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

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

Sandys Quilters

Sandy's Canberra Quilters

Last weekend seen ten ladies from Canberra, surrounds and one from Brisbane enjoy there second retreat at Russellee. Twelve or more quilt tops were well on the way or completed by the end of the weekend. Not all were quilters, however, there was one tatter and one long stitcher.

The ladies enjoyed a great weekend sewing. The conversation was great, lots of laughter and the company was great. Midnight oil was burnt on Saturday night. A good time was held by all and lots of sewing was achieved.Sandy also put forward the idea of doing a Quilting Cruise. I passed this onto Lorelle of Crafting Cruises and the idea is being followed up. Shall keep you posted.

Until next time.

Dorothy

Scrapbooking Cruise

Pam and I are back on dry land after the 2nd Annual Scrapbook Cruise 6th - 13th January 2011. This was a 7 night Tasmania Cruise on the Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas.

Lorelle and Rob Hardt for Crafting Cruises again hosted a great Scrapping Cruise.

Our wonderful teacher, Melissa Kennedy from KasierCraft, again gave us great classes. We actually completed seven layouts and a couple of cards with her. Considering that we only had two and a half days at sea Melissa did very well.

In all about 36 ladies and 22 extra family members were in the group. They came from all over the country from Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. I have included a group photo of the ladies however some in the back are a bit hard to see. Not sure how to overcome this with so many.

Lorelle and Rob had their beautiful baby daughter, Cassandra, with them. They also had a lot of baby sitters with sisters and cousins. Unfortunately Lorelle's mum had a mishap at the start of the cruise and had to go into hospital in Melbourne.

The floods in Queensland played havoc on the group a bit with one lady from Rockhampton unable to attend due to the floods and some of the Brisbane ladies having difficulty in getting home. Not to mention anxious times with text messages from loved ones in Ipswitch and Toowamba. However, all are safe even though houses were affected.

Raewyn Gilchrist from Wagga (there were 15 in her party although not all Scrappers) gave a bonus class. I would like to thank Raewyn for all the effort she put into getting this class ready. Although my layout is not completed some of the ladies did some lovely layouts using Raewyn's kits.

Melissa's layouts had lovely papers from the Prima Annabella rang, the Kasier Seaside range and American Crafts Enchanted range. Thank you Melissa for put together great kits. Melissa also gave a prize for the lady who completed the most layouts. One lady did 50 odd layouts during the cruise. Even though we only had 2½ days at sea we had access to the Scrapbooking room at all times which was great.

Pam was lucky enough to win one of the luck draws. The prize was a signed Tim Holtz's A Compendium of Curriosities book. Great techniques in it.

I would recommend a Scrapping Cruise to all those who are addicted to the craft. I have put a link into Lorelle's email for those who are interested in the 3rd Annual Australian Scrapbooking Cruise.

Until next time

Happy Scrapping

Dorothy

Christmas is Coming

The Most wonderful Time of the Year is just around the corner. Still have a few things to get ready. time just seems to slip away.

We had the Scrapbooking Christmas party at Pam's last Saturday evening. Pam acted as Santa and did a top job. Not only was Pam a great Santa but she was a wonderful hostess as well.

My friends from Canberra called in for a couple of days and we did a practice Christmas dinner roast on the Barbque. It was a great evening.

We are counting down the days until the Scrapbooking Cruise. I actually have my photos ready. Looking forward to the cruise. Tony is going to be busy while we are away as we have a lot of bookings for the Bed and Breakfast. I sure he will cope with the help of the 'kids'.

Hope every one has a wonderful Christmas and may 2011 have many hours of Scrapbooking and Quilting.

Dorothy

November News

I have been a bit slack in keeping the blog up to date. The above photo is of the first quilt that I have completed with my quiliting machine. Have others to do. Will get there one day.

The response to the March Scrapbooking weekend has been overwhelming. All the workshops have been finalised and our guest tutor, Kaye, has put together a stunning workshop. Even though it is not until March it will be here before we know it.

I have taken the plunge a got together a small shop as there is not readily available scrapbook shop here now. I have lots of Prima, alphabets, cardstock, papers and bits and pieces.

Pam and I are looking forward to going to the Scrapbooking Cruise in January. There is a good contingent of people from Wagga also going, althought not all scrappers. It will be nice to share this experience with Raywen.

Last weekend I had nine ladies from the Canberra 'Stitch and Bitch' quilters come for a weekend of doing their own thing. By all accounts they had a great time. So beautiful work was created. The quilters do not have as much stuff with them as the scrappers.

I have been busy putting together kits for Pam and I to do and take on the cruise. Have still managed to do a few layouts.

Until next time.

Dorothy

Daisy Tutorial

I used a small and a medium daisy punch. You could cut out a template if you do not have the punches. The paper I used was printed on one side however you can use double sided paper or cardstock.

Ink, pearls for the centres and foam squares to stick together or glue if you prefer.

Cut two medium and one small daisy. Ink the the edges and the back. the small flower will need inking all over the back.

Pinch and push up the petals on all the flowers.

Stack the two large petals on top of each other, off setting them, right side up with foam squares. Place the small flower reverse side up on top. Place a pearl into the middle of the flower.
Below is the finished flower with a flower made from double sided paper.

Sara did this layout using cardstock to make the flowers.
Thank you for looking.