Another successful weekend retreat

 

It’s time to report in about the weekend, before I get back into the usual routine. The washing is almost done, the house is partly tidied and all my “stuff” has come back across the road. This morning I am doing admin and catching up on a few jobs that were left from last week. I was in bed really early last night after a big weekend.

There were a few close to finishing, with only borders to add, and one totally finished, and even quilted!

Sherrel made good progress, and here you can see she is working on the flying geese units.

Some of her finished blocks waiting to be put into rows, which were all on the diagonal of the quilt.

All her sashing rows and block rows, ready to be sewn together.

The centre of the quilt completed, and now waiting for borders. There are 3 borders, which she will sew as one, and then mitre the corners. Sorry that the photographer was not very good at centring the quilt!

And Lyn’s Turkish Delight was a slow journey. All the (120 of them,) little 2” four patch units took quite a long time to make. Here is one block put together.

Lyn spent a lot of time bonding with the iron!

Here is the finished pile of Block 1. There are 4 different blocks to make for this quilt. She had quite a few of the blocks done, but no rows sewn together, so sorry a photo will have to wait. All of the tedious work has been done now, so the rest should come together quickly, when she gets time to finish. Then I hope that she will feel the “delight”! At the last Mystery retreat, it was Lyn who went home with a finished quilt top.

Erica’s quilt is close to being finished. The centre was quick, but there are quite a few borders.

The first and second borders are on.

Progress on the check border, taken at the end of the weekend. So a finish is close.

And a very happy Rosie held up her blocks each time she finished one. Rosie has done a lot of sewing, and made some smaller patchwork items, but never finished a whole quilt. So she was just ecstatic with her progress.

A lovely pile of her blocks under the table.

The blocks laid out on the bed. There are hearts being appliqued on the light part of this quilt, and I am sorry I did not take a photo as she was doing them. Now she has finished that, the blocks can be sewn together and then it is just the borders to go.

This is the smile that was on Rosie’s face all weekend. It was great to see her enthusiasm for making a quilt.

Helen made good progress and had a nice pile of blocks.

This is her quilt with the first of 3 borders added.

Pat was the speedy lady for the weekend, and did not take long to have her rows of blocks put together.

A little massage therapy by Gayle, that helped the shoulders. It is usually Pat who is giving the massages at retreats.

The borders have been added and the corners are being mitred.

The finished quilt, which was later quilted. Sorry the quilter forgot to take a photo before the quilt went home. Hopefully Pat will bring it back when it has been bound. We are pretty happy about the way this one turned out.

Gayle made good progress after she finally finished her 144 half squares triangles

She managed to get the centre of her quilt completed, and I look forward to seeing her borders, (and there are a few!), added soon.

We had lots of visitors during the weekend. On Saturday Marie came to check out the progress, and as her husband was playing golf, she stayed to have lunch with us.  And Helen called in a few times over the 3 days also. On Sunday my brother and his wife called in and had lunch at The Sanctuary. They were on their way home after a trip to the Grampians and Ballarat. And on Monday we had a visit from Faye and her husband Kym, who were on there way to Naracoorte. You can see their “rig”, which almost took up the whole road!

Time for an inspection. Faye, it looks wonderful, and we hope you have many happy travels together in your retirement.

Kym found a cosy seat by the fire, while Faye checked out everyone’s progress

Faye took the group photo, that was taken before lunch as the Melbourne contingent had to leave soon after.

And here are Gayle and Lyn, leaving with their little cases.

And then later in the afternoon, it was time for Rosie, Pat, Erica, Sherrel and Helen to pack up and leave.

So that’s another great weekend at The Sanctuary. Thankyou girls for coming, and we missed the girls from Adelaide who could not make it. But we look forward to seeing you, Jean and Moya at the next one.

The next “Pick a Case” Mystery retreat will be held from Friday August 21- Sunday August 23. I have a few names already, and would love to hear from anyone interested in joining us.

Time to head to the post office and send someone a birthday present, and then the last load of washing to be done, and a quilt to be loaded. Lots to catch up on.

Blessings, From Jude