Busy Week at Russellee

The past week has been very busy at Russellee BnB Craft Retreats.  To start I had my first Scrapbooking Retreat for the year.  This group book at the end of a retreat each time and it is very difficult for anyone else to get into it.  Over the years they have all become very good friends and look forward to catching up twice a year.  They come from Cooma, Queanbeyan, Cootamundra, Wagga and locally.
We had a guest presenter for the weekend.  This was Pauline Cartwright from Canberra.  Pauline gave classes in the Azza method of scrapbooking.  Every one was pleasantly surprised with the results of their layouts from these classes.

The Scrappers left Sunday, a couple Monday morning, and Helen Godden arrived to give a two day workshop.  Eleven ladies thoroughly enjoyed Helen's wonderful personality and her 'Crack Pots' class.  We had a lady from Melbourne, one from Wangaratta, four from Batlow and the rest were locals.  Helen fitted this two day workshop into her very busy teaching schedule for which we are very grateful.  Having a world class teacher come to Tumut is wonderful.

We finished the week with Sandy's Quilters coming from Canberra for their fifth year.  Sandy is the one that suggested that we have a Quilting Cruise and it is from her suggestion that the Australian Quilting Cruises came about. 

Bookings have already been very strong for our 4th Australian Quilting Cruise February 2015.  Helen Godden is coming as my guest teacher on this cruise.  I have also invited Janet Pilgrim to come as a teacher with her wonderful surface stitchery. This gives our cruise another avenue for other ladies to come and enjoy a 'Retreat at Sea'.  If you have any questions on this cruise please contact me.

We are also filling up for the Bali Quilting, Fabric and Cultural trip next October.  I booked my airfares this week and was surprised to find that they were cheaper than last years.  We would love to meet new ladies on this trip.  If interest please contact me.
Until next time.

Dorothy

Scrapbooking Retreat

Last weekend saw a small Scrapbooking Retreat at Russellee.  I had five lovely ladies attend.  One was very new to Scrapbooking and took to it like a duck to water.  I think that she is now addicted to this wonderful craft.

 

We don't mind having small groups coming to Russellee  It give us the opportunity to really get to know everyone and have more time to help if needed.

 

July is going to be busy with attending Craft Alive at Wodonga to promote the retreats at Russellee as well as our Quilting Cruise next February.  The day after Wodonga Tony and I will be heading off to New Zealand to attend the Taupo Smposium 2013 Fabric Art Festival.  I have been looking forward to this event for over 12 months.  I will be taking part in three workshops with tutors for the US and New Zealand.  One can never stop learning and this Symposium is a great opportunity to see what ladies from all over the world are creating.  I will post a report when we get back.

 

Until next time.

 

Dorothy

Wonderful Scrapping Weekend

We have just had another wonderful Scrapping weekend. The 13 ladies have all attended before and a great time was had by all. they started to arrive at 10 am on the Friday morning and came from Wagga Wagga, Stockinbingal, Cooma, Queanbeyan as well as three ladies from the local area.

The wonderful Scrappers

 During the course of the weekend I conducted three workshops and gave one demonstration.  I am always amazed at the quality of work that is produced in these workshops.  This retreat was no exception. 

Mini Book workshop

Mini Book workshop

Mini Book Workshop

Mini Book workshop

Lavender and Lace challenge.  Thinking out of the square.

Sketch Challenge

Lavender and Lace

There were many jokes and laughter not to mention the eating of food.  I heard one lady say that she had been on a diet so that she could enjoy the food over the weekend.

 Saturday morning seen most of the ladies make a trip to Scrapping4Keeps to add to their stash of paper and embellishments. It is intriguing to see how much they bring to the weekend and there is a lot of idea swapping on the storage devices for hauling all their goodies.

 I usually run two weekends a year.  The second is in September but all the ladies booked for this before they left on Sunday.  Bridget, from Scaping4Keeps, has asked me to run an extra retreat this year as she has a lot of enquiries and she felt that other ladies would like to enjoy a retreat also.  We have planned another weekend for the 21^st – 23^rd June.  If you are interested in attending this please contact me.

 

Dorothy

Busy Six Weeks

The past six weeks have been very full on.  It started with a lovely group of ladies coming for a Quilting Retreat for a weekend.  Two days later Tony, James and I flew to Broome for three weeks.  Then after we got back home I had a Scrapbooking Retreat.

Let's start with the Quilting Retreat

Seven lovely ladies from Albury and Tumut attended an Attic Window Retreat.  This used a panel fabric and the results were stunning.  Here are some of the photos.

The finished quilt tops

 

Pinning a finished quilt top

 

Happy to have finished the quilt top

 

Broome and the Kimberlys

The day after the Retreat Tony, James and I went to Sydney on the train to fly out to Broome on the Tuesday.  We had two nights in Broome then went on an Adventure Wild 12 day camping trip. We went along the Gibb River Road, visited Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Ceek, Bell Gorge, Calvan's Gorge, Manning Gorge, Home Valley Station, El Questo Station, Emma Gorge, Kununurra, Bungle Bungles, Halls Creek and Geiki Gorge.

There were 16 of us on the tour.  The rest of the gang were great, the walks were great and adventurous, the food was wonderful and the ancient landscape amazing.  We all had a great time and at the end of the trip had five nights in Broome to recover.  Camping is good fun, I enjoved the trip emensely however, I was glad to roll up the sway for the last time.

It was hard to pick photos of this wonderful trip.  Here is just a sample.

Swiming the river to do the Manning Gorge walk

 

Echidna George

in the Bungle Bungles

 

Geikie Gorge

 

James at the Bungle Bungles

 

Cable Beach Sunset Camel ride

James and Me

 

Scrapbooking Retreat

Happy Scrappers

 

The weekend just past seen 13 ladies attended my second Scrapbooking Retreat for the year.  There were several regular retreaters and four new ones to Russellee.  We have three workshops and three challenges.  These are not compulsory but many did do them.  Here are some of the resutls.

Sally's great layout

 

 

Paper challenge

 

The next Scrapbooking Retreat will be the 1 - 3 March 2013.  This is filling fast.  If you would like to come please let me know as soon as possible.

 

Quilting Cruise Update

 

We have 27 quilters plus family and friends coming on the 2nd Australian Quilting cruise next January.  There are still some vaccancies if you would like to come on this fabulous 14 Day Cruise with myself and Amanda Daly.  The time is going very fast.  It will be Christmas and the Cruise before we know it.  If you are interesed contact Lorelle by email lorelle@thecruisecrew.com

 

And finally

 

Tony and I are off again on Saturday with some of the Canberra Quilters for a two week Fabric and Cultural tour of Bali.  We don't usually have such a short time between trips however when we were invited to go it was an opportunity not to be missed.  Will post on the blog this trip when we get back

 

Until next time

 

Dorothy

 

 

 

Scrapbooking update

Pam and I managed to fit in a day of scrapbooking on Sunday.


Pam did a great layout on on a photo she had taken a of her and Bob on one of their manhy cruises.

My layout is of Tony and me at Evendale in Tasmania. This was a pretty little town. Not far from there we went to a sauce factory. Great sauces and jams.

Preparations are on the way for the nest Scrapbooking Retreat the first weekend in June. If you are interested in coming please let me know soon.


We have also booked on the next scrapbooking cruise in January. I have a link to the info for anyone else interested in going.