Show'en off, catchin' up and spreading the good times.

Well lots of showing off all the finished goodies from the weekend Retreat today, Ailsa and Fran did a 'model walk'  to show off their caddies, Fran decided that a 'sporran' wasn't what she wanted after all and put some pretty little tucks in her neck band to shorten it.

Some rather cute reversible coasters from Sues Sunday tutorial, cunning huh! they are very flat, not gonna get a glass to wobble on these beauties.

Remember Lorraine and her 'running away from home' bag?  the beautiful Log Cabin butterflies created at the Retreat?, well here is the quilt that inspired the bag, now we know why she needed such a big bag, when Lorraine said Queen size, I think she meant the 'giant economy' Queen size!!!

Sue is under that quilt,...somewhere,... helping to hold it up for the piccie....

Lorraine has used a pink Toile as the very center of her quilt, and is hand quilting the design lines to pick out the detail.

Lyn has created an 'I Spy' Quillo for her Grandie, using the disappearing 9 patch design and some left over 'I Spy' squares from previous quilts.  She was zooming off to watch him play sport after a quick cuppa, but Grandie has to wait for the Quillo......why?, well Lyn has to make a label..very important things, labels.

When Lyn got home with the backing fabric, she found it to be 2" too narrow....arrgh, what to do, well Lyn solved the problem brilliantly, she used some more of those 'I Spy' patches to put an 'I Spy' line down the back of the quilt, with a smaller line of blocks down the center of the Quillo pocket.

Sheila had a bit of a change of heart about her doggie mat for Julius, poor poor Julius, its the cold floor for you mate, after having success with the machine quilting and following lots of encouragement and advice from the girls, Sheila has decide that this should be a throw for one of the family, not a family pet...Good decision!.

 But I really wanted to show you Sheila's Jacket, now isn't that the best winter wear for the Sub-tropics?, we do get cold up here........and today was! brrrrr....


Arvo tea was a bit of a quiet affair, there had been a sumptuous Luncheon at the Cottage to celebrate the life of Silversmith Leader Irene Marshall who sadly passed away last week.

Lots of variety and some really delish slices.

Retreat Fun Continues.......

Lorraine and Cheryl have sent us some more piccies to enjoy and some lovely words from Lorraine:

"Well, what a wonderful weekend we all had.  It was really fabulous - lovely ladies, lots of gorgeous fabrics and ideas floating everywhere - and all the scrumptious food we could handle!

 Here are some more photos for you from the weekend.  The two group photos were of the tea towel swap, 

and the cute little fabric ring pin cushions Sue made for us all as gifts.  Sue also had two workshops, the hexagons workshop on Sunday was a great success.  See photos of Sheila's

coasters and my blue and white hexagons for a handbag.

It seemed every time someone had fabric pieces ready to assemble, a crowd would gather around the layout table and much discussion and swapping of designs would carry on for ages - it was such a lot of fun.  

My gorgeous Butterfly Logcabin project went well.  I made a "leaving home" bag to carry big quilts in, and it was nearly completed by the time we finished up on Sunday afternoon.

So lovely to see you and Betty up for the day on Saturday.  We all agreed we should book in again for next year!

Bye - Lorraine H.

Just how many hands does it take to finish a quilt?, a tad of help for Fran's Tesselation quilt from Sue, Andrea, Fran and Betty on the Saturday arvo.

Some of Cheryl's pics, there was a lot of conversation and envy on Saturday of Wendy's Jim Jams, now I see why, how cute are they?, and a few pooped quilters waiting to go home at end of Sunday.
Cheryl also pointed out that the only one of the group who wore a name tag, Norma, got her name changed to Sharron........Sharron? where did I get that from??  Sorry, sorry Norma, have fixed the post below.

Norma showing us some of her marvellous machine embroidery.

Some Saturday night entertainment from a pair of cheeky girls, no idea who they are, do you have a clue?!

Judy with her Australiana flimsey all assembled, some wonderful embroidery designs and work in this lovely quilt to be.

Marion has assembled her table runner top, great going for a first time go at patchwork.  Looking forward to seeing it finished.

Wow Fran!, many hands do make light work!, they even get blocks made into sandwiches....
Fran is planning on giving this lovely to one of the  Grandies.

Yvonne has her Star all sandwiched up and is right into quilting it, still deciding on wall hanging versus machine cover.

Look at how many more hand pieced blocks Jackie has now! there will be a quilt on the Show and Tell screens before we know it.

Wendy has pieced a couple of lines of her 'Thirties Twist' the colours are just gorgeous.

Retreats, what can I say, what a wonderful way to achieve a lot of work in a weekend, inspiration from those around you, laughter and play. 

Gotta go now, gotta go sew......and sew...

Our First Retreat.

Betty and I popped up to visit the girls on Retreat on Saturday, this is part of the lovely gardens the Convention Center is nestled in.

After a bit of a false start (o.k., got lost, just a little) we found them in one of the large conference/workrooms.  Great light and lots of room to spread out.

'Cause we were a tad late, there was a bit of a hurry along to get to Morning Tea, these girls had only had breakfast a mere couple of hours ago and were anxious not to miss out, so a walk through the gardens, over to the Dining Room for some delish fruit scones with mountains of fresh chantilly cream and strawberry jam,

The cream came in a Bai Marie tray, mountains of it, of course most ladies managed beautifully, but all that cream and jam was a bit of a challenge for the odd one or two..........(odd as in number...not, well you know, not odd..really)

there was a bit of cream threatening to slide and decorate the verandah, but we scooped it up and stuffed it in the gob where it was supposed to be.  Waste not want not ya know.

Then a stroll back through the gardens, past a 'nature hut' full of bugs, butterflies, shells and even a little house made of shells.

Marion is a member of the Machine Embroidery Group, but decided to have a go at patchwork for the retreat, she chose a table runner, but quite a complicated pattern for a beginner.  Lots of points there Marion.

Lorraine needs a 'running away from home bag' big enough to take a queen size quilt, and decided to create some log cabin butterflies for each side of her bag, no pattern,....just doing it, "Somehow I'm going to have antenna and everything on these little guys" was her comment.  I believe her.

She took this little guy for his 'first flight' fluttering around the room.  Don't the blocks look great on the wall?

Sheila was finishing off the pouch that Sue had taught earlier in the morning, and then decided to practice her machine quilting skills, she has a new machine, comes with it's own little cupboard of gizmos.....(so so cute, I want one of those!) and a stitch regulator, the finished quilt will be for a family pet called Julius,.... he was the runt of the litter delivered by Caesarian..... 

Cheryl has been making these beautiful blocks for awhile, she is a Machine Embroiderer and jumped at the opportunity of getting quilters advice on layout and assembly tips.

Not one to be daunted by a project, Cheryl is also giving machine quilting her first ever go.

Ailsa was also putting the finishing touches to the pouch from Sues' tutorial, she then moved on to stitching down the binding on her Row x Row quilt.

Fran was having a good time, but her pouch seemed to be a bit long, she promptly christened it a sporran, and plans to carry her phone handset around the house in it!....so phone Fran and no answer you will know why!

She was then working on her 'Tessellation' quilt, getting layout help from Betty.


Judy, another of the Machine Embroidery group, has embroidered this amazing quilt using Glen Harris Australiana designs that she purchased from a magazine featuring the same quilt made by Michelle Stokie.

Judy was just one of the many people who went to the recent quilt show over in Gatton, and came home with this beauty.  Yep she won it!!  sadly there is no label so Judy is unable to thank the maker, but if you recognise it, Judy would love some info. including is there any of the border fabric still in the market?!

And then, it was time for lunch, there is no shortage of food at this venue, simple but fresh and flavoursome.

Wendy was a bit take by the welcome note on the group's tables, a nice touch.  Everything was toastie warm in the Dining room thanks to a roaring log fire.

Jackie is working on another floral quilt, number 3 from the fabrics she has been collecting for the past 5 years.  This is the quilt that started the whole collection off...(mag pic top right) and for a bit of a break from machining she bought along a hand stitching project! Knew better than to ask what it will be....this is Jackie's bring along project for meeting days, and she is more of a 'wait and see' gal on this one. <g>

Who could resist this pic, two thoughtful lasses, Lorraine still planning the antenna for her bag, and Sue being the good little helper/mentor that she is, making 'squaring up' decisions.

Wendy was making 'lozenge' or 'coffin blocks' when we arrived, she had made quite a pile for a half mornings work, the quilt is one she spotted in a mag (pic on top right) she is using lovely soft colours for the strip pieced square sashings, but just see how in control this gal is, leaning back and whizzing along those seams.  I pressed some of them for her and I can tell you - straight as a die...!not a wobble, not a waggle! wow!

Of course, there was a lot of this going on!, laughter and jokes abounded!

Marcia certainly wasn't going to let herself get tired of a project, she has a pile of 9 patches completed ready to be slashed and turned into a disappearing 9patch quilt, was wrestling with Suduko - I tell you, it's not as simple as it would seem, one little lapse of concentration and whoopsie!, wrong square in there!

and a stack of beautiful logs cut to get going on 'Hotch Potch' a pattern and fabric she purchased while on hols.

Fran was finding the pouch useful to cart bibs and bobs around with her.  She and Betty were hard at work getting the layout right for her 'Tesselation' quilt

Sharon has machine embroidered these lovely blocks from an Annie Moody pattern that she got from 'Hoopsisters. com. 

The final layout of Norma's quilt 'Mood Swings' on bottom right.

Yvonne, one of our Thursday night members and a Machine Embroider bought this amazing quilt along for Show and Tell and to finish the binding.  She made 'Catz' to donate to the Foster Childrens group, possibly to be raffled as a fundraiser.......now if that happens I know a group of ladies who all want tickets!.

Closer views of some of the blocks, there is applique, pieced, machine embroidered and fabric squares, all ingeniously used.

Yvonne was also working on this piece, it might be a wall hanging or it might end up as a cover for her machine......now that's lurvin' ya machine!

Getting close to time to leave, we decided to go look at the sleeping arrangements and spied this on the hall wall, quilters are an ingenious lot, impromptu design wall.!

Well, you would have to know its a quilters retreat, with such beautiful quilts on the bunks.  Not gonna show you the pic I took of 'little miss kaleidoscope' taking a Nanna Nap.....

And who's bunk is this???well it was allocated to someone who decided to whizz off on a European Holiday instead........

And so farewells were said, the last joke was told and Betty and I meandered through the gardens and so off home.......hope you enjoyed seeing just a little of what the girls got up to...perhaps piccies will be sent of Sunday