Australian Quilting Cruise Update

We are now on the countdown to the 3^rd Australian Quilting Cruise leaving Sydney on the 27^th February.  This 'Retreat at Sea' is fully booked and I am looking forward to catching up with the ladies that have attended previous cruises.  Also to meeting all those 'first timers' including five lovely ladies who are coming from New Zealand this Retreat.  Plus we have some ladies from WA that will be travelling the furthest to join our ship in Sydney.

It has been very busy here packing kits and organising sewing machines.  I am taking 14 sewing machines with me.  Machines, kits and everything else we have to take with us are going in the station wagon and trailer. Tony has painted the trailer and revamped the sheep crate on the back.  He felt a bit out of place the last time  as he drove to Circular Quay with the sheep crate.  Not so this time. We won't be missed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was overwhelmed by the number of kits ordered for the Freezer Paper Workshop.  In all there are 15 Beach scenes and 14 Lavender scenes which have been embroidered on fabric.  It has been my first task each day to do one of the embroideries.  So it has taken me over a month to do them all with some days being missed.  Some ladies are bringing their own picture and fabrics and it will be interesting to see what they have chosen.

Last week I had my grandson staying and with his input I put together another sample of this workshop to show some different variations.  This has turned out to be a rather bright picture but that is what kids like. 

We are very organised this trip in that we have all the planning for our 2015 cruise well in advance to bring with us.  The conference rooms on the Voyager have been booked and  tutors selected.  Most of the workshops are organised and the flyers are available. 

There are two guest tutors on the 2015 'Retreat at Sea' which will be doing the north island of New Zealand, leaving Sydney on the 22^nd February 2015.  Helen Godden will be presenting her wonderful and fun ‘Flying into Colours’ class.  Laraine and I have done this class with Helen and we enjoyed it immensely.  Helen has a wonderful array of patterns for this workshop and her presentation makes for a very enjoyable experience.  This is a picture of my quilt I did with her.  Of course it had to be of a cat.

I will doing a workshop using a traditional block to create a modern quilt.  I have been in contact with Lisa Smallridge, from Sunset Seams Victoria,  to make the templates for this class.  The sample ones will be here next week for me to test out. There will also be  a mystery class for 2015.

Due to many requests from our ladies our second guest tutor will be presenting two 2 day embroidery classes and a mystery class.  This talented lady is Jan Pilgrim.  Jan does wonderful surface stitchery and incorporates stump work in a new light.

 

We would love to have you join us on this Retreat at Sea - the 4^th Australian Quilting and Embroidery Cruise to New Zealand February 2015.

Stash Busting Bag Making

For many years I have been collecting fabrics with animal themed fabrics. They have come from shops, craft fairs, patchwork trips with the patchwork group and flea markets. The pile has grown steadily over the years.  A lot of these being fatquarters but some are by the meter. About six months ago I thought it was time that I did something with some of these fabrics.  I had just acquired a bag pattern. 

Making bags is not really my thing but I decided to have ago using a fabric with metallic dragonflies on it.  The bag turned out better than I thought.  I then decided to make one with cheetahs on it and add a machine embroidery cheetah design that I have also had for many years.

Both these bags caused a bit of a sensation with some of my family and friends.  I was asked if I could do one with dogs.  I had a suitable dog print and made one.

Before I knew it family and friends were putting in orders for the bags.  The most popular one being the cheetah.  Luckily I had a couple of meters of that fabric.

 Not only have I been using my stash but I have also dug up buttons, covered button packs and café curtain rings from many years ago and hiding in the back of my cupboard.  Keep things long enough and  they come in handy.

I have done butterflies, cats, dogs, frogs, lions, tigers, zebras, dragonflies and even one with flowers. 

These little bags have been very enjoyable to make. They have made a change from making a large quilt and have put to use fabric that I have had in my stash for many years.

This is my latest one.  It was requested by a friend for her granddaughter who is studying to be a vet.  She had the opportunity to go to India last year as part of her training and as a result got to interact with some tigers.

Thread Painted Pups

The New Year is well and truly upon us.  We had a lovely Christmas at Russellee. Since we have came back from our Bali Quilting Retreat I have been busy preparing for our upcoming Quilting Cruise on the 27^th February.  Kits are being put together and classes finalised.  Laraine has put together a Mystery Class for the cruise and we have sourced all that is needed for this class.

I have managed to update Russellee’s Retreat Calendar for 2014.  We are having a workshop with Helen Godden on the 17 – 18^th March.  This is a Monday and Tuesday and accommodation is available.  Contact me if you are interested in coming to Helen's wonderful class.

Thread Painting.  I love thread painting.  I used to do a lot of it 20 – 25 years ago.  Quilting and Scrapbooking have put it into the background for several years. However, after doing one of my dogs at the Craft Alive’s and Henty Field days last year and one for the NSW Quilters Guild challenge I have decided to concentrate on it again and have been doing some dogs for a couple of relatives.

Here are a couple.

 

 

Until next time.

Dorothy

Bali Quilting Retreat was Great

This being Russellee BnB’s first Bali Fabric, Cultural and Quilting Retreat  Tony and I had the pleasure of taking 10 wonderful ladies from NSW, VIC, QLD and the ACT on this two week fantasy trip.  The first week we spent at Sanur, Bali seaside resort, and then inland to Ubud buying fabric and sightseeing along the way.  We visited many batik shops, which were packed with fabric and at very low prices, and also some interesting local sights. The families riding motor bikes are an amazing sight with as many as five on one bike.

A visit to the Bali Safari and Marine Park was a highlight of the week the concert shows, with hundreds of participants, are a site not to be missed.  Most of us even had a ride on an elephant and posed for photos with native animals.  This day comes to an end too soon.

Tony and John patiently waiting for us 

We then visited the thermal pool at the Volcano-Batur and on the way  stopped at the amazing terraced rice fields for a photo shot.   

I purchased a patchwork quilt at one of the road side stalls which I later gave to the lady who looked after our BnB and animals while we were away.  She just loved it.

Drawing the design onto the fabric

concentration

Adding the wax

Tony getting a bit of help

A hands on batik making workshop had us all bringing out drawing skills that some of us did not know we possessed.  Tony was even coned into creating a master piece.  The wax took a bit of getting used too (it seemed to get a bit hot which caused many drips)  When we finished following the lines we had drawn and looked at all our excess drips we handed them over to the staff who were going to dye them for us.  When we picked them up a week later we were overjoyed at how they had turned out.  Who could imagine that our amateurish drawing could turn out to be a masterpiece.

Our finished masterpieces]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited a wholesale silver warehouse on the way to our next home for seven days ‘Candidasa’ (also on the beach) where we were to spend the next week cutting up and sewing back together our treasured batik purchases (yes, we are mad patchworkers that cut up perfectly good fabric).   The staff at the resort had no concept of what we were wanting the room for that had been booked for us to use as a workroom.  They had provided us with tables and plenty of power points.  John, our Bali agent, had purchased basic Singer sewing machines for us and the room was airconditioned.  The staff were very interested in what we were doing and visited several times to see our progress.

The resort was booked for a week but we still managed to fit in sightseeing and some snorkelling not to mention swimming in the crystal clear pool.  At the time of our visit Bail had a hotter that usual heat wave - thank goodness for good air conditioning. 

 An important Bali religious festival occurred while we were in Candidasa and hotel staff asked us to prepare an offering which we were able to comply and the ladies each decorated a 2½ strip of fabric which was then hung outside the room.

Between all this we did manage to get a lot of sewing done and also a lot of clothes buying.  You only need to take minimum clothes with you to Bali as you can go out and buy a new outfit just down the road  very cheaply.

All breakfasts and lunches were included with our trip and also several dinners.  John took us somewhere different every day this could have been next door or at his home or at a lovely spot by the sea. The variety of food is unbelievable.

This little lady carried three baskets full of our fabric back to the car.

We finished our tour with some final fabric shopping before we had a farewell dinner at Jimbaran Beach.  It was then time to say goodbye to our fellow quilters and new friends.

We have booked the venues for October next year and are looking forward to meeting more wonderful ladies then.

Until next time

Dorothy

 

 

 

 

Retreats, Quillting Cruise and other news

This post is a bit late in getting out but here it is.

The past three weeks have been extremely busy for Russellee Craft Retreats.  Early this month I received an email from Machine Quilting Unlimited, and American Magazine, telling me that my Brumby Quilt and Jessie Machine embroidery were being featured in their September e-newsletter. 

The weekend before last I had my third Scrapbooking Retreat for the year.  This retreat booked out last March and the ladies all rebooked for the Retreat next March.  This group of ladies come from Queanbeyan, Cooma, Stockinbingal, Cootamundra, Wagga and the local area.  They are a great group.

I gave a pre retreat challenge of making a mini album from 5 coffee filters.  The results were truly amazing.  The different styles and interpretation of themes was wonderful.  Here are a couple of photos.

Bridgette made her album into a bucket and called it her bucket list.  One of the things she wants to do is hold a koala.  When she was out I placed a toy koala on her chair.  This is her hugging a koala.  I am sure she will get the opportunity to hug a real one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day after the retreat Roz and I headed to Henty for the Field days.  We had a stall in the Lifestyle Tent promoting the retreats and the Quilting Cruise next February.  In all we gave out 75 brochures on the Cruise.  I also had bookings for the Card Making Retreat in November and a lot of interest if getting a group together and coming.  We also had ladies book on the cruise.

We  took along all our Quilting Cruise workshop

examples.  These created a lot of interest.  We stated that the workshops were on the cruise and if they wanted to do them they could come and join us.  I also attended a workshop on Quilt Mosaics earlier in the Month.  This is my finished quilt that I did.  I really enjoyed doing this project.  Not sure if I would do another one but I am happy with the results.

 

In a couple of weeks Tony and I will be taking our Bali Quilting Retreat ladies for the two week fabric and sewing retreat in Bali.  This filled very quickly and we are all looking forward to going.

The Quilting Cruise is nearing our target number.  We still have a few places available.  For more information please contact me.

_Dorothy