Work in Progress January February 2016

I have been working on 2 large projects over the past few weeks.  They are both a combination of applique and thread painting (free machine embroidery).
The waterfall is finished and is being blocked at the moment.  It will eventually be framed. 70 cm x 40 

Waterfall in progress

Before the main falls are added

The finished waterfall

My Lizard, not sure why I started doing a lizard, has been interesting to do.  Totally different to what I have done before. Definitely different to cats and dogs.  He still has some finishing to do so will post a finished shot at a later date. 75 cm x 75 cm 

The back of the lizard showing the stitching.  It is very like a pencil sketch.

Upcoming Workshops/Retreats at Russellee BnB Craft Retreats Tumut

Russellee BnB Crafts Retreats is off the a busy year starting with the upcoming 4th Australian Quilting Cruise to NZ on the 22nd February 2015.

We are also hosting Retreats and Workshops at our BnB in Tumut and these are as follows:

Thread Painting Landscapes - 28 - 29 March 2015.

May 2014 Class

UFO Weekend (Finish all those started projects) 17-19 April 2015.

Roz finishing her quilt that she started on the cruise.

Fabric Mosaic with Robyn Taylor - 2-3 May 2015.

These retreats include accommodation.

 
Our Bail/Lombok Quilting Retreat, Fabric and Cultural Tour the 26th July - 8th August 2015 is filling fast.  We only take 10 ladies on this trip.

2013 Bali Group

The highlight of our trips this year and our biggest undertaking yet is our North to Alaska Quilting Cruise. This is the 2nd September 2015.  We are taking a maximum of 24 ladies on this. In conjunction with this trip I have orgained with Debbie Rodd of Rocky Mountain Quilting Tours a pre cruise (this one is full) and a post cruise two week boutique quilting tour visiting quilt shops, quilt groups a class and of course touring the spectacular Rocky Mountains of Canada.

If you would like information on any of these retreats/workshops contact me. email russeldr@bigpond.com

 

 

 

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

Thread Painting Finished

Autumn around Tumut this year has been just beautiful.  The golden trees and the green paddocks are a pleasure to look at.  I have taken several photos and have created a thread painting of one of them.  

This is a view of the  poplars at the Tumut Pioneer Bridge from the entrance to the Canoe Club.

Mosaic Workshop finished

After four great days of sewing, two of which included the workshop on mosaic pictures with Robyn Taylor. the Sydney Quilters left this morning braving the cold to catch the rail bus to Coota and then the train back to Sydney. The Retreat was a great success. Robyn's class went down very well. We will hold another 'Mosaic' class here later in the year if we get enough interest. Below are some of the results of the class.

 

Russellee's next retreat is a 'Thread Painting' workshop on the 17th and 18th May. Tumut is lovely at the moment with the Autumn colours in the trees give beautiful displays.  These trees are providing lots of inspiration for 'Thread Painting'.  On my way home from taking the Sydney ladies to the train I snapped these pictures.



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

Thread Painting Workshop

Broughton Castle England
completed thread painting

Last weekend I had the pleasure of giving a Thread Painting workshop to a lovely group of ladies at the Supurb Patchwork Shop Boorowa.  Boorowa has a lovely Patchwork shop owned by Ruth Davis.  This shop is a credit to a small town.

Photo of the garden at Broughton Castle England that inspired the thread painting

The ladies spent the first day learning different thread painting techniques and on the second day we created a picture with a painted background and the details thread painted.  My example used a photo taken on our trip to England May last year.

two of the ladies concentrating

The weekend was most enjoyable.  It was nice to be thread painting again after all the patchwork that I have been doing for the Australian Quilting Cruise next January. 

Painting the background

Starting to thread paint

Work well on the way

Completed Mini Landscape 2½" x  2"

One of the comments made on the was not having to keep getting up to the iron.  Lunch on Sunday was at the pub accross the road.  Ann comented on turning up with paint on her hands.  All part of the process.

Planning for the Australian Quilting Cruise is well on the way.  Amanda has posted on her blog the one day workshop that she will be doing.  This is titled 'Postcards'.  Have a look on her blog for her examples.  They are great. http://amandaspatch.blogspot.com.au/

We have had several bookings for the cruise.  Most of the oceanview cabins are booked.  There are limited number of these left however, inside cabins and the small balcony cabins are still available.  Email me if you would like more information on this cruise.

Dorothy