Vicky's Monday Night Quilting Group from Albury/Wondanga have a quilting weekend at Russellee BnB Craft Retreats.

Russellee offers a venue for quilters, scrapbookers or other crafters to indulge in their passion.  We provide accommodation and organise meals.  This allows you the have a weekend to concentrate on you passion and we will look after you.

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

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

Russellee's Retreat Update

Russellee has had a busy six months with retreats.  January saw our 2nd Australian Quilting Retreat at Sea.  This was followed by UFO Quilting weekends and Scrapping weekends plus a small a Card Making weekend.

Our Bali Retreat is now full as is the September Scrapbooking Retreat. We are getting a steady flow of bookings for the 3rd Australian Quilting Cruise – A Quilting Retreat at Sea.  We have some ladies coming for WA.  One is driving her mobile home across and parking it in her friend’s backyard while she is on the cruise.

To promote the Retreats I have decided to do some of the Craft Alive events.  This is the first time that I have been a store holder at this type of event.  My first weekend was at Griffith.  Unfortunately the weather was not kind to us and this Craft Alive was not as successful as all had wished.  Many of the stall holders have been attending for several years and stated that this was by far their worst.  However it was a great learning curve for me and I did secure some bookings which was what I set out to do.

Russellee stall at Griffith Craft Alive

To finish the first six months of the 2013 Russellee is having a Scrapping Retreat the 21st – 23rd June.  There are still a couple of places available for this retreat.  The cost is $260 for two nights accommodation, meals and three workshops.

The second half of 2013 has a busy program.  Two of these retreats are already at capacity but there are spots available in all the rest. 

I have included a Thread Painting Retreat this year as it is over 12 months since I have presented one of these Retreats.  Thread painting is my passion and I am love sharing this with others.

Below is a full program for Russellee which will take us up to the Quilting Cruise in February 2014.

12 – 14 July                      Wodonga Craft Alive -  Retreat promotion

2 – 4 August                     Wagga Wagga Craft Alive -  Retreat promotion

23 – 25 August                 UFO Quilting Retreat - $210 includes two nights accommodation, all meals

13 – 15 September           Scrapbooking Retreat – This retreat is booked out.

15 – 28 October               Quilting Retreat Bali – This retreat is booked out.

1 –3 November                 UFO Quilting Retreat - $210 includes two nights accommodation, all meals

15  – 17 November           Card Making Retreat - $225 includes two nights accommodation, all meals and two card workshops.

23 – 24 November            Thread Painting Retreat - $170 includes workshop, one nights accommodation, all meals

15 – 17 February 2014     Scrapbooking Retreat - $260 – includes two nights accommodation, all meals and three workshops.

27 February 2014             10 night Quilting Cruise – Voyager of the Seas

Our Quilting Retreat at Sea is great value even with the exchange rate as it is at the moment.  Our prices start from $1351.21 US per person inside cabin plus $380 AU per person for the Retreat portion of the cruise.  This retreat price is great value as it includes 10 days use of a huge workroom where the machines can be set up for the entire cruise plus three workshops.

The cruise gives you the opportunity to combine a wonderful holiday Plus the company of great ladies from all parts of the country who share the same passion for patchwork and quilting.

 

Also if the above dates are not suitable for you we cater for small groups from 4 - 10 who wish to create their own retreat.  This can be a weekend or mid week.

If you would like more information on any of these retreats please contact me by phone - 02 69474216 – or email russeldr@bigpond.com

Until next time

 Dorothy

 

 

Bail Quilting Retreat

Join us on an exciting 14 day fully escorted Quilting, Fabric and Cultural Retreat Bali 15 - 28 October 2013

On arrival in Bali we will be met by or Bali Friend, John, an expat from Canberra.  John will look after and guide us for the next two weeks.

 Our first week is about batiks with exclusive visits to shops crammed with material and also to factories to see how they are produced.  We will visit the Bali Safari & Marine park where you will enjoy a full lunch and have the opportunity to get up personal with an orang-utan.  Be truly amazed by the spectacular Bail Agung theatre show.  Not to be missed.

 

We will then travel, via our own mini bus and dedicated driver, to the tranquil seaside hotel at Candi Dassa.  Candi Dassa will be our sea side home for the remainder of our retreat.  We will have plenty of opportunity to sew our wonderful batik purchases.  Many project ideas will be available or bring your own patterns.

There will be plenty of time sew or to just relax at this magical place.  We have brand new basic Singer Sewing Machines and an airconditioned workroom.

A visit to the ancient village of Tenganan gives an insight into the Balinese culture and also the Ujung Water palace.  A highlight of Candi Dassa is a fish and turtle viewing morning via an outrigger canoe, with an option for snorkelling.

We finish our trip at Jimbaran Beach with a farewell dinner while watching the sun set.  Then sadly we will be taken to the airport by our driver for the return flight to Australia.

 

Come and join us on this magical Retreat.  You do not have to be a quilter to come. For more information contact me at russeldr@bigpond.com

 

Dorothy

Wonderful Scrapping Weekend

We have just had another wonderful Scrapping weekend. The 13 ladies have all attended before and a great time was had by all. they started to arrive at 10 am on the Friday morning and came from Wagga Wagga, Stockinbingal, Cooma, Queanbeyan as well as three ladies from the local area.

The wonderful Scrappers

 During the course of the weekend I conducted three workshops and gave one demonstration.  I am always amazed at the quality of work that is produced in these workshops.  This retreat was no exception. 

Mini Book workshop

Mini Book workshop

Mini Book Workshop

Mini Book workshop

Lavender and Lace challenge.  Thinking out of the square.

Sketch Challenge

Lavender and Lace

There were many jokes and laughter not to mention the eating of food.  I heard one lady say that she had been on a diet so that she could enjoy the food over the weekend.

 Saturday morning seen most of the ladies make a trip to Scrapping4Keeps to add to their stash of paper and embellishments. It is intriguing to see how much they bring to the weekend and there is a lot of idea swapping on the storage devices for hauling all their goodies.

 I usually run two weekends a year.  The second is in September but all the ladies booked for this before they left on Sunday.  Bridget, from Scaping4Keeps, has asked me to run an extra retreat this year as she has a lot of enquiries and she felt that other ladies would like to enjoy a retreat also.  We have planned another weekend for the 21^st – 23^rd June.  If you are interested in attending this please contact me.

 

Dorothy