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.



Sydney Quilters come for a Retreat

On Wednesday five ladies from Sydney arrived at Russellee for a quilting retreat.  They came on the train and we picked them up. Two other ladies joined them on Friday.  For the first couple of days they were working on UFOs.

Today Robyn Taylor from Wagga came to Russellee to teach her 'Mosaic' class to the group.  I have some photos of the group with the initial stages of some of the projects.  When they are nearer to completion I shall post some more photos.

Five of these ladies I first met when they came on our 1st Australian Quilting Cruise. Four come on our 3rd Quilting Cruise and one has been on all three of our Australian Quilting Cruises. Robyn Taylor also was on our last Quilting Cruise and the Sydney ladies met her on the cruise.  Robyn came as one of the participants but I had a example of her 'Mosaic' class with me.  This created a lot of interest.
Four of the ladies have booked on to our 4th Australian Quilting Cruise next February and are looking forward to doing Helen Godden's class.

I have met wonderful ladies on the Quilting Cruises.  They are a great way to meet fellow minded ladies and have a great holiday doing what you love, meeting wonderful people and being spoilt by the lovely staff on the ships.
One of Sydney ladies, Maureen also came on our Bail retreat last year.  Two Melbourne ladies who were on our first cruise also came to Bail.  Friendships for been forged by the wonderful addiction of Patchwork and Quilting and Retreats.

Dorothy

My fabric picture wins

I entered a fabric art picture of a walled garden that I visited at Boughton Castle a couple of years ago on a Garden Tour with Angus Stewart. This picture was created using several techniques including raw edge applique, couching, free machining and thread painting.

Today I found out that my picture has won the Fiber Art section of the Tumut's 57th Annual Art Show.  Not only has it won but I have also sold it.  This is the second picture I have sold at the gallery in the past few weeks.  It is small thread painting done on silk.

I will hopefully be starting on another fabric art picture very soon. There are a many different designs going around in my head.
Where to find the time can be a bit of a problem but will have to make time.
Dorothy

Norfolk Island Quilting Retreat

Laraine and I are at Norfolk Island on a quilting retreat with Michelle Yeo.  Her two projects are beautiful.  Lots of work however.  I have managed to get the centre panel for the St Baranbas Rose finished today.  There is a lot more to do before the quilt is finished.

Tony and Bill are enjoying touring the island and learning about the history.  They have managed to fill their time in while we are patch working.  Will post some other photos later in the week.

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

3rd Australian Quilting Cruise Report

The 3^rd Australian Quilting Cruise was a great experience.  Thirty four wonderful ladies from as far away as New Zealand, Western Australia and in between attended this retreat.  Laraine Callinan and Christine Dowell helped to make this a very successful Quilting Cruise on the Royal Caribbean ‘Voyager of the Seas’ on a 10 night retreat at sea. 

 

Christine designed two lovely appliqué wall hangings which comprised of all hand dyed fabric kits.  These designs when completed on the ship were very well received by those on the cruise.

I presented a ‘Jelly Roll’ workshop designed around lovely batik fabrics purchased on our Bali Quilting Retreat last October.  I also designed a freezer paper class with a picture as the central inspiration for the piecing.  This was inspired by English patchworker, Angela Madden and her ‘Piecful Sceans’ book.  Angela sent two copies of her book out from England which I used as lucky draws in the workshops.  In all I embroidered 14 lavender fields using free machining and 15 programmed beach scenes.

The final workshop was designed and presented by Laraine Callinan and featured a tool caddy for carrying small quilting equipment. I ordered 40 A5 cutting mats from England for this workshop. This workshop was very much appreciated by the group.

As well as workshops the ship visited Noumea, New Caledonia, Suva and Loutoka in Fiji.  Many exciting shore excursions were enjoyed by all.  Laraine, Chris and a friend, Roz, braved wooden canoes up a river and through rapids to a waterfall followed by a great visit to a local village.

The Voyager of the Seas has a Disney theme.  We had visits to the workroom by some of the characters.  They added a fun atmosphere to the room.

A pre cruise challenge titled 'Tropical Colours' had 17 entries.  A viewers choice award of a Bernette sewing machine donated by Bernina Australia was won by Lydia McGreagor from Queensland. The winner was announced at a Cocktail Party held near the end of the cruise.

A ‘Quilting Retreat at Sea’ is a wonderful way to combine the love of patch working with a great holiday where the ships staff pamper you like royalty and the food is varied and wonderful.  

Roz was my ‘Official’ photographer and did a wonderful job of capturing all aspects of the cruise from the workshops, to around the ship and the ports of call.  I would like to give Roz a big thank you for doing this. This is a link to her Album on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/roslyn.sephton/media_set?set=a.10202528232141585.1073741868.1069076082&type=1 

Our cruise would not take place without the behind the sceans work with bookings and following up the ships requests of our group with the wonderful Lorelle Hardt of Crafting Cruises.

The next Quilting Cruise is scheduled for February 2015 and visits the north Island of New Zealand.  Two special guest tutors have been included with world renowned Helen Godden presenting her 'Flying into colours' workshop along with a surface stitching embroidery specialist Jan Pilgrim. Jan will add another dimension to our cruise with her lovely designs for those wishing to do hand projects.  I have designed a quilt top, (or table runner version) using an old block with a modern twist.

Any one interested in next years cruise can contact me.

Until next time

Dorothy

Blog giverway winner

The winner of the blog giveaway for the June UFO quilting retreat is Jenny Fish from Bungendore.  Congratulations Jenny