What a blast it has been!!!!!!

I am back for a full report of our Pick a case Mystery Retreat. As posted before, the ladies arrived during Friday afternoon, and we shared some nibbles at a "getting to know each other" time. We welcomed some new faces this time, including Joy and her friend Yvonne. Susan, Raelene and Bev have been here for other retreats, but this was their first mystery. (Susan and Joy have blogs that I read and if you click on their names it will take you there). The blog world is amazing, and it is great to finally meet a blogging friend. 

We always have an "allocation" process for the mystery quilts, and this time we tried something a bit different. Bingo was the order of the day, and I found some Bingo sheets on the internet. I had planned that we would just pull numbers out of a bowl, and call them out, but I was excited a few days earlier to find out that one of the retreaters, had access to a real bingo ball cage!! I am now "in the market" to purchase one for myself for future mystery retreats as it's the best allocation process we have had yet!!)

Pat joined us for the weekend, as she had helped out so much with the designs of the quilts, but was not making a quilt, so volunteered to be the caller. Here she is in action.

All eyes were on their sheets, and crossing out the numbers..........

It was such a lot of fun............

Some crossed out a few numbers quickly........

Others were so worried about not getting her numbers crossed out, that she kept looking around to watch Pat..........

and then she missed hearing number 9 being called out!!

Gradually the numbers came out.....

Joy and Yvonne called out Bingo together, and they got to choose a laminated card from the coffee table. But they still did not know what they picked as they were upside down. Finally Raelene managed to get her numbers, and was hoping she was getting an easy project. (This was her first Mystery retreat, although she has been here for other retreats, but only on weekends that were "easy" without a project. She was feeling a bit stressed in case she picked up a difficult quilt.)

These are the cards of the quilts that the girls chose.

After they chose, they all looked at their cards, and had the opportunity to swap with each other if they weren't happy. And then it was time to get their case from out of the high pile.

As soon as the evening meal was finished they were at their machines, and were away.

 We had 2 pressing stations, and sometimes their was a queue.

And the cutting table was well used.

A few action and progress photos to follow........and sorry they are in no order, ......

Periodically they were called to eat, and there was a short time of silence, .........

and then after they were fed and watered, it was back to action again.

Some chatted and talked more than the others, some were speedy, and some more leisurely, ....

Raelene's progress..... the blocks........

the sashings.........

the centre of her top........

 Now she thinks she is nearly finished, and pressure is off!!?? But then she opens the next bag, and what do we have here? Lots of rectangles, to make a border!! Maybe a finish is not so close? And on further investigation, she discovered there were 5 different borders to do!

 We had a few local girls visiting over the last few days, and here Susan is proudly showing Marie her first row. Susan came for days, and stayed with her husband at the caravan park. So she did not get as much sewing time as the others. And she left us on Monday morning, so I am waiting for a progress photo of when she finishes her quilt.

An injured hand did not slow Joy down, as she finished her quilt, and then started on another little case later.

Jean came with an apron, so that she did not get threads all over her clothes,..........

but forgot to put it on until after she got threads on her!!

Susan brought some quilts for show and tell.

Bev felt like she was making progress, when she started to put her 9 patches together into a block.

This is dedication plus, when you sew at night in your night wear!

Sunday morning, Pat made us pancakes for brekkie, which were delicious.

There was lots of sewing, and eating, and chatting, and they had their food delivered to the table, and the dishes were put in the dishwasher. And you can see that they did not even have to make their beds, just pull up the quilts.

The liquids were various.........

 Some enjoyed their lunch outside in the only patch of sun they could find.

The start of Joy's second quilt......

 I came out for brekkie this morning, and found one of the 3 little pigs having a cuppa!

And here is our group photo, taken by Susan's husband before they left this morning, to return home to Warrigul.

And the following are the photos of the finished quilts, and don't they look fantastic.

These were the last 2 standing, (sitting?)  to finish their quilts.

Alison finished her quilt quickly, and purchased some Spiderman fabric from the local shop, and made another quilt, for a family member. And then it was loaded on to Max, and as she also has a Statler, she quilted it with a spider web pattern.

Relaxation after finishing her "project".

Pat was working on some of her PHD's and this is one of them finally put together.

Pat also worked on our local group's raffle quilt, and sorry I have not photographed this yet, but it was also put onto Max to quilt. While Alison was here, we shared  a few business tips about our jobs, and one of these was how she sews the binding onto quilts with her quilting machine. So after we quilted the raffle quilt, Pat and I tried out sewing the binding on. And tonight 2 angels, (Raelene and Jean) have hand sewn the binding down. 

These are the first few rows of Joy's second quilt, and I am looking forward to getting a finished photo of this.

I think that is probably photo overload, and I was sitting in the lounge listening to the laughter, while doing my post, but the battery was down to 7% so I am back in the office, so I better hurry up before I miss anything!! It has been a fantastic time making new friends and for Pat and I to see all our creations come to life. And it sounds like they all have plans to come back again.

Time to finish and tomorrow it is clean up and washing and saying goodbye.

Blessings, From Jude