Retreat news continued….

I thought I better finish this report before I get busy today, lots to do cleaning up and finishing the quilt on the machine. There a still a few girls across the road, who will be leaving this morning, after another fantastic weekend. There has been so much laughter, and “learning” happening over there. I could tell some great stories, but I think that what happens at retreat, perhaps needs to stay at retreat! 
There were lots of cars parked in the driveway.

Warning, a photo overload ahead. Do hope that this will publish and I don’t lose the post! For some reason I am having trouble with the photo sizes, so it could be interesting to see how this publishes.
First up is Pat’s quilt, “Sand and the Sea”, and progress shots until the finish.

A bit of string piecing happening here.

The 16 patches all done, and getting ready to make the hourglass blocks.



And Jenny was working on “Sunburst”.

At the pressing station.

Blocks all done.

And this is the finish.
Jenny had more than her quilting gear to take home in her car. The neighbours were clearing out stuff, and had put a dressing table out on the footpath for someone to take. And it went home in Jenny’s car, for her to restore. We did have to dismantle it slightly.
Di’s quilt, “Cranberry Squares” went together fairly quickly.



The centre is stitched together, ready to do the borders. Just as well she made good progress on Saturday, because not long after this she had a phone call and had to leave us and go home.
The work tables all quiet, while the girls were having lunch.

Jean brought her blue thread, but ended up using the cream to sew “Blue Diamonds”.













Jean made good progress and had her blocks all made, and was going to continue when she went home, but we cracked the whip, encouraged her to keep going and put her centre together last night!

And this is what happens, when you try to work too fast, and “whoopsie”, there are a couple of pieces stitched in the wrong direction! Moral of the story, don’t let anyone tell you to keep going and hurry the process! But it is looking good, and can’t wait to see the borders.
Moya had a few machine issues, which slowed her down. Not long after this I brought one of my machines over for her to use. Val was offering assistance.


Moya’s quilt was called “Irish Crossings”, because it was green and that’s all I could think of when it came to naming it. But I did not realise until Moya showed me, that some of the fabrics actually had shamrocks on them!! So it was well named after all.

This is how much progress was made, until Moya called it a day as her back was not good.

And here she is getting the treatment from Pat for her back.

Alison joined us after driving 4 1/2 hours from Bendigo, and her quilt was called “They all add up”. She was getting text messages from her daughter after she sent a photo to her of what she was sewing. One of the messages said… It was a plus that you went then, and there were a few other very appropriate comments that I can’t remember now.
This quilt was designed by a friend in the US, whose blog I read. She posted about her quilt here, http://strawberrypatchquiltworks.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/off-to-good-start.html. Debbie gave me permission to use her pattern, which I renamed. 
Alison has a longarm machine like mine, and also has a patchwork shop called Canterbury Quilts. A lot of the fabrics that were used in this quilt were purchased from www.canterburyquilts.com.au.

Ready to sew the borders on, and they were even mitred.

Alison was pretty happy with this quilt.

All packed and ready to leave on Sunday afternoon!

Val made “Popcicle Summer”, which was a pattern and fabric that I purchased from Craftsy. I changed the pattern a bit, and cut the fabrics ready for someone to start sewing. After teasing Moya that Irish Crossings, might have some orange and not green, it was Val who ended up sewing orange!




The end result, which is now at my house to be quilted. I love the lime border.

Jocelyn was the quiet achiever in the corner, steadily sewing “Dancing Daisies”, which was mainly thirties prints with a blue daisy border, and white background.





We have 2 ironing boards for the girls to use, and one of these is in the walk in robe off the first bedroom. Sometimes there is a bit of a queue for pressing, and here Robyn was making good use of her waiting time and resting on the bed! There are always lots of jokes about being in the “closet”, and “coming out” of the closet!

This is Robyn’s quilt in progress, called “Rustic Roses”.

There is a few blocks of applique to do on this one. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

And Robyn all packed up and ready to go home.

This is Pauline’s quilt, “Apricot Delight”.


And all ready now for the 2 borders to be sewn on.

And this is how i left the girls last night, when they had changed into something more comfortable, drinks in hand, and ready to sit in front of the tele and finish the custard slice!

That’s all folks, I better get busy and do some work.
Be back soon with more quilting photos.
Blessings, From Jude