The Call of Spring

I am sitting at my kitchen window watching the wild weather play on the water and the birds flying into the wild winds. It reminds me of how hard life seems sometimes when you feel like you are flying into the face of gale force winds and no matter how hard you flap around it’s one step ahead and six back!! The last little while has seemed that way but thankfully it seems to have passed.

Life certainly gets interesting when you get, shall we say—’a little older’. The family weddings have egun, parents and relatives are needing a little more support, and friends and relatives are passing on. Life can move very quickly sometimes. I do tend to get a little overwhelmed with it all and have to retreat to my favourite sitting and thinking place—my knitting chair. I suppose Winter also calls us to retreat and regroup before the call of Spring and high activity. I must admit I love Winter but the fingers do struggle a little with the cold. (That’s my excuse for a late update – too hard to type!) Anyway, I have found that pulling people and dates together this last quarter has been filled with challenges. I do apologise this update was meant to be out by August and now it’s September. Alas, we do have lots of great things coming up although there are still a few outstanding dates and classes that will be sent as an update. Check out the various pages of our website to find out more.

Well it is Spring, and time to clean out all those cupboards to make room for the new. Remember that they are still collecting fabric and good craft items for the fire victims so if you have lots of good quality stuff you no longer require, let us know and we will give you a contact number.

Hope to see you soon.

 

Celebrating Arts and Ideas

Hope this update finds you all fit and well. We have been extremely busy over the last few weeks and unfortunately it is always our updates that suffer! As most of you know my PC skills are not my strong point and again today as I spend hours on the phone trying to update my anti-virus program, I have been swayed from the task at hand. Alas, here I am now sitting at the PC watching the last of the sun going down over the water (obviously still avoiding writing our newsletter and other updates)!

Many of you have been in lately to look at the small exhibition we have been running during the Shire’s Peninsula Festival of Art and Ideas. This festival was a celebration of local and Victorian artists and ran between 15 and 30 May 2009. From this period, we have been holding an exhibition of works by Pamela Farmer and Carole Redlich and we also had interactive workshops. Thanks to everyone who attended.

If you are in the neighbourhood, drop in and see our amazing instore gallery! If you haven’t been and get a chance, do come and visit as some of the pieces are just astounding. A visual treat from Pamela Farmer and Carole Redlich. (And speaking of visual treats in the Arts, did you know that the Victorian College of the Arts is under a funding cloud? If you are interested please go to www.savevca.org for more information, and to sign the online petition.)

Thanks to all my wonderful friends and family members, we have given the shop a lick of paint to clean it up and it is looking really good. I must say with the girls’ work on the walls, we have taken on a new and exciting phase of becoming a small gallery as well. As many of you know, we are extending our ‘textile side’ and would love to hear from any of you who may have ideas of products you would like to see us stock. I am currently looking at a new range of beautiful threads and felt products that should be in store in the next few weeks.

Hope to see you soon

Catherine

 

Peninsula Festival of Arts & Ideas

This celebration of arts and ideas from local and Victorian artists runs between 15 and 30 May 2009. During this period we will be holding an exhibition of works by Pamela Farmer, Carole Redlich and Christine Duke. There will also be interactive workshops—see the Classes page on our website for more information.

 

We are all creative in some way

Happy New Year, hope this update finds you all fit and well and looking forward to a big and fulfilling creative year. We are feeling really happy and positive after having a holiday over Christmas. Having nearly two weeks off was pure pleasure for me and I am really grateful to Pamela and Robyn for their support in making that possible. I was hoping to get this out in the first week of February but the heatwave all but melted my brain and all I could do was make it through the day.

January was cool this year which was great for us as many of you dropped in to say hi and check out classes and groups. We even met some really lovely new customers like Alex whose beautiful painting is in our new Artists Alley (visit our website). It just shows us how much children can achieve when they are encouraged and supported. No matter how much a child might struggle with school or issues if they have a good sense of self they will work their way through life’s issues. Actually it is exactly the same for us. If we just encourage ourselves like we were little children we will not be plagued by self doubt. So many (mainly women) of our customers continually tell us they are no good or have no creativity. We just keep telling them ‘we are all creative in some way or another you just have to find what fits for you’. Sometimes it just means trying something new and see how it feels. You never know what might happen. We will be offering many new groups and classes over the year so hopefully there will be something for all.

We will also be continuing with our Blue Days Group on the first Wednesday of the month. Some people have thought that it was a ‘negative’ name but, on reflection, the group has decided that they like the name and would like to keep it. It really was started as a way of making creativity accessible to all so that if people were unable to access workshops due to financial reasons, disabilities, shyness or any other reason they could come along and still participate in our little community. It is really a friendly, welcoming social group so if you have nothing happening on a Wednesday and could do with a bit of a laugh and a little company give us a call and book in.

We have been researching our product sales of the last little while and have made the decision to extend our range in the textile art and mixed media area. This is the area that we all have great passion for and we hope to become much more specialist in. This means there are some great savings to be made on many art products that we are discontinuing or reducing to make way for new textile art stock. Please let any of your artist friends know of the sale items on our website.

Take care, Catherine

 

Season’s Greetings

Thanks to all our customers who called to see if Pamela, Pat and Glenys are okay. They fortunately were in Northern India at the time of the attacks and are now home safe and well. Robyn and I have been holding the fort while Pamela was on her textile tour of India and we have put together a range of fabulous gift packs for Xmas. And to help ease the pain they are all 20% discounted!! Don’t forget you can also grab a gift voucher or design a gift pack for someone special. January class outlines will be out next week – see our website for further details.

Here’s to a Safe and Prosperous Christmas and Holiday period. Thank you to all our customers and suppliers. Don’t forget we will be closed between Xmas and New Year.

Cheers Cath, Robyn and Pamela

 

There are no struggles only challenges

A healing doll I made for my sick friend.

Today I am sitting in the sun on my porch looking at my beloved sea through a soft mist. The cockies are still squawking the dog is sleeping and I am feeling relaxed and at peace. Not bad for a girl who was having a screaming match with the landlord and writing complaint letters to suppliers just last week! There was a moment (again) when I wondered if it was all worthwhile. The one great lesson I have learnt from being in business is the absolute need to manage your stress levels and to deal with your fears. Sometimes I really feel like I’ve lost the plot totally. But then I realise it is only when I let my stress levels get out of control that I feel this way.

I had a funny situation whereby one of my main suppliers introduced a 25% surcharge on ‘broken packs’ (minimum numbers for purchase).  As a small retailer you often operate on broken packs as you don’t have the turnover of larger or metropolitan-based shops. This would have meant many more of my items would be 25% more expensive than larger shops. We already have to buy a minimum per order to avoid delivery costs. I wailed, paced the room and raged about the unfairness of it all and wrote a very strict email (which I didn’t send). Then I sat back and wondered how I was going to survive with these increasing drains on my cash flow. I let it go and forgot about it all for the weekend. I then remembered my motto for the year (which I had obviously forgotten months ago): there are no struggles only challenges!  And so I set about to find a new way. The joke of this sorry tale is that I have rethought my buying principles and realised that there are other ways of doing things. My order decreased dramatically because I am only buying what I need not what I am being pressed to buy. And whilst I still have to pay extra postage, my cash flow is a lot healthier than it was before. So often a situation arises that feels ‘bad’ or makes us feel distressed, but if we keep working with it we can often find a way to ‘appreciate’ the lesson within. Thanks to that new policy I have been stretched to find other suppliers and other methods that have worked to my advantage. Oh yes, and after much meditation and after spending a day with my landlord – we too have found a happy medium.

So folks, the future looks a whole lot brighter this week and we expect to be bigger and brighter in the next 12 months. And yes, at this point we intend to extend our lease and stay in Pier Street. Yes it really is nearly three years since I took over the business! Things are always moving and grooving. The other major change at TA is that both Kay and Samm have moved on to bigger and better things. Kay to retirement and a life dedicated to painting and Samm to new position with Peninsula Community Health in Mornington. Well done both of you and good luck.

Take care and stay well, Cath

 

Class update

Kay's beautiful felted work

Greetings!  I promised I would update the blog when I learnt how, and here it is!  Albeit brief.  Firstly thank you to Samm who originally sorted the blog, and BLESSINGS to Helda who has just sorted me out via telephone (patience of a Saint that girl).  I am being  distracted by the sun shining and the smell of violets.   I think I need to go and play in the garden for a while.  There are still vacancies in the Intro to Felting class and Felting Mastery although these classes will now be run by Pamela Farmer.  Our dear Kay (Lipman) has decided to spend all her free time in pursuit of her painting passions. Well done Kay, and thank you for helping me for so long.  Corrie’s Beginners Embroidery is also rocking along with only 2 places left.  If you ever stared at all the buttons on your sewing machine and wondered what to do with them, this is for you.  If you are interested give us a call on 59 814 144 or go to our website for further details.  Well I’m off to play.  Cheers Cath.

 

Welcome and just a brief update on happenings…

Just a brief update on happenings here at the shop and life in general. I was in town earlier this week and lucky enough to visit the Art Deco exhibition at the Art Centre. It was truly wonderful and if you love Art Deco you must get there. The beautiful dresses and sculptures are something else. I just loved it. Also had the opportunity to visit Lumina gallery in Malvern which was also a delight.

It was the best trip to Melbourne I’ve had in a while. The weekend started with a fantastic workshop with Marilyn Townsend. The girls painted, embroidered, transferred dyes and slashed and burnt all they could get their hands on, including organza and tyvek. The results are really amazing. Marilyn is as always a wonderful and patient teacher. Then I flew up to Melbourne for the 18th birthday celebration of my beautiful niece Lana. She is the baby of the family and how confronting is it when the baby is old enough to drive herself to school? I had to sit and wonder awhile, where the years had gone. It made me reflect on where I am in life (and how I got here) and where I think I’m going. I have to admit that whilst the body is fighting the battle to stay upright against gravity, and losing that battle, the mind and heart are in a truly great place. Age brings many rewards including a greater sense of self and purpose.

With the shop I have found a great blend of lifestyle and work environment. It allows me the freedom to be who I am and live a life that honours who I am. I am surrounded by wonderful people who support me and live the dream with me, and for them I am truly grateful. As I have said before they support me even when the dream becomes a nightmare! (happens all the time). The reason I am touching on this again is that I come across so many women who are locked into situations that no longer support them, who do not yet have the support to move or change their lives. The rate of depression suffered by so many people is really overwhelming.

One of the many wonderful things that have developed from having groups and classes at the shop is watching how many women have bonded and who support each other. They have developed this bond through their creative endeavors. So if you are feeling poorly, or a little flat, reach out and get involved. Many local community houses offer low-cost groups and classes and places like ours offer a combination of groups and workshops. And if you have the time and are feeling great, take a look around and see if there are any women around you who might need a cup of tea and a little ‘knit or sew’ with you. Lumina gallery is also running a great creative program to support women with breast cancer. You buy a little pink pack with all the bits and pieces to make a small doll. The cost is $20.00 and then you make the doll and return it to them for sale in October. All proceeds go to Pink Day.

Well my fingers are freezing up now, so on that note I’ll say farewell.

Take care and cheers
Catherine