Norfolk Island Quilting Retreat

Laraine and I are at Norfolk Island on a quilting retreat with Michelle Yeo.  Her two projects are beautiful.  Lots of work however.  I have managed to get the centre panel for the St Baranbas Rose finished today.  There is a lot more to do before the quilt is finished.

Tony and Bill are enjoying touring the island and learning about the history.  They have managed to fill their time in while we are patch working.  Will post some other photos later in the week.

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

3rd Australian Quilting Cruise Report

The 3^rd Australian Quilting Cruise was a great experience.  Thirty four wonderful ladies from as far away as New Zealand, Western Australia and in between attended this retreat.  Laraine Callinan and Christine Dowell helped to make this a very successful Quilting Cruise on the Royal Caribbean ‘Voyager of the Seas’ on a 10 night retreat at sea. 

 

Christine designed two lovely appliqué wall hangings which comprised of all hand dyed fabric kits.  These designs when completed on the ship were very well received by those on the cruise.

I presented a ‘Jelly Roll’ workshop designed around lovely batik fabrics purchased on our Bali Quilting Retreat last October.  I also designed a freezer paper class with a picture as the central inspiration for the piecing.  This was inspired by English patchworker, Angela Madden and her ‘Piecful Sceans’ book.  Angela sent two copies of her book out from England which I used as lucky draws in the workshops.  In all I embroidered 14 lavender fields using free machining and 15 programmed beach scenes.

The final workshop was designed and presented by Laraine Callinan and featured a tool caddy for carrying small quilting equipment. I ordered 40 A5 cutting mats from England for this workshop. This workshop was very much appreciated by the group.

As well as workshops the ship visited Noumea, New Caledonia, Suva and Loutoka in Fiji.  Many exciting shore excursions were enjoyed by all.  Laraine, Chris and a friend, Roz, braved wooden canoes up a river and through rapids to a waterfall followed by a great visit to a local village.

The Voyager of the Seas has a Disney theme.  We had visits to the workroom by some of the characters.  They added a fun atmosphere to the room.

A pre cruise challenge titled 'Tropical Colours' had 17 entries.  A viewers choice award of a Bernette sewing machine donated by Bernina Australia was won by Lydia McGreagor from Queensland. The winner was announced at a Cocktail Party held near the end of the cruise.

A ‘Quilting Retreat at Sea’ is a wonderful way to combine the love of patch working with a great holiday where the ships staff pamper you like royalty and the food is varied and wonderful.  

Roz was my ‘Official’ photographer and did a wonderful job of capturing all aspects of the cruise from the workshops, to around the ship and the ports of call.  I would like to give Roz a big thank you for doing this. This is a link to her Album on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/roslyn.sephton/media_set?set=a.10202528232141585.1073741868.1069076082&type=1 

Our cruise would not take place without the behind the sceans work with bookings and following up the ships requests of our group with the wonderful Lorelle Hardt of Crafting Cruises.

The next Quilting Cruise is scheduled for February 2015 and visits the north Island of New Zealand.  Two special guest tutors have been included with world renowned Helen Godden presenting her 'Flying into colours' workshop along with a surface stitching embroidery specialist Jan Pilgrim. Jan will add another dimension to our cruise with her lovely designs for those wishing to do hand projects.  I have designed a quilt top, (or table runner version) using an old block with a modern twist.

Any one interested in next years cruise can contact me.

Until next time

Dorothy

Blog giverway winner

The winner of the blog giveaway for the June UFO quilting retreat is Jenny Fish from Bungendore.  Congratulations Jenny 

UFO Weekend and Blog Giveaway

Russellee’s UFO Retreat last weekend a great weekend despite several misshapes preventing some from coming.  All in all a lot of sewing was achieved. 

We had a lovely lady, Lois; from Sydney join us for the weekend.  Her main project was a very colourful basket weave quilt.  Lots of ‘Y’ seams but the end result was stunning.

 

One of our regulars from Canberra did a Shop Hop Road trip in California last January.  She brought along a lot of the goodies that she purchased while she was there.  Her project for the weekend was a beautiful Peacock Quilt that she purchased as a kit from one of the shops.

Roz continued on her UFO from our last retreat as her life has been so busy that finding time to sew has been difficult.  When she started to lay out her blocks she found that she had gone overboard and will probably have enough to make two very large quilts.

On Sunday Anne came out for lunch with us.  She had a fall in her backyard  the day before the Retreat.  She fell onto some rocks and was in a bit of a mess.  Very lucky as it could have been a lot worse.

I actually started another project.  Have a heap of UFOs but I am hoping to have this one finished for a display in April.  We will see as our Quilting Cruise is next week and when we arrive home the next two weekends are booked with a Scrapbooking Retreat followed by a group of 10 ladies coming from Canberra for a Retreat of their own.

 

Russellee’s next UFO Retreat is the 13-15 June.  I am running a blog giveaway for the Retreat.  Leave a comment and you could join us with two nights’ accommodation and meals at this Retreat in Tumut.  You have until the end of our Quilting Cruise to leave a comment.

I shall keep you posted on how our Quilting Cruise progresses.

Until then

Dorothy

Thread Painted dog

I finished a thread painting of my sons, Nathan, dog, Jack Daniels today.  The dog is not my most favourite dog in the world but he was a bit of a character to thread paint.

 

Just about finished packing all the stuff to take on the quilting cruise.  Apart from 16 sewing machines I have eight suitcases with power boards, kits, fabric, quilts and lots more.  When you are out at sea you can not go to the shop to buy something you have forgotten.  It is a matter of preparing for everything or else do without.

 



Quilting Cruise Getting Closer

Been a busy week here at Russellee.  Finally have all the my workshop kits organised and packed .  Have spent the day checking, oiling and packing the machines.  Most of the machines are basic models but they serve us well.

Laraine has finished two examples for the ‘Freezer Paper Workshop’.  Has written her notes for the ‘Mystery Workshop’ and has been a wonderful help to me.

Chris has had some great news this week.  Her submission for the ‘Living Colour’ exhibition has been chosen.  Her quilt is titled ‘Consider the Flowers of the Field’.  Chris also had a quilt in the previous ‘Beneath the Southern Skies’ exhibition.  Congratulations Chris.

Her kits for the cruise are well on the way.  Chris not only has designed two great projects for the cruise she had hand dyed the fabric to go into the kits.  I purchased the plain fabric for her on our Bali Quilting Retreat last year and she has had a wonderful time dying it.  I am looking forward to seeing the end results.

The flyers for our 2015 Australian Quilting Cruise and Embroidery Cruise should arrive from the printers this week.  I will be sending some out very soon.

 

Until next time

 

Dorothy