Retreat & Quilt Show

After a bit of a hiccup I made it to our annual retreat for Toowoomba Quilters Club. 

Me, Vicky and Marleen.
It starts on the Friday afternoon around 4.30 but yours truly was in bed all day Friday after just recovering from a vomiting bug during Thursday night, quickly followed up by a migraine.  Yukko.
Not to be beaten, I thought I would get up really early Saturday morning and head out to the retreat.  it was not to be.  Still had the migraine at 5.00am so went back to bed and nursed it til around 9.00.  Then I was well enough to go – can’t keep a determined quilter down!!
Alas, the sewing planned did not get done, but I did do a little bit of wool embroidery and a little bit of zentangle to keep my mind off the fact that I was still nauseous and unwell.
At retreat we had a Christmas swap at Saturday lunch and I was lucky enough to win these very cute owls made by Vicki W.  They kept going missing over the next 24 hours and I would find them scattered randomly about the room. 

Aren’t they just sooooo cute.  Mamma and her three babies.
On Wednesday our quilt group took a bus down to Brisbane to Quilt and Craft Show.  It was a hoot (sorry for the pun).
It was one of the best organized trips I have ever been on with our quilt club.  Organized by the beautiful Ineke, we had a pit stop at Goodna where we had a lovely cup of tea/coffee and cake and bikkies and then on to the show.  Our tickets and other information was already attended to and we walked straight in and spent a wonderful day exploring the show.Here are just some of the goodies I bought.

Some arty farty stuff – coloured lutradur, batik fabric I had to have, colourful sari silk stirps and a rubbing plate.  Some washi tape which I don’t know what for, some daisy braid, angelina fibres (also bought a copper shade) and a micron pen for zentangle.
There was a bit more too, and I spent waaaaay too much but had a lovely day.  It was good to catch up with some friends at the show who aren’t in the group, and I even caught up with Mary, a crafting friend, from Rainbow Beach.
The winning quilts at the Queensland Quilt show can be seen here.
Blogger –  The verification on blogger these days is a pest.  It is hard for people to read and deters people from commenting, so I turned it off.  Alas, now I am being bombarded with spam and silly anonymous emails so I will have to  put it back on, sorry.  Just wish blogger would make the verification process easier.

A catch up week–12 Stitches in a Pot

Over on TAST last week Sharon announced a catch up week for people to get a chance to finish off some of their samples from the past 12 weeks.  She put out a mini challenge for those people who still wanted to stitch something. 
I read it wrong and thought we had to come up with something for the whole 12 stitches, but you could use just 3 – 6 of the stitches in your piece.  Oh well, it was extra challenging!  The process of designing something took about 5 days which left me just 2 to stitch   There was, of course, much deliberation and changing of mind before I got to the point of producing my “12 Stitches in a Pot”


Actually, for one of the few times, it turned out almost exactly as I drew up in my sketch book.

Also during this catch up week I managed to finish a UFO.  About 18 months ago I decided I had to do something with all the I Spy fabrics I had sitting in the cupboard and decided on these hand pieced hexagons.  ???/#@#%^ 
I got quite fed up with it in the end and decided to put all the hexagons together and see if I had enough for a small child’s quilt  Yep – I did – so then I was ready for a quick painless finish.
Hopped onto my new princess Pfaff and did a fancy herringbone type stitch to join them all up.  It was a breeze.

Front and back – Sorry about the bad photo but geesh it is bright.  Kids like bright right?
It will go into the cupboard in the expectation that some day another grand child will come along.  Lilian already has her own I Spy quilt which she loves.
Like on the radio, I am now going to send a cheerio call.

Hello to ‘Aunty Nellie’ who I believe pops in and reads my little blog now and again.  Nellie is married to my dear friend Yvonne’s uncle and I met her at quilt retreat.  Hope you are well and still producing your wonderful embroidery etc.Nellie.  Hugs.

Retreating

Have caught up on sleep now after the annual Toowoomba Quilters retreat and feel up to posting a little. Sleep was a little hard to come by, cold cabins, hard bunks, squeeky doors and noisy neighbours (possumns), so it was great to come home to a warm house and warm bed.

Food at camp this year was superb, and all the ladies bring along homemade treats for in betweens with our coffee. mmmm. I think I put on a couple of kilos in two days!!

I continued work on the long-term crazy patch project, and I am all inspired now to get to the finishing post. My mentor on the project, Robyn Ginn was at the retreat and she is always inspiring. Over the next few posts, I will endeavour to take a decent photo of my crazy patch blocks I have done so far, and show and tell all.

Alas, I did not win the Canberra Quilters raffle, so will have to put up with my old sewing machine for a bit longer. It desperately needs a service, and I've booked it in. The repair man comes to the house in his little van and does it on the spot, so I don't have to part with it for any length of time and suffer separation anxiety.

Here are some colours of Australia which I photographed at the retreat.

A windy quilt retreat

True to form, a biting cold Westerly wind has blown in for our quilt retreat this weekend. This is the time of year we can expect "the westerlies". Having grown up in this area, I can attest to the fact that these westerlies are yearly visitors in August/September. They traditionally herald in the beginning of the Brisbane Exhibition and get us diving for our hats, scarves and gloves. Brrrrr.

Thankfully, most of our time at quilt retreat will be inside around the "big fire" (which is now a large gas contraption due to "workplace health and safety" issues with the beautiful log fire we used to enjoy). Alas, the cabins are of a wooden variety with lots of draughty spaces and no insulation. Maybe I will sneak the electric blanket in like I did last year. Shhhhh.

I will post pictures after the weekend of where we stay, the fun we have etc. etc. Stay posted.