No Sleep Retreat

I guess if I'm featured in the QNews (a newsletter for members of the WA Quilters Association) I'd better get organised and get a post up. I don't have a lot of time for sewing at the moment so haven't blogged properly for ages.

One of the recent activities I participated in through the WA Quilter's Association was a no-sleep retreat. This is a one day sewing activity that went from 10am to 10pm with either hand or machine sewing. I was able to make a good start on a baby quilt for a friend of one of my daughters.

"Splash" 12 inch block

The retreat was held in a church hall which had plenty of light and space. Overall it was a great venue but unfortunately no air conditioning. The day turned out hot, hot, hot at 40C. There were ceiling fans and high windows and we could take our shoes off so we just got on with it. We are tough Aussie girls after all. We took our own lunch and our tea was catered. We had two shops in residence so we got to have a little retail therapy.

Robyn from The Strawberry Thief brought gorgeous Liberty fabrics and a selection of her quilts to show how she used them. She also shared the history of Liberty fabrics and what makes it so special. Robyn has done a great blog post Tips and Tricks - Sewing with Liberty Fabrics.

Tips and Tricks when sewing the Liberty fabric

Our other shop was Anya of The Quirky Stitch. She demonstrated one of her products - a mini hoop which can be used as necklace, brooch, little pincushion etc.

Mini Hoop Necklace with Embroidery

We had a lovely late summer day here in Perth yesterday. We enjoyed time with friends for a picnic and then a walk along the tranquil Swan River. I managed to forget my hat so I'm a bit red today - just call me Rudolph (a.k.a. red nosed)

Swan River at Point Walter

It's cooler and rainy today in Perth - with a little thunder even. A reminder that summer will end soon as it usually does. We will enjoy the cool and rain but no one thinks that summer is done with us yet. I suspect there are plenty of hot days ahead.

Hope you enjoyed your little visit to my blog.

Swanleigh Retreat 2013

I recently attended our guild retreat and only worked on UFO's.
I spent a lot of time pinning.
 

 

And then chain sewing. No sneak peeks. Maybe later.
 

This cute owl came from Japan and
belongs to my dear friend Eleanor.
 

Carla brought her husband's shirts and cut them up.
Here is what she came up with.
 

Barbara had this little iron. So tiny yet worked very well!
(Ignore the old lady hand. Sigh)
 

I got quite a bit done on these blocks as well.
It's constructed using a partial seam, so a little fiddly.

No sewing yet since I've been back.
One lives in hope.

August Retreat

Our guild winter retreat was held at Swanleigh in August.
I met a lovely new quilting friend, Carla (on the right).
 

Carla brought along this adorable little humidicrib cover to show us.
 

She used thread sketching to secure the appliqué.
 

This is how the back looks. Just too cute.
 

She finished the machine blanket stitch on this one.
 

But Carla's main project was working on Dear Jane blocks.
 

This was my favourite.
 

She is using the book to draft her own blocks - no CD help.
She is also tracing to foundation piece, if the block permits.
 

One of the ladies finished a top. I was struck by how the light shone through it.
 

Another lady was auditioning borders.
 

I found this scrappy block interesting. The lady is writing up a pattern.

We had a wonderful time. Unfortunately I can't show my retreat project this time.
Secret Christmas Business.

Off to the Perth Royal Show today. Hope to have a look at a few interesting things.

Swanleigh Retreat

I went to the Swanleigh Retreat over the weekend and met up with my lovely quilting friends. We had large, well-lit rooms to work in with plenty of room for all our stuff.

My little friend Shaun came with me. He had a good look around at all the projects.

And of course there was lots of yummy food around.

And shopping too.

It was a really lovely weekend. I will be posting my work in a few days.
I hope your April is progressing nicely. 

Another Retreat Project

This little table runner is another one of my retreat projects. I used the fabric squares I won in a giveaway and I blogged about it here. I added two fabrics of my own. I'm pleased with it overall and will show it again once it's finished. I love these fabrics. It is Finally Free by Caroline Simas. It's not quite available yet (sigh) but the Fat Quarter Shop will email you when it's available if you ask them.

Fabric Box

At my recent retreat, I made this fabric box from orphan blocks in the scrapheap. (The scrapheap is a bunch of scraps from quilters attending the retreat - it goes in a pile for people to rummage through as needed.) I used this as a warm-up project before I made the Dr Seuss bag.

The free pattern is from Val Laird and can be found here. I'm surprised at how sturdy it is and how well it stands up by itself. A very useful project and I will probably make one again sometime.

Isn't it amazing how life pushes forward so fast? And it feels like forever since you've been away but it's only been a few days? And now it's September and before you know it it will be Christmas...

A little progress...

I managed to finish my curved blocks without too much crying... still a few puckers and distortion but to me it doesn't matter. This is a trial layout... will probably play a little then decide that's enough and just sew them together. While I'm pondering the layout I'm cutting some 2.5inch strips to make a piano key border in an assortment of greens and black/whites.

So far the 'home retreat' has been ok. Still more distractions than a real retreat, but a very welcome break nonetheless. Still two more days before I go back to work!!

At the Retreat recently I was able to continue work on a project I started at the last retreat held in April. I blogged about it here. Working with so many different fibres and weights was difficult and I finally decided to stabilise the fabrics with lightweight interfacing. Overall I am happy with the results, although as I had already cut all my pieces, I had to cut the interfacing the same and then iron it to the back of each piece, except the four patches were already sewn together so they have just one piece. It was like cutting the quilt out all over again.

The blocks are laid out to continue the piecing...

The interfacing...

This is coming together nicely, but taking too long... no more swaps! (sigh) I need to be independently wealthy so I can totally indulge myself in my sewing... maybe one day...

Cheers

Shari

Retreat Show and Tell

There were more than 50 items at show and tell.

I could not keep track of what belonged to whom.

Suffice to say that none of these were mine.

I'll show more later.

The chicken blocks were done by a variety of people.

It was commercially machine quilted with a chicken wire pattern.

These lovely large flower prints have been made into a stunning quilt by Carolyn. The quilt below was also made by Carolyn for her son, who asked for a quilt with magenta, fuschia and teal.

Can't remember anything about this cat quilt. I really liked it.

Donna is making this 'big cat' quilt. She found the tiger panel and a couple of matching prints with the rest of the fabric from her stash. It's a work in progress and she is making a braid for one of the borders.

Tricia has made this crane quilt from a Margaret Rolfe pattern. It is foundation pieced.

Another quilt I don't know anything about except I really liked it.

Cheers! Shari

Swanleigh Retreat

The sweatshop sewing area from a few angles.

It was a large rectangular room.

We set up our machines at one end

and had eating tables at the other.

But First There's...

12 Men's Shirts

Cotton

Polyester

Silk

Viscose

Weekend Retreat

Project 1

This one requires a little explanation. These shirts belonged to my husband's cousin who died last year of metastatic melanoma (skin cancer that spread). His widow kindly gave me these shirts after I offered to make her a quilt out of them. I have had a lot of trepidation about this project and have procrastinated a little. However, my husband has helped me select a pattern and I have practised cutting up other shirts so feel I am ready to finally begin this project. I hope to make a really good start at the retreat this coming weekend.

I'll be 'out of touch' until Sunday evening so I hope you all have a great few days until we can catch up again.