Textile arts, coffee and piano staircase

Click on picture to see enlarged.
from w,
Yesterday I took the train up to Melbourne and tram to mingle with the thousands of keen fabric craftsmen and women and it was really crowded at the Exhibition Buildings. Some of the quilts were stunning, but again I query the commercialisation of this craft as surely it used to be about recycling the oddments in the household, not buying brand new cloth. Many of the techniques were new to me but the results were amazing. Some people were taking photos although there was one notice not to put your pictures on the internet of certain ones which were part of a postcard series. Okay. I like the ones that had a story which was more interesting than beautiful decoration and enormous about of time commitment. Here are a few pictures. One recycled old lace doylies. Now that is a good way to use Grandma's needlecraft work!The exhibit from India involved Hemant demonstrating the printing of woodblocks by hand, inking in three colours to make pictures of an elephant. Having to hit the woodblock very hard each time. Some of the fabrics on sale looked lovely but I didn't buy any even though they were part of Fair Trade which means ethical pay conditions etc. for the workers.

On the way home, back at Southern Cross railway station, I saw the musical staircase and jumped up and down on the 'notes'. One girl came up to me and said, 'If you are frightened of the stairs, why don't you use the escalator?' I laughed at that as I really was trying to play 'Frere Jacque'!. Some girls with a guitar were trying to play a tune and the designer of the musical staircase sat up the top with a computer. This project was inspired no doubt from a similar thing in Sweden.By the time I got home to Geelong I was footsore and weary - Melbourne city pavements and traipsing around an exhibition ain't what they used to be!