At retreat...................Part 1

  It's time to fill in the gaps of my trip and tell you about the retreat. I have been trying to sort all my photos and decide how to post them, and will do this in 3 parts.

It was pretty exciting in the lead up to this trip, thinking about meeting all the girls I had 'got to know' during zoom stitching days in the last 2 or 3 years. I have to say that if there is any good to come out of the covid situation, those zoom days were definitely a positive. (Thankyou Chooky for getting these going and for all your organisation.) The zoom days have been great to learn about each other, and I think they are much better than a personal sewing day as there is only one conversation going at a time (usually) and we all hear the same things. (But I can't say there was only one conversation during the retreat, as the room was abuzz with chatter and  laughter as about 35 ladies actually met in person!!)

I will add here that there were a few husbands in the camp too. They stayed clear of the sewing room and went out each day touring the local area. 

INTRODUCING THE 7 INTERNATIONAL RETREATERS......

                             Meet Sylvia, (https://flickenstichlerei.blogspot.com/) from Germany. Sylvia's husband had travelled with her and they are now touring south of Sydney before heading home.

Sylvia was working on the most amazing handstitched applique........ 

      Just look at the detail!!! (I just can't comprehend the minute work in this..... and as you might all know, it's not on my bucket list anytime soon.........give me a machine and I'm happy). Although I do agree that hand work is much more portable than machines, and if you are travelling from overseas, or even locally, it is much easier to bring a project.

 and Deana (http://dreamworthyquilts.blogspot.com/) from the USA................

Deana was very busy each day and one of her projects was this zipped bag.....using some of the fabric that she purchased from my sale table of fabric packs.

and here it's nearly finished and we were all adding our signatures to it............

and Tracee, Deana's sister travelled with her, and while we had not met her on zoom, we soon got to know her too. Deana and Tracee visited New Zealand prior to landing in Australia.

Here are Tracee and Deana with Susan, who is a Queensland girl.

and Chris  (http://holycowchris.blogspot.com/) came from Canada with her husband..............they had flown into Adelaide to visit with friends before going to Scrub Stitching and I was very tempted to drive there to meet up with her, but life got rather busy and it was another more than 3 hour drive, so I waited until retreat to meet her. Chris also does a lot of hand stitching projects..................

.....and I photographed 2 of her blocks....and then we noticed that one of the sections was not quite right...........

.......................so this looks better.

                

                                      

Chris and her hubby travelled to Sydney after Scrub Stitching where he was judging cattle at the Sydney show.

              and  Raewyn from New Zealand  http://stitchingfarmgirl.blogspot.com/, here with Chris

                                        

Raewyn was stitching an applecore quilt for a start, and I thought I had a pic, but can't see it. But if you click onto Raewyn's blog link above you can see a photo of that. Here she is using the design wall for her next project..............

                                         

  and Lou ( https://loulee1.blogspot.com/), also from New Zealand, worked steadily on her project, this anchor quilt...............there are lots of little pieces in the anchor................

..until there was a Ta Daa moment..........

....and here is Lou chatting with Raylene. Lou's husband, Tony travelled from New Zealand with her.

 and last (but not least), Gail, (https://gailhickamfines.blogspot.com/) also from the USA. She is here for 6 weeks, and has toured Tasmania, Sydney and Cairns before coming to Scrub Stitching, and is currently at Chooky's house working out where to go next. I love this method of using up all those little itty bits, by piecing them together and then cutting the tumbler shape and making use of them in projects like this........

....and this bag!!

It was fun listening to the overseas girls talk about their thoughts on Australia. I think they were mostly all positive, and hopefully they will come back one day. 

(As an aside it is 5 years this week since I travelled to the US with Aussie Quilters Abroad.)

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Now I'll add a few other pics taken during the 3 days of retreat. I will do separate posts of the special dinner night, and the show and tell session.

This is Chooky with the overseas contingent..................

.and then I decided to have a pic with them too.

Before I go any further, I think perhaps a photo of the organising lady should be added. Introducing Chooky, (https://chookyblue.blogspot.com/) also known as Chookyblue, or Donna.

I have got to know this lady in the last few years through our blogs, and then the zoom sesssions, and had many phonecalls with her, but it was very special moment to finally meet in person!! 

This is the room all set, ready for the influx of quilters....tables in the fore for us to eat meals at.. and the goody bags all set on the tables where we were to sew. (Photo credit - Chooky)

..........and it wasn't long before we had taken over the room......... plenty of room for lots of quilters and still tables for meals. A great space indeed.

Amongst the goodies included in those bags was this lovely stitchery bag, designed especially for Scrub stitching participants.......

.....as well as this collection of choccies, and some other goodies.

Now you all know that I am not 'into' embroidery, but I do like the bag. I have come to an agreement with Pat, who will do my stitching for me, I will sew the bag, and she is happy to take the choccies from my bag in exchange. I reckon that's a good deal, don't you??

(Some of the photos below are mine, some have been 'borrowed' from the group page, and I thank anyone whose pics I have used, as I can't remember who belongs to which one)

........it's always good to be prepared!!!

                                     

This is the official group photo, taken on Friday. I think you can see most of us, there were a lot to fit in the photo.

I loved what this Tshirt said!!, So appropriate!!

Raylene came prepared with a few quilts to hand sew the binding of. This meant we did not need to fit another machine in the car.

Her position did not change much over the few days.... one quilt after another.....

....but she did head outside to the cabin verandah one afternoon with another binding and is seen here chatting with a husband!!

Raylene makes fidget muffs for elderly people and is showing one here........

.and later gave a lesson to a couple of ladies wanting to know more about them.

Pat started her day by sewing together this quilt. This was a Moda Love free quilt pattern that we were given to sew if we wanted another project.

.and then proceeded to sew up lots of leftover bits from 2 different quilts to make a cot quilt.

Then she was onto stitching up some more scrap pieces.

I started out by sewing some Disappearing 4 patch blocks..............

...and made 2 rows before deciding I needed more space to lay them out first, so they are waiting at home now............

Then it was onto the Moda Love quilt, made with a Layer Cake. I had prepped the pattern layout at home and knew which colours were going into what space. I had to make the half square triangle blocks and then made each quarter of the quilt before sewing the 4 sections together. 

Last month I had made one of these scrappy star blocks at home, and prepped enough bits for 3 more blocks, so that was the next job. I made 2 blocks and started on the third, before coming to a halt and looking for another project. I had another D4P quilt cut ready and sewed the 4 patches ready to cut, and then called it a day. After 2 days of stitching including a late night session, by Saturday I was a tad tired and mostly sat around chatting and watching the world go by.

                           Perhaps it's time to finish this post here, but will be back with more soon.

Blessings, From Jude