Real retreat!

Post written by Evelyn

There were five of us at our latest retreat and it was wonderful and weird at the same time!  We'd come back into the sewing room after a meal and wonder where everyone else was!  Still, it was a great weekend!  My weekend started off with me picking up Judy, her sewing and the kitchen sink (Sorry Judy!) and then getting us both lost on the way there.  How many times have we been to Retreat?!!  My car should have known the way there!

I'm either following social distancing rules or I smell.  I probably smell.

 

I found this accidental picture when I got home.  But look how cool my pjs are!

Before I was tipsy I worked on this robot quilt.  Abbe came along and challenged me to change his see through belly to something more interesting.  I challenged Robyn to draw it for me ha ha!  

After I was tipsy, and when I was actually doing any work at all, I made some memory baby quilts.  I bag up all my scraps into little bags and pick n choose what to work on next.

Abbe was very cheeky!  I requested that the toilet get a new lock because I keep barging in on people on the loo!  This is what she prepared for me! 

It worked!

Robyn arrived with only a few of these blocks completed and she left with them all sewn together.  She's adding borders.  I love the secondary pinwheel pattern!

This is a common sight at retreat!  The moment something goes on the design wall we all rush to take pictures!

Kay quilted this at retreat.  It's a gift for her sister in law.  

Kay also put this amazing quilt together too!  It's made with a jelly roll.

Judy finished piecing this quilt.  She may or may not be adding appliqué in the plain areas.

This was a Big W bargain.  It's bunting Judy has sewn into a quilt.  It'll go into her "In case anyone has a baby pile".

Judy also added binding to these memory baby quilts she pieced and quilted beforehand.

There are a couple of Joy's embroideries in this pile.

Some of the fabric scraps are from the share cupboard at retreat.

These fabrics came from Aldi.  We all thought they were a bargain but the quality was bad.  They're pretty baby quilts though.

Kate finished another shirt challenge quilt which looks amazing but I'm not showing you because I'm a meanie.  Actually, I thought she'd rather wait to reveal it at the big reveal.  If we ever get one!!!  Kate took it to Kerrie's to be quilted.  She also bought wool from Abbe and started practicing knitting it into a hat.  Then she unraveled it and practiced some more.

We had a cooking free weekend so ended up having two takeaways!  One night we had fish n chips and the other night we had Indian.  Yummy!  The funny thing about this weekend was that we were all exhausted!  I don't know if it had anything to do with us not having socialised for so long but we were in bed not long after 9.30pm on the Friday and up late for us in the mornings!

And guess what?!  No one fell off their chair!!!

Awww!  The memories!

Feast your eyes on these delights!

Post written by Evelyn

Sheila has been busy experimenting with paint and free motion quilting.  This Flower power 9 patch quilt by Helen Godden is a free quilt along.

Sheila also made this beautiful flower to frame.  She downloaded then drew a picture of the flower, painted it with fabric paints, added two layers of thick wadding and then densely quilted it. 

Ann Mc has been very busy finishing projects on her quilting frame.  Apparently, she only has two more to go and she's all caught up with the quilting!  Her other UFOs may take a bit more time! Ann bought his Life is beautiful quilt by Helen Stubbings as a kit in 2015.

Here's Ann's Love and Hugs from Australia quilt finished.

Ann bought this bed runner while she was in Scotland in 2011.  Isn't it great to have memories of your holidays all around you?

Here's Ann's finished Laundry Basket quilt. This not quite so much of a mystery quilt is still available on the Laundry Basket website.

This Borboleta quilt is one of Deidre Bond-Abel's designs.  Ann must be delighted that it's finished!

Finally this quilt belongs to Ann's friend, Carolyn, who bought the hand pieced Double Irish Chain quilt top at an op shop in Phillip Island for $15!  Ann quilted this on her long arm.

Love and hugs

Post written by Evelyn

Maree made this Love and Hugs from Australia quilt.  Each design was created by 16 Australian designers and given freely to all who participated.  Over 15000 people worldwide got online and downloaded the patterns which are still available on the Facebook page here. The Australian designer, Natalie Bird from The Birdhouse,  organised this event. All the blocks have been hand embroidered. I believe Ann Mc made this too.  Anyone else?

This quilt was made by Kay which brings back fond memories of her trip to Europe last year where she bought the fabric and pattern in Perth, Scotland.

I quilted this purchased doona cover for my daughter and daughter in law as it reminded me of a bird painting they have hanging in their living room.  Some of the birds are machine embroidered and while I was a bit disappointed that not all of them were, as the advertising on the packaging claimed, they made the fabric hard to quilt so in the end I was relieved there weren't more!  The best part of quilting a ready made doona is that you have the right sized backing and matching pillowcases!

This is a shot of the quilt that was on Sheila's bed last week.  She may have a different one on there now!  She did threaten to send a picture of Ron on the bed but thankfully refrained from doing so.  Sorry Ron ;-)

Isolation is no problem if you are a quilter!

Posted by Glo

We will soon be venturing more and more into the outside world and be able to share our wonderful creations.  In the meantime enjoy these creative efforts !

Annie C loved the free quilt pattern (California) from the Laundry Basket Quilt site and created a miniature version of it at 21 inches complete!  Imagine the points on those little Ohio stars! Annie is well known for her amazing miniature quilts!



View it in comparison to some of the other quilts in her collection!



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Quite a few of us are intrigued by the Mystery Isolation Quilt designed by Rachelle Denneny of South Australia.  We are following on facebook but you can also access the information on the SA Guild site-

https://www.saquilters.org.au/mysolation-mystery---rachelle-denneny-may-2020.htm

These 64 amazing blocks are Kay's stage one efforts.


 

Ann McW is steaming ahead with this great combination!




Robyn has finished step 1 as well with her great fabric choices.




Sheila has joined us (against her better judgement and vows not to do another mystery quilt) with this wonderful array from her stash.





I have gone totally cheery after initially choosing much darker fabrics!






One pattern but so many options!  We will certainly all have very different quilts! Step 2 instructions are revealed on Friday!

Today we start to trim 128 little triangle offcuts for a bonus project! I have done 80 so far!
Rachelle posted a very helpful video on facebook to help us cut these accurately

What has everyone else been up to?