Sunday 21 May 2017

Retreat Report

Thursday this week was the Annual General Meeting of our group, and also a celebration of our 21st birthday, with a pizza tea followed by a yummy cake.
Our new secretary Michelle, is getting some guidelines from the retiring secretary Linda.


The cake was cut by our newest and member Juanita, who has also been elected to the committee.



And Friday it was time for a fantastic weekend retreat at Cockatoo Downs Farmstay for the Gum Tree Quilters and friends, and the following photos will give you a glimpse. (I did 'borrow' some photos for this blog, as some of mine were not good, and I was trying to achieve and did not take many).......Edited......(.maybe I took more than I thought!)

Friday was cold and wet, but it was cozy in the hall with the wood fire burning large logs of wood. Cockatoo Downs is situated on a farm about 14 kms south of Keith, and has a caravan park, bunkhouse accommodation and cottages, in a quiet spot off the highway. By Sunday, the sun was shining and blue sky appeared.


The little buildings that you can see on the edge of this photo are little huts, and not the bunkhouse that some girls slept in. Sorry don't have a photo of the cottages or the main hall. I had intended to walk around an take some, but time disappeared. Thanks Faye for your photos).


This is the large hall where the sewing happened, and the meals area. This was early on Saturday morning, and there is one keen worker, and a few having brekkie, and the rest ambled in like "brown's cows" in the next hour or so. The large windows let in lots of light.


One lady was pretty happy to receive a bag of scraps and here she is looking for treasure.


Delma is laying out the first blocks.


 Progress happening.


 And here is a very happy camper with a finish.


This was taken early in the weekend, and I was going to show a final pic, but this lady spent a lot of time "working the room"! Somebody thought that we said working the broom, instead of room! So each time we saw her chatting, we said she was working the broom again!


The start of another red and white quilt for Marie, who seems to enjoy using the Quick Curve Ruler, (and also loves to make red quilts).


And Pat had a charm pack and a jelly roll of the same colour fabrics, and was not sure what she was going to do with them, but did have a little sketch with an idea. 
Here we have half square triangles made and joining the jelly rolls strips.


Now Marie and Pat are both laying out their blocks and helping each other make decisions re their layouts.


Marie has a few more blocks to make and she will be able to sew the blocks together.


And Pat has made a plan, and good progress. This is laid out on her sheet, so she can lift it up and take it home all laid out.


Michelle's mum has a special birthday this year, and she made a good start with her quilt. Sorry I did not get a photo today, but she was sewing her rows together.


 Kath started a new quilt, and made good progress by finishing all the star blocks.


Mary was working on this quilt, which still has to have a piano key border, and then she turned to another quilt, making curves.


Heather finished her quilt that was started last year in the Quick Curve Ruler workshop.


Judy was very happy to get this quilt put together, as I think she said it has been around for a long time, and doesn't it look fantastic?


Jean visited for Saturday and finished some bindings, and labels for quilts.


And here is the face of concentration as Beth put the borders on this quilt, but I missed the photo opportunity, before it was put away and the next quilt was started.


Louise was also working on her curved ruler quilt, and I am not sure if she finished it or not. Today she had more blocks out, in her own design with Kaffe Fasset fabrics.







Lyn started a Bedford quilt kit and here is her progress in the corner, and you can see how bright the sun was coming in the corner windows.


Vicki worked on a lot of different projects, and came prepared with many unfinished projects to work on, as you can see in front of her table!!


Kerry is doing a William Morris quilt and we are looking forward to seeing this finished.


 Pauline is making good progress on her Patchwork of the Crosses quilt.


Helen had a lot of scraps and was not sure where she was going with this, but as you can see in the second photo, it will be a strippy quilt as you go quilt.



Rosie started this quilt in a retreat last year, and has had a change of house since then, so is very pleased to finally get the blocks put together, ready for the borders to be added soon.



 Good progress was made by Vicki, who spent a lot of time, (and glue) prepping these segments for her next quilt.


And Chris spent her weekend doing the most amazing machine quilting on this and another quilt.


There was some unpicking.


Lots of laughter and chatter.


Some fantastic meals, cooked by someone else, and cleared away by fairies too.


And some food washed down with a glass or two of red!


We took advantage of the sunshine on Saturday afternoon for a group photo, on the large log on the lawns outside the hall.


I won't go into all the details of these photos, except to say that a few years ago at one of these retreats, Faye presented the then president with a "lovely" posy of flowers! And then at another retreat, it was presented back to her, but with "embellishments"! As we expected, Faye has now presented this back to our current President, nicely presented in a shoe box, also "embellished"!



Can see the "slippers"? I am impressed with your creativity Faye!


As we expected Faye to come bearing a "gift", Pat had organised one back for her!! Here she is trying them for size.


 So here endeth my retreat report, after a great time with friends, who all share a common interest of quilting. I love to watch the interaction between the ladies, and listen to the laughter and chatter.

And in case you are waiting for a photo of what I stitched, there is none. I spent my time on the laptop, typing up quilt instructions, and cutting fabric, ready for the next Pick a Case Mystery Retreat, which is only 3 weeks away. Tomorrow I have 2 appointments in the city, and there is another quilt loaded onto Max, all ready for action on Tuesday morning.

Blessings,
From Jude

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you Judy for your up to the minute update of a wonderful weekend. Thank you to the Gumtree Quilters for all the organising. So lovely to catch up with so many and work the room or sweep the floor! Xx Lol!

Susan Smith said...

Wow, some wonderful work from a group of quilty ladies. Well done to all of them & pity you didn't have time to do something of your own instead of slaving for us at your retreat. Thanks for sharing & a big thank you for working on those cases. Take care.

Sue SA said...

Beautiful work ladies, look forward to seeing a few finishes in the months to come...or next year at retreat ;)

Michele Hill said...

So wonderful to see it all Jude especially Pat receiving her glamourous slippers…love the pay back knickers too!!….it looks like you all had a fabulous time…..sorry I couldn't be there but we're having fun in Victoria! xx

Joy from Days Filled With Joy said...

Looks like a great place to have a retreat! Everyone was very busy by the looks of it. Some wonderful projects there! xx