Russellee BnB Craft Retreats Newsletter

Russellee has had a very busy six months and I would like to thank all those who attended one of our retreats either scrapbooking or patchwork. 

The year started off with our first UFO retreat for the year in February.  This was followed by the 3^rd Australian Quilting Cruise. Ladies came from all parts of the country as well as five from New Zealand.

We arrived home from the Cruise on the 9^th March and this was followed by our first Scrapbooking Retreat for the year. Helen Godden fitted her ‘Crack Pots’  workshop into her busy schedule in March. Eleven ladies from around the area as well as one travelling from Victoria.  We thank Helen and her mum for doing this for us.

Sandy’s Quilters from Canberra also came in March. This was their fifth year of coming.  To finish off March I had my sister’s, Pam, 70^th  birthday at Russellee.

Laraine and I took some time out and attended the Norfolk Island Quilting Retreat with Michelle Yea.  Both Tony and Bill came with us as we had a very enjoyable 10 days of quilting and sightseeing.  Norfolk is a beautiful place.

I made and effort and finished a project of raw edge appliqué and entered it into the Tumut Art Show in the fibre art section and to my surprise it won and I also sold it.  I find it very difficult to get the time to finish projects for competition and it was hard going getting the piece finished but it was worth the effort.

A group of lovely ladies from Sydney came for a five day retreat at the end of April.  Some of these ladies have been on our cruises and one was also at Norfolk.  It was wonderful being able to catch up with them again.

Robyn Taylor from Wagga came over and gave these ladies a workshop on her Fabric Mosaic technique.  They also invited Roz to join in and the resulting pictures were stunning.

In May a group of ladies came for their third Mothers and Daughters Card Making weekend.  This group come from different areas of the state and use the weekend to catch up with each other and make some beautiful cards.

I also had a thread painting weekend in May.  It has been three years since I presented one.  Had ladies travel from Sydney, Mittagong, Wagga and The Rock as well as local.  A small group but the results were great.

The end of May saw Tony, James, Liam and I head off to Uluru for a road trip. (Tony’s idea.) It was a long, long way but the scenery was spectacular.  I have lots of inspirational photos for thread painting and hope have one done in time for the Desert Sands Exhibition in August.

Back home and another UFO Retreat.  This Retreat was a bit different to our other  UFO quilting retreats as we had two knitters and a lovely teenager working on an appliqué project for her HSC.  It was great to see the younger generation interested in sewing.

I am working on two quilts for the Canberra Quilt Show in August.  Nothing like a bit of pressure to get things moving.  I promised myself that this year I would enter some of my work into shows.  Have managed one and two more to go. (I hope).

As to the rest of the year.  July is fairly quite as far as Retreats go but August has two retreats plus I am doing two craft shows to promote the cruise and the retreats.

October is our Bail Quilting Retreat.  We still have one spot left on this.  Two ladies are coming from New Zealand to join us at Bail.

 

I am planning to have another UFO Retreat 7 – 9 November and a Thread Painting workshop 6-7 December.  In  between I have a scrapbooking retreat plus three private retreats.

The second half is going to be busy but life is best when busy.

 

Take Care

Dorothy

 

Thread Painting Retreat

Last weekend five ladies attended the Thread Painting Retreat at
Russellee.  The ladies came from Sydney, Mittagong, Wagga, The Rock and Batlow.  The results of their efforts for the weekend were well received.  The workshop concentrated on landscapes. 

At first the landscapes seemed to not be happening as we started with the background.  Once the foreground and the main features started to be added the delight of the ladies was evident as the landscapes evolved before their eyes.

 

All were very happy with the results.  A couple still need a bit of finishing but they are well on the way.  Looking forward to seeing photos of the finished work.

Russellee's next retreat is a UFO Retreat in June.  This retreat is full.  We will be having another UFO Retreat 7-9 November.  If you are interested in coming please contact me.

Our Quilting Retreat at  Sea next February is half full.  If you would like any information please contact me or Lorelle.  Next year we are sailing to New Zealand and my guest teachers are Helen Godden and Jan Pilgrim.  Jan is doing two lovely hand stitched projects on this cruise.  She has just sent me a photo of her second workshop of a New Zealand Christmas Bush featuring stumpwork leaves

Bali in October has three spots left.  We only do one of these retreats a year.  This is a fabulous two weeks of fabric shopping, cloths shopping, sightseeing and of course sewing.  The sewing machines are provided and we have a wonderful time sewing the beautiful fabric that we buy there.  A highlight of this trip is a hands on class in making a Batik runner.

 

Dorothy

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

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

 

 

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