Fabric, Beading, Quilting in Orvieto

Australia’s Lisa Walton led a workshop for us at the end of September producing some beautiful dyed fabrics, beaded scarves and more. At the same time a Discover Orvieto group was out exploring the food, wine, oil and culture of Orvieto. The two trips yielded a raft of memorable experiences and products.

Lisa is a gifted teacher who led her students in creating luscious fabrics they dyed themselves. What was particularly exciting was how she incorporated the fabulous and varied textures of Orvieto into their work. Tiles, patterns, textures

 

Patterns used on the dyed fabric

 

were picked up under Lisa’s skilled guidance and added to the fabric. Students left with a wonderful range of beautiful fabric and scarves they had dyed and beaded. These fabrics will be used over the coming year to make various

 

Robyn with her fabrics

 

products. As this year’s Jewel Pearce Patterson International Quilt Teacher Scholarship winner from the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Lisa will return to Houston in 2011 to display some of the products made by her

Embellished scarf made in class

students. It is exciting to know that some of these fabrics will be showing up in Houston in a year’s time.

While Lisa was with her students in class the Discover Orvieto crew was out and about town discovering the nuance of coffee, the pleasures of local meat

Coffee at Pasticerria Adriano

and cheese, and exploring the city to see why we love the medieval city form so much.

Then, the two groups joined up to discover Orvieto Classico, the wonderful local white wine, through a wine tasting, a visit to a local vineyard. and sampling

Stems are taken off the grapes before being pressed

Table set for our tasting with Orvieto in the background

wines in restaurants, and we dove underground into Etruscan caves that underlie the entire city. We also, as a group, spent a late afternoon and evening learning how to make pasta, sauces, breads, and desserts in a riotous cooking class.

Some of the group with pasta they were making

When done cooking we eat the food we have prepared!

It was a great week. We so enjoyed this mostly Australian group, especially since our daughter is in graduate school there now! We’ll have friends to visit when we go to her graduation.

We are excited that Lisa has agreed to return to teach in 2012. Her dates are set – October 23 – 29, 2012. We’ll be looking forward to more scrumptious fabrics and products, and fun on the streets of Orvieto!

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