The Retreat August 2018

8 of us had a lovely four night stay at The Retreat, Gisborne this weekend.  There was lots of fun, food, drink (ahem) and work done.  If you've never been to retreat I strongly encourage you to give it a try!

Here are some pictures of some of us at work.  

Judy V was busy all weekend making 5 Sew Together bags which will be gifts for very lucky recipients!  Many needles were broken in the making of these bags but don't tell Judy I told you!

Di worked on reducing her batik stash which she did very successfully as after she'd finished making a beautiful diamond quilt top, which you can see in the photo above this, she donated the rest of her stash to the donation cupboard at the retreat.  Some future retreat attendee is going to be very happy to discover that!  Di also practiced her quilting using her Westalee ruler skills and made a couple of cushion tops.

Here is Judy A, still in her pyjamas, helping Sue with the placement of her I Spy quilt.  Sue finished one for a boy and is working on a second for a girl.  In the background of this picture you can see the start of Judy's disappearing four patch quilt.  These display walls are so handy!

Here are Ann and Rosie pretending to show off someone else's beautiful red and white star quilt.

For some unknown reason I promised Robyn I'd show you all the pictures and well, here I am apparently working hard.  

We also had lots of fun and after Robyn and Ann went into town for a pedicure they decided we all needed to have face mask facials.  

I think these two are Robyn and Ann ;-)

We did try our hardest to smile in the picture and at least look as though we were having a great time but have you ever tried smiling with a mask on???  Thankfully we were still able to drink our wine.

Robyn and I had been admiring photos that Janice has been taking so we decided to do an artistic shot of our own.  I think it's very successful.

Here I am doing yoga.  I like to start my day with a few poses and mindful meditation.  Or perhaps I'm just leaning over the heating vent to dry my mask?  Do you think my bottom looks big in this?

Anyway, I bet you're all keen to see our projects so without further ado...

This is my Sleepy Fox quilt top.  He's looks very sweet and innocent doesn't he but he was very naughty and uncooperative!  I may have uttered a few choice words.

I finished off some kits left over from the Christmas in July project.  I decided to try making them different shapes and I like them a lot.  I also worked on my red and white star quilt.  I may finish it one day.

Ann worked on many projects.  This is a lovely kids quilt she started at our last retreat.  It started out as a panel.

This quilt top was made using a jelly roll.  There are a lot of great jelly roll patterns available!  Ann also made a baby quilt using a charm pack from the same range and a half square triangle star quilt using a mostly red layer cake.

This is Robyn's work in progress.  It's going to be quilted for her granddaughter and then Robyn will add crystals to it.  It's going to be gorgeous!

Judy A came to a retreat with a plan to make 5 quilts in 5 days.  She managed 2 and a half which was very disappointing and Judy should be very ashamed of herself.  After all, it's not as though she had to pattern match or do mitred corners or anything.  Oh wait...

Judy also finished a lovely batik star quilt in tones of blues and browns and started working on a disappearing four patch quilt.

Here are the Sew Together bags Judy got done.  She only has the binding part to do on them all and they're done!  Judy has the patience of a saint!

We don't have a picture of Rosie's work.  Rosie is making a beautiful batik appliqué quilt featuring birds.  She also pottered with a couple of other projects.  Kay came to visit for one of the days and she finished a baby quilt using a cute charm pack.

So as you can see retreats can be lots of fun!  I hope to see you at the next one!