Thursday, July 14, 2011

UFO Patchwork Retreat

Do you have a cupboard full of UFOs? Do you love the company of fellow quilters? Do you love not having to cook or washup? Then bring a UFO or two and come to our next quilting retreat on the 21st - 23 October. The all inclusive cost is $210. This includes all meals, accommodation, a large workroom and great country views. We are located five minutes from the beautiful town of Tumut.

Numbers are limited. We keep our groups small so that you feel welcome and not part of a busy and noisy room.

If you are interest or would like more information please do not hesitate to contact me either by email, russeldr@bigpond.com or by phone, 02 69474216.

See you then

Dorothy

Friday, July 1, 2011

Back Home


Tony and I are back home after a wonderful six weeks overseas. We have seen some wonderful places, great gardens and beautiful palaces. I am starting to get back into the swing of things and I preparing for the Quilting Cruise next February. There has been a lot of enquiries from ladies who would like to come from interstate and bringing their sewing machines. I have looked into taking sewing machines on the planes. They can be taken on as hand luggage and there are a couple of totes designed to carry machines as hand luggage on aircraft. Just Patchwork Tuncurry has the 'Tutto' bag for this purpose. Here is a link to their website if anyone is interested. http://www.justpatchwork.com.au/ I do also have some machines that I can take for interstate ladies but this is on a first in basis.I also have two great design walls from Brindabell Quilting Systems that Iwill be taking on the cruise. These great walls come in three different sizes and fold up into a carry bag for easy transporting.

Until next post. Happy crafting

Dorothy

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Quilting Cruise Workshop


These colourful assortment of tropical fish will remind you of your visit to the South Pacific on a memborable Quilting Cruise. They are swimming in your own water colour quilt aquarium designed by Connie Rodriques for Whims Watercolor Quilts.


This is one of four workshops that will feature on the Quilting Cruise. All fabrics for the water colour quilt top and the applique are supplied. For a more challenging design you will also receive all the fabric and patterns to create an applique of Grandmothers Sewing Machine which can be appliqued onto your water colour quilt instead of the tropical fish.

Profile - Dorothy Clee


I grew up with fabric and sewing machines. My mother was a dressmaker and all her sisters were very much into craft. It was a natural profression from dressmaking to quilting and on to facbric art.When I left school I attended TAFE colleges and started several years of study in various areas of sewing. I have certificates of proficiency in pattern-making, dressmaking and a distinction in advanced commercial needlecraft. These qualifications and practical experiences have led me to kae up teaching of quilting and fabric embellishment. Free machining being my favourite are of machine sewing. I am currently a part time TAFE teacher and have been for the past twenty years. I started my TAFE proffession as a Advanced Comercial Needlecraft Certificate teacher when a staff member went on long service leave. Ihave been there ever since. However, as most TAFE collages no longer teach sewing I retrained and became a Business Services teacher.Around nine years ago we sold our fram and bought a very large run down hous on the outskirts of Tumut, NSW. We renovated the house and turned it into a bed and breakfast. There were plenty of large rooms in our home for me to be able to start pachwork and quilting workshops. These wrokshops led to the running of livein retreats, both patchwork and scrapbooking. thanks to my sisters passion for scrapbooking. Over the years I have attended numerous workshops with well know teachers bothe from Australia and overseas. They include Angela Madden from England, Vynthia England from the USA as well a learning a lot of techniques from Sharon Pederson from the USA. I have enjoyed a great workshop with Gloria Loughman of Australia.

I love many areas of machine patchwork. From strip piecing, to traditiobnal blocks, bargello, photos on fabric and applique. My favourite areas are machine embroidery and raw edge applllque. Landscaape quilts are of a particular interest to me. The variety of beautiful fabrics on the market today lend themselves to this areas of quilt making.I don't class myself as a quilt artist but as a quilt teacher.
I have a passion for sharing new techniques with students in my workshops. I encourage students to develop these techniques and create their own great quilts. Having patience is something I have plenty of.Three of my quilts have featured in 'Down Under Quilts' and Australian Patchwork and Quilting'. I would love to enter more of my quilts into the many competitions but find that teaching doesn't always allow me to meet the deadlines for these competitions. this doesn't stop me from planning quilts for cometitions! I love to sew, to create, and to learn easier and sometimes quicker ways to achieve a great result. As Angela madden said "If sewing is not successful and fun... why do it?"

Monday, April 18, 2011

Retreat Update

I have been overwhelmed by the response that has received regarding the Quilting Cruise next February. I would like to thank those who have booked already and the ladies who are considering booking. Kaye and I are going on a Quilting Cruise out of America next August. Kaye is a Scrapbooker and not a quilter but she jumped at the chance of coming with me when I asked her. I am looking forward to doing this cruise and getting some ideas for our cruise. The September Scrapbooking Retreat is booked out. This happened within in a week of notice going out with the details. Kylie Tout, from Scrapping Clearly, is doing a workshop on one of her beautiful mini albums. Thank you ladies for your continued support for these retreats. I shall post some information on the Quilting Cruise workshops when they have been finalised. I wish you all a great Easter and happy quilting and scrapbooking. Dorothy

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Austrailan Quilting Cruise

After a suggestion last February by a quilter on a retreat at Russellee as to why there can't be a quilting cruise from Australia like there are in the USA I contacted Lorelle from Crafting Cruises and we have got one happening.

The cruise is a South Pacific Gems 10 night cruise on the 'Rhapsody of the Seas'. I have been asked to arrange the classes. I have some ideas for these and am in the process of putting them together. The classes will all have kits provided.

The 'Rhapsody of the Seas' is a beautiful ship and I have crusied on her many times. There is a very large conference room which we will using for the group. This can be accessed 24 hours if you wish. As well as classes there will be plenty of time for you to do your own project. A good time to finish some UFOs.
We will be having prizes and givaways and special group events. You are most welcome to bring your partner or non quilting friend. There are plenty of events on the ship to keep them occupied while you are indulging in your passion.
For more information I can be contacted, russeldr@bigpond.com or Lorelle, lorelle@thecruisecrew.com
I will keep you posted on the classes.
Dorothy

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

March Scrapbooking Retreat

The March Retreat was a great success. Fourteen ladies attended. This was the biggest group that we have had at one of the Scrapping Retreats. A great time was had by all and some really beautiful layouts came together over the weekend.
I gave the ladies a page to do before the retreat and bring it along. This was a page on themselves. I was overwhellemed by the beautiful layouts that resulted from this challenge. Raewyn did a great job of journaling on her layout. I was very impresses with the book she added to the layout. In all there were three classes and three challanges over the weekend. Kaye Snow conducted the Saturday afternoon class in different techniques of inking your own papers. She showed five different techniques using Tim Holtz inks. There was a choice of two colour ways. It was about a 50 50 choice in the colour ways. This class was held in three groups.

After the classes were completed the challenge was to make a layout using these papers. the results were stunning.
We also had a sketch challenge and a kit challenge. The kit challenge had papers and colours that the ladies may not have chosen themselves and the results suprised them. Beautiful layouts. I would like to thank Tarra Orr from Canada for allowing me to use one of her layouts as a class.
Planning is on the way for the next retreat in September. Out guest tutor will be Kylie Tout.
Dorothy