moments to deal with at the end of the day, which finished for me with some
lovely drinks (including this lovely passionfruit mojito) and noms at the Peninsular Hotel, just below my digs. I spent the rest of the evening preparing for
my presentation the next afternoon. Sunday dawned as yet another glorious day,
so it was back across the bay to The Dome for my wake-up coffee and a lovely
walk. I was still on Brisbane time, and was up early, so had time to kill
before checking out the markets later on, and lying on the grass in the sun listening
to live music - nice.The view from The Dome to Home |
The day was incredibly hot, and I could feel my skin frying
as I walked the short distance from the Sebel to CASM, where 'An Afternoon with
Svenja' was to take place. I was most happy to step into the air conditioning!
I enjoyed sharing my journey with the attendees, and I hope I successfully
answered most of the questions they had. I'm so passionate, I could have gone
on for hours, but many of them had to pick up their entries from the previous
day.
Monday morning dawned gorgeous once again, and I enjoyed the
sight of dolphins frolicking in the bay at very close quarters as I trotted off
for my coffee. One final catch up with
Barb, then it was time to be chauffeured (thanks again to Jennie Abott) back to
the airport, where I sneakily managed to plug myself in to the wall whilst I
had a late brunch, before boarding the plane in next to no time, and heading
home.
Tuesday I was due to hand in my design developments at TAFE,
but although I had hoped to get them done during the weekend and flights, it
had not happened, so I was able to get an extension. It was good to be able to
just work at home, but it was a solid day, which by no means completed the
designs - her are two of them, I'll probably swap the skirt from the second one into the first, and make that as an outfit. Thursday was also due date for my Magyar coat, which I had dyed, and then decided to make embellished buttons for, which entailed a very late Wednesday night! I had hoped to use the machine at college to make button holes for them, but it turns out they were too large, so I had created myself another job! A few options were explored, but I ended up doing a rouleau loop with some lace, which actually balances the buttons
better than a simple buttonhole would have. So, as usual, troubles turn into bonuses. The term has now finished, after a frantic effort to complete a terms worth of work in a few days, and completed design developments. I was a bit sad to find out that we only have one week break, which I will spend trying to finalise my second WOW entry. It's been a busy start to the year that was supposed to be a bit more relaxed! Next project - to finish my TAE qualification by early May, then off to Tokyo in June!