In the Pink Retreat report......

This post was supposed to happen yesterday, and I went through the photos and exported those I wanted to post, but that is as far as it went! 

The city contingent left yesterday morning after another successful weekend. The weekends are always such fun with lots of laughter, and sharing of life stories, and this was no exception. I have to say that this was one of the "noisiest", (in a good way), with the level of chatter at a high. There were so many conversations happening, that it was hard to know which one to go with!  It rained most of Saturday, but it did not matter, and if we had not been sitting by the front window with the blinds open, we would not have known. It was toasty warm in the house, with the wood fire burning.

 Some ladies have been through some hard times recently, and said that the weekend had been good therapy for them and one said how "normal" it made her feel again. A comment in the guest book, said "Thankyou, I feel pink again"! Another said "so much love and laughter, this weekend really keeps us "in the pink"!"

I would like to thank those who came, those who visited, the ones who donated to the auctions, or made pink goodies to eat, or bought raffle tickets or helped in any other way. You all helped contribute to the weekend. Life has been fairly full lately, and therefore I had not sold as many raffle tickets as usual, and the auction was smaller, but still a total of $570 was raised for BCNA. So thankyou to everyone.

I need to say a special thankyou to Helen, who made the following items for the girls attending. They received special decorated pincushions to sit beside their machines. A very creative use of old things from the "op shop"! 

And also wrist pin cushions as well, that the girls all proudly wore. One lady even had it on her wrist as she left on Monday morning in the car!

The auctions were a lot of fun, and it was great to watch the faces of the girls when they checked out what they had bidded on, because some of the items were a "mystery", or had extra little things inside.

 Pat acted as auctioneer on Saturday afternoon, just before she left to attend a wedding. Here she is displaying a scarf to be sold, and asking for a bid.

I was in the next room, and Max was quilting a quilt, when I realised that the "noise" was not there, and this is what I found. A mass exodus, and only 2 stayers, as the others had gone for nanna naps!

There was no project for the weekend, and everyone was working on their own things. One was hand quilting,

..................another was knitting,

........some sashiko,

.................some paper piecing,

......and some needleturn applique,

.................were all being done one the first table.

The other table were the "working at the machine" girls.

An "eye spy" baby quilt in progress,

some hundreds of  "left over" half square triangles being made into blocks,

some flannel baby quilts being made,

and a binding being sewn on.

Of course there was lots of pink happening, as you can see in the following photos!

We had pink mashed potato,

........and some pink drink too.

SOMEONE used my camera, when I was not looking! (And you may notice that I took time last week to visit the hairdresser, and there is not a grey hair in sight!!)

Sunday afternoon, we had a special devonshire afternoon tea to finish the weekend. It is a chance for my grandma's cup, saucers and plates to have an airing. I have decided that a cuppa tastes much nicer in a fine bone china cup. We should do it more often. It was also a special occasion to celebrate the birthday of one of the girls, so a cake was decorated.

The candles were lit, and Pat was told not to blow on them, she needed to fan them out! So she picked up the bread and butter plate and used that! (I don't know how we all survived with all those years of blowing out the candles, and I can't recall anyone getting sick!)

We drew the winner of the raffle quilt, and Jean (who says she never wins anything!) was a very happy lady.

One lady organised a "pass the parcel" for the weekend, and each person received a pink chocolate, until the end and this was the "prize" at the end!!????? I won't say anymore, but ?????

Raelene phoned me a few weeks ago, to see if I would quilt a quilt for her while she was here for the weekend. Well, actually she asked if Max would quilt her quilt! (And most of you know that Max is the name for my quilting machine). In the conversation I made the comment that Max was almost 10 years old. Raelene is a bit of a poet, and made up the following poem which she read out to us all. I hope you can read it, you may need to click on the photo to enlarge it. Thankyou Raelene.

 (The gift for Max was a can of WD40)!

And this is the quilt that Max finished for her.

And of course we had to have a group photo for the wall. There were quite a few taken, and this was the best of them all. It is so hard to get your "children" to behave for a photo.

The house is quiet, the beds are all remade, a cleanup has been done, and the washing is done.

So once again, thankyou to all for another great weekend.

It's time to get back to the machine (Max), and finish the quilt that is on. I did turn him on yesterday, with good intentions, but "lost" almost 2 hours sometime in the afternoon!!??

Not long now until the next retreat, in less than 2 weeks, when another group will gather for the next Pick a Case Mystery retreat. So lots to do to finish some more cases, and a few quilts to quilt.

Blessings, From Jude