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

Card Making Retreat November

Our card making retreat the 15 - 17 November is filling fast.  The cost is $225 and includes two nights accommodation, meals and two card making workshops.  This is the first time that we have run this retreat.  If you are interested contact me either by email russeldr@bigpond.com or phone 02 69474216

Dorothy

A Busy Week

The past week has been a busy one.  On the weekend I had four ladies for a Photoshop Elements class.  This showed these wonderful ladies how to use this program to enhance and fix their photos for their Scrapbooking passion.  The weekend was full on as I had lots to show them.  It was enjoyed by all.

Raewyn concentrating  

Earlier in the week I finished my Thread Painting of my dog ‘Jessie’ that I started at the Craft Alive shows as a demonstration of Thread Painting.  I was happy with the way it turned out. 

I enjoy Thread Painting enormously and have started another project of one of my other dogs ‘Chelsea’.  She is a wolfhound cross ridgeback with a wonderful gentle personality.  Chelsea is showing her 14 years now but still has a lot of life in her.

 

Kaye came out today to show me the hat pins that she has been making for a shop in Melbourne.  They were beautiful.  She has done a great job with them.

 

September is a quieter month with our Retreats with the only one I have scheduled being the Scrapbooking Retreat.  This sold out several weeks ago.  If you have a group of ladies that would like to do a retreat of their own contact me for available dates.  This can be a weekend or during the week.

Dorothy

3rd Australian Quilting Cruise on Sale

Royal Caribbean has a sale on at the moment and has extended it to our 3^rd Australian Quilting Cruise.  Below are the special prices.  The Balcony cabins are exceptional value.  We have had some ladies already take advantage of this special.  If you have been considering coming on this cruise now is a good time to book before the special has run out.

 Cruise portion is priced in US Dollars per person. Even with the exchange rate this is still a great price.  Travel insurance & tools are not included.

Class fee is $385 AUS Dollars We have a choice of 4 classes over 6 sea days.  Both machine and hand worked.

Inside Stateroom from $1586.21 NEW LOWER PRICE $1351.21,

Promenade Staterooms from $1695.21 NEW LOWER PRICE $1424.21,

Oceanview Stateroom from $1886.21 NEW LOWER PRICE $1622.21,

Balcony Stateroom Special from $2256.21 NEW SPECIAL PRICE $1577.21!!

These prices are available until sold out!!

NOTE: Sewing Machines are not supplied. A limited amount of machines may be rented.

 

Contact me by email russeldr@bigpond.com  or Lorelle – lorelle@thecruisecrew.com for more information or if you would like to book.

 

Dorothy

 

Wagga Craft Alive Weekend

Last weekend saw the Wagga Craft Alive event.  I again had a stall to promote the Russellee Craft Retreats and the Quilting Cruise.  This was a far more successful weekend for all attending then the washed out Griffith Craft Alive and the interesting Wodonga Craft Alive.

This time I went on my own to set up on the Thursday.  Friday saw a large crowd pass through the door.  Over the course of the weekend 4600 people attended the show and keep everyone very busy.  Again I demonstrated free machining and this was very well received.

The team at Craft Alive staged a quilt exhibition in conjunction with the show.  Forty quilts from parts of NSW and Victoria were on display.  The visiting public were asked to vote for the best in show.  To my surprise and delight my quilt, ‘The Brumby’, inspired by a photo of Batlow photographer, Kris Daley, won first place.  Not only did I achieve first place but another quilt titled ‘My Cats’ received third place.  To receive these two places out of 40 wonderful quilts was an honour.

On the Saturday Kaye Snow joined me to help man the stall.  Kaye is a wonderful card maker and we spoke to several ladies about the November Card Making Retreat.  Sunday my wonderful husband, Tony, came as my helper and to assist in the packing up.  Overall the weekend was a great success.  I sold a lot of fabric and kits.  One lady on the Sunday purchased all the cat fabric that I had.

The thread painted picture that I created on the Friday also sold and I have since sold my large picture of a thread painted cat.  I am also holding a Thread Painting Retreat in November. By mid morning of the third day we run out of retreat brochures and I had to send Tony to get more printed at Office Works.

We had a lot of interest in our Cruise for February.  A lot of the cards re the cruise that I had were taken and the balcony special on at the moment was well received.  Time will tell if we have some bookings from this weekend for both the cruise and the craft retreats at Russellee.

Another interesting point is that Chris Dowell, one of our Cruise tutors, has her quilt ‘Just the Two of Us’ in the current addition of Down Under Quilts.  We still have places available on the cruise.  If you would like to come and join us please contact me or Lorelle.  Our emails are on the right of the blog.

Until next time

Dorothy

3rd Australian Quilting Cruise Update

We have had requests from ladies to include hand work projects on the cruise.  Laraine has put together two such workshops.  One is a hardanger project and the other is an embroidered and hand pieced bag.  (This can also be sewn together by machine if wished).  This bag has a couple of different techniques involved.

These projects have been taught to various groups around the Riverina and Snowy Mountains and have been very well received.  Laraine is a very talented lady and her sewing is exquisite.  I shall post photos of the projects when I have them.

I have just had word from Lorelle, our booking lady, that Royal Caribbean have a special on their balcony cabins.  They are $300 off for a short time.  This makes them about the same price as the Ocean View Cabins.  So If you would love to cruise with a balcony with out the extra cost it is a good time to do so.

Dorothy   

Wodonga Craft Alive

Kaye and I travelled to Wodonga last Thursday to set up for the Wodonga Craft Alive event.  The venue was the Leisure Centre and provided all the stall holders plenty of space.  We managed to get our stall set up with all our display visible. This is no easy feat as the space is limited. I also had the use of a row of great display boards for my quilts.  Friday seen us there bright and early for the arrival of the many visitors to the event.  Both Kaye and I took along projects to demonstrate to the visitors.  Kaye had here beautiful cards and I took along fabric and threads to use with the Bernina machine.  I demonstrated Thread Painting.  This proved to be a very good draw card to our stand.

Over the weekend I had a lot of interest in the Retreats that I have planned for the coming months.  Also a lot of questions were asked about our Quilting Cruise next February.  I sold some patterns, jelly rolls and a quilt over the three days.  This was a nice bonus to the venture.

I shall be attending the Wagga Craft Alive at the beginning of August.  Each event that I attend I learn something about how to improve the stall set up and next time will try a different approach.  I will still be demonstrating the Threat Painting.  I will be holding a two day Thread Painting weekend in November.  Since I have been home I have had some ladies book into the retreats.  This is what the weekends are all about.  The promoting of Russellee BnB's Craft Retreats.

Until next time

Dorothy