Biology Teacher trades it all in for a love of craft

Auckland local Stephanie Cameron fondly remembers rainy winter afternoons spent with her mother and grandmothers learning to knit and sew. It was these fond memories that inspired Stephanie to trade in her career as a Science and Biology Teacher and launch her own craft company, Cameron – James Designs, which will be one of many exhibits at this year’s New Zealand Craft & Quilt Fair, September 18 – 21 2008, Claudelands Events Centre, Hamilton.

It was Stephanie’s self-confessed ‘thing for fabric’ that motivated her to trade-in the test tubes and bunsen burners of the Science and Biology classrooms for fabrics, needles and threads. Having created more than 25 original patterns and featured in Australian Homespun Magazine, it was a gamble that paid off for this new, but accomplished, Doll Designer.

Still inspired by her favourite saying, ‘To teach is to touch someone’s life forever’, Stephanie still relieves for Science and Biology Teachers at local secondary schools and passes her craft skills onto her daughter and the community of Auckland in regular classes. In giving back to the community, the best way she knows how – through craft – Stephanie leads a group of ‘girls’ (as she fondly likes to call them) from the Eastcliff on Orakei Retirement Resort in a weekly craft class. Battling the withering eyesight of the group, whose youngest member is aged in her eighties, Stephanie teaches them new techniques to make everything from cards and pin cushions to group artworks. While some of the artworks are created to decorate the resort, the group have a ton of fun and a barrel of laughs creating bits and pieces to sell at the Resort’s Christmas fair - which raises funds for on-going craft classes and outings for the residents.

Meet Stephanie at the Craft & Quilt Fair where she will be displaying her original patterns, her kit sets and a range of finished items including her adorable new doll, Molly. Or join in on the fun and get creative with Stephanie in her one-hour class where you will learn hand-stitching and embellishing to create a gorgeous cupcake pin cushion – almost good enough to eat!

The New Zealand Craft & Quilt Fair will be bursting at the seams with demonstrations, workshops and classes, alongside a hall of traders selling the latest craft supplies including hard-to-find fabrics, threads, beads and tools. For more information about the Fair or the classes offered visit http://www.craftfair.com.au/hamilton08.php  or free call 0508 CRAFTY.


Where & When: Claudelands Events Centre, Hamilton, New Zealand
Thursday, September 18 – Sunday, September 21, 2008
Open: 9:30am – 4:30pm daily
Tickets: Tickets: Adults: $13, Senior Citizens: $12, Children (5-16yrs): $7, Children (under 5yrs): FREE, Family (2A + 3C): $36.