So Long Sunday...

Final diary instalment of my FQR weekend; thank you for keeping up!

So another early start, all packed up and checked out of the hotel, I was off for some doodling with Troods.

I am a graphic artist, in the broadest sense of the word; curvy doodles do not come easily to me with a pen, so I really have no hope FMQing…

… but it was a lovely way to start the day, and wonderful to see how easily it comes to Trudi, a total natural!

Then it was on to my final class.

To say I was looking forward to a real lesson with Mister Thomas Knauer is an understatement.  OK so we were quiz-buddies, and he did tell me that 'it was only bloody knots, how difficult can it be!?', but I was, and still am, fascinated by his ability to take a simple question or comment and talk and talk and talk!

I now need to read all the theorising in Modern Quilt Perspectives, because I can now hear his voice in my head, and that is way more entertaining than reading it 'flat'.

He is so clever.  The class was simple, and indeed only knots, but his tales of making babies, (not as icky as that sounds), quilts for his daughter and the evils of the large quilt collections and manufacturers were really interesting.

And then it was over!

The final farewell in the hall was interrupted by a fire alarm; I helped Jen (Kingwell, as if you hadn't guessed!), pack up her gorgeous quilts into her suitcase; they were not going to be left behind even if we got burnt to death in the process!  Decamped to the pavement outside, it was time for thanks, cheers and hugs goodbye.

Sadly it was all over.

I have had a total blast at the previous two Retreats, don't get me wrong, meeting some of my best friends for the first time, taking some great classes and generally having a brilliant time, but this Retreat was different.

Socially it was still wonderful, there was more time to actually speak to people, time to take stock and time to enjoy spending time with friends.  The smaller number of attendees worked so well, and I would loath a return to the jam-packed hustle and bustle of last year.

However this time the classes really wowed me!  I came out of each session full of ideas and excited for the next.  All my teachers were amazing.

I learnt so much over the course of the weekend, I didn't touch a sewing machine and I am glad.  I am so enthused to do more hand-piecing and to hand quilt, the joys of which a week ago, had just passed me by.  Oh, I was so missing out!

Then it was home, to unpacking and digesting everything that had gone on, as well as emptying the contents of my goody bag!

So many generous sponsors…

Soak, Moda, Koribond, Makower, Aurifil, Riley Blake, Dashwood Studios, Robert Kaufman and Janome - Thank you!

Another thank you, and apology because I should have added this to the Friday post, goes to Tsoniki for my name tag; I wore it all weekend, and home again…

Fat Quarterly Team, including Sandy and the Jacks, you totally nailed it, thank you so much for your hard work, talent and humour!  Please don't go changing!

Ready for Saturday?

Sooooo an early and rainy start, but by 9am I was installed in the main hall ready for screen printing with Karen.

OMG why have I not discovered the joys of printing before!?  I promise you I will be printing on anything that doesn't move this summer; I may even let the kids have a go!

I cut a little Carpenter-esk star for my template, and it actually worked, which I was having my doubts about at first.

Trash's pair got everywhere!

The 3 hours flew by, no doubt aided by the fun I was having next to Cindy, Nicky and Reene.

Karen was an awesome teacher, and everyone in the class came away with great printed fabric, bags and the like.  If you have followed the hashtag #FQR2014 in Instagram you will have seen loads of pictures, and everyone is smiling… or similar!

Pinched from Karen again!

Another top class that I cannot recommend highly enough.  I had to buy some scrap bags and Karen's beautiful book, it was the law!

On to lunch, I enjoyed an hour in the company of Jen Kingwell and Amanda; I probably spent an inordinate amount of the conversation just thinking 'I am having lunch with Jen Kingwell, behave!'

Then after a quick swap over of supplies I was in class again with Jen, this time for hand-piecing and appliqué using her Green Tea & Sweet Beans pattern (which we all got a copy of!!).

Again, wonderful relaxed teaching, Sonia and I settled on a sweet flower and petal block and may not have progressed very far in class, but that wasn't important, it was the being there that counted again.

Top tips abound; placing a sheet of sandpaper under your fabric to grip it when marking templates, who  knew!?

I will make the whole quilt one day.  I am planning on making a cushion from a few of the blocks for now, but I am so keen to get on with my Midnight At The Oasis again now Jen has worked her magic!

After class was the sample swap.  Hilariously Sarah, who one my blogiversary giveaway tote was in my group and now has another!!  I came home with these…

The little house is a lavender bag from Bettina, the purse from Cara and mug rug from Sarah.  I am a happy bunny!

Then onto the evening, are you keeping up!?

Market night first; I collected pre-ordered Cotton & Steel from the lovely ladies from The Village Haberdashery, and supplemented this with a yard more from The Eternal Maker…

I scored a Kona Colour Card from Cindy to add to my Fluffy Sheep pre-order…

A little bit of Oakshott…

Some little extras from Beyond Fabric…

Oh and then back to the Village Haberdashery for a little Far Far Away…

I couldn't go the evening without purchasing a pack of Jess's cards from Reene…

And after all that, there was the grand Siblings Together handover - the Jacks did a great job holding and folding…

Look at that pile!!!

So moving to see Delma taking these away for such a great cause.

Then Quiz night and pot-luck Bingo!!!

Winner winner, chicken dinner!  Go Team Butler, (named by Thomas Knauer's love and theory that all things come from Amy Butler), won the day; that's two years, two wins, just saying!!

℅ Sandy

I pulled Thomas into the team on the assumption that he knew everything; that was not strictly true, but good enough, and I laughed so hard, especially at the lateral thinking that guessing the names of the new Kona colours required; a yard of Sandstone anyone!!?

For my winnings and Bingo pick, I claimed a couple more Jen Kingwell patterns, including Gypsy Wife!!!  I am set up for the next 8 years I reckon!!

That little finger pin cushion up there was a present in the hand quilting class, but has ended up in this stalkerish collection!

So by then it was near 11pm, and I headed back to bed absolutely shattered in the best way!

Hope you have the stamina for Sunday!  See you tomorrow, (it'll be the last day of term and work - yippee!!!) xxx

Let's start at the very beginning...

… a very good place to start.

I already know that I am going to have to break FQR2014 down into multiple posts, because I still haven't been able to get it all straight in my head; there was so much information to digest and ideas to ponder over, I don't want to forget anything.

So let's see how far I get!

Friday.  It started with a 4am thunderstorm and power cut, meaning all sorts of re-setting phone alarms and worrying about the lack of hot water and straighteners in the morning!  By 'wake up time' it was all good; and by 10am I was on the train, not quite sure what to expect.

I was checked into my hotel by midday, then strolled up in the ridiculous heat to BP House.

The welcome committee was in place, Lynne, Brioni, Tacha and Trash, plus the 2 Jacks; game on!  A quick hello with Tammy, Betty and a few others, and by the time we decided to escape the heat and decamp to the terrace, more and more lovely people were arriving and we headed on into the wonderfully air-conditioned hall.

I have to admit, when the FQly ladies began the Intro, I was wondering where everyone else was!  I don't know the exact numbers but compared to the manic squeeze at the beginning of the last couple of years, the hall was virtually empty.

I was so excited that I got to meet some of my long-time 'friends' for the first time, like Sarah-Fairyface, Joanne, and Blueberry Park Karen as well as old buddies like Cindy, Sonia, Sarah and Nicky and, of course, Brit Bee buds Troods and Di.  So many more, so forgive me if you haven't been name-checked, but if I am not careful this will be playing out in real time like 24!

First class, quilting with Jen Kingwell - A-MAZING!!!!

I absolutely love Jen Kingwell, and I don't care who knows it - I think I may have told her anyway!  Not only are her quilts the most beautiful things I have ever seen and touched, (oh there was lots of touching!), but she is the most engaging, interesting and down to earth funny lady I have ever had the pleasure of listening to!

I didn't stitch much, but, I was too busy having a wonderful time!

After an hour and a half, including a power cut, (pity the poor folks using sewing machines or in the windowless hall!), I had learned more than I have learnt years!  All mostly simple and 'obvious when you know', but still 'new to me' tips and tricks.  The real life Gipsy Wife and Green...Beans quilts are beyond stunning, I could gush for hours!!

Let's just say this short and intimate session, (I think there was only a dozen of us), set the tone for my weekend, and I didn't stop smiling!

My other class on Friday was embroidery with Jo-Bearpaw, more love!

I was not particularly good, there was some unpicking and a lot of squinting (oh my rubbish eyes!), but I learnt the wonders of the whip-backstitch and how not to do bullion knots!

I even stitched up a little more that night in bed, and have been slowly adding more since coming home; so hoping to have this one finished some time soon.

After classes, there was time for a trip to Waitrose, a freshen up and then off to dinner.

A typically raucous affair, so much laughing and chatting; I was next to Cindy and opposite Sarah, Jenny F-P, Love P&Q editor and Karen, and despite the heat, did I mention it was hot, we had a brilliant time.  Good food and good company, the perfect end to the day.

℅ Karen

Is that enough for now?

Saturday was huge, but I will try my best to cram that into the one post tomorrow.

I haven't even mentioned the goody-bag received on arrival, that will need another post all to itself!

Better late than never...

Apologies for the bloggy silence, it was way too hot and way too much fun to think!

Photo stolen from Karen (Blueberry Park) from last night's fun and games.

Looking forward to today xxx

Let the mayhem and indecision commence...

2 minutes after I spotted my FQR2014 class list in my Inbox...

I have a great bunch of classes, fab teachers and now I need to get all my prep work done, and I can see me swapping and changing fabrics and threads a million times in the next month.  Fun though!!

Swear-bags...

I am going to gloss over the fact I could have hand sewn a small quilt in the time it took to wait for our Father's Day lunch today, and keep the gloating to the minimum, that patience lead to a 60% discount excluding the Dad's Eat Free offer, and show you some stitchery...

So a few weeks back I decided on what I wanted to make for the FQR 2014 sample swap, specifically using the Chicopee bolt and bargain denim.  I drafted out a pattern in the loosest sense of the word, cut all the pieces for 5 tote bags and felt very prepared.

I made the handles and pockets, clip loops and all sorts; it was all looking good.

I thought it might be wise to finish making one up first, you know, just in case, and so I did.

It came together really quickly, just as planned in fact, but, I hated it!  I got in a mood; I probably posted a 2 word grumpy blogpost, and sulked for a few days.

The original bags were to have a shoulder strap, and I eventually narrowed down my displeasure to this, so I got to unpicking.

Of course I had stitched the strap on first with a row of stitches before joining the outer to the lining, and top stitching the whole lot.  Of course I used nice tiny stitches and a load of back stitching to secure it all; only bright side, I hadn't sewn up the turning gap in the lining.

Soooooooo strap removed, and short webbing handles decided upon, I attached a pair, again with due belt and braces stitching, joined it all, nice top-stitching and bugger me if one of the straps hadn't twisted.

Rude words.  Many.

Deciding that maybe I could just release one end and not have to unpick the lot, I managed to start on unpicking the wrong pieces, but eventually got it back on and stitched back together with lots of unpleasantries.

But not as many swear words as when it then didn't line up with the other handle any more.

@£$%^&*()(*&^%$£@!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to basics, whole lot taken apart and sewn together from scratch, and thank goodness I loved the result!!

The other denim pair, and a pair in grey home-dec came together in minutes by comparison.  All turning gaps were stitched up this afternoon and I am done!!

The moral of this story... stick to pincushions!!

For those who like details, these finish up c. 12" x 14" with 12" webbing straps; they were all pieced, stitched and re-stitched with a jeans needle and Aurifil 40wt in 4093, except for stitching the handle details, which I used matching 50wt thread.

The inside pockets and FQR 2014 key clips are sewn into the lining seam, and there are little FQR 2014 tags on the outside.

I apologise for the quality of these photos, not sure quite what is going on there, but I am so relieved to be finished, the photos were the last thing on my mind.

I hope my swap partners like them, I am keeping one of the grey ones for myself, because quite frankly after all that, I think I bloody deserve one!

Mixed bag...

Today started at about 2.30am with torrential thunderstorms and has continued to be hot and stormy all day, so I am trying my hardest to stay awake for the England game tonight.  I have some threads to sort out in the meantime...

... but the binding will have to wait for an earlier, brighter game.

Those are my FQR2014 tote bags for the sample swap - I will tell you the full horror/joy of making them once they are finished.

I have also stitched up a boxy pouch for a sweet friend this evening, but no pics of that I'm afraid.

Dear husband has a handmade-free Father's Day to look forward to, and as we are out to lunch, it will probably be a sewing-free day too.  There's a huge pile of ironing with my name on though, dammit xxx

trash!

Well getting a little more in the FQR spirit, I made and sent my partner's name tag on Monday.

The Royal Mail in their wisdom decided not to bother updating their track & trace beyond telling me that I posted the item - thanks then!  But I am happy to report that the name tag is safely in the mitts of the recipient, only the swap-meistress herself trash!!

So no sneak peaks allowed, she would have known they were for her, so straight in there, made and sent...

Seeing that she is the official Ents officer, I went back to basics, with the need to be able to actually read her name at 20 paces in order to be able to approach/avoid as required ;)

So I used some Liberty for the lanyard and bonda-webbed letters, and I gave her a star, in true McDonalds stylee, for 2012!

There's also a tiny pocket, big enough to hold a room or credit card or list of places to be, people to see...

Jobs a good'un.

I have been battling with my sample swap items today too - I have racked school-boy errors up to new heights and may just get a seam ripper grafter to my right hand, because it would be more useful than my thumb right now!

But I think I have it all under control again, and hoping for some more reveals soon xxx

Where Is Everybody!?

Coo-eee!

I have been pondering my swap makery for FQR 2014 and wondering where everyone has gone!

Trash has been trying to rally the troops with the name tag and sample swaps on flickr, but it all seems awfully quiet.

I know many of my partners in crime will be missing this year, sob, but, c'mon!

Day tickets are now available for the Saturday, the super-duper class lists have been released, and promises of a more intimate weekender than last year's scorching craziness, but not this intimate, surely?!

Anywho, I have made progress with my swapsies today, I also mailed off an extra-curicular name tag, which I will show you when the recipient has received it.

I have also been sketching...

... and cutting, and wondering if making a couple of dozen, limited edition, super-souvenir key fobs is in order.

But now it's Jack Bauer time, so I'm off, dammit xx

Pilgrim's progess...

The Catherdral Windows are slowly taking shape...

But it's not a race.  Happy Saturday everyone xxx

Jolly July...

Here we are again!

July was a bit hot and busy eh!?

End of work and school with the obligatory tonne of end of term activities and pièce de résistance Fat Quarterly Retreat.  I came home with these, which I fully intend to turn into things of beauty soon...

There was a lot of prep work, both fabric and psychological, for FQR, but I did manage to get a bit of stitching under my belt too.

Bee blocks...

... and also a few other bits and pieces, including the start of a covered notebook obsession and 40+ key fobs...

August has started hot and sunny; I have my Stitch Tease Bee block instructions for the month, and just finished my Siblings Together block already, and I am not really hoping for anything more than those, to be honest.

If the past week of the school holidays is anything to go by, I will achieve next to nothing except a sore throat and headache from shouting at the kids and banging my head against the proverbial.

Oh well, no change there then.

Linking up with Lynne and the other Fresh Sewists x

I got skillz...

Apologies if you are tiring of my frolics, but this is the last Retreat-only post for this year!  Promise.

I can't quite believe that this time last week we were fanning ourselves in the Med Kitchen and eating waaaay too much.  It feels like a long time ago; it feel like yesterday!

So my classses...

On Friday afternoon I learnt the art of curved paper-piecing.  Joanna and Julianna's table-top session was good fun.  I don't think that was the intention, but sat between Emily and Liz meant we didn't get as much achieved as we perhaps could have!  I managed to stitch a whole 3 pieces together!  But I did master a concave and convex curve...

I basted those other pieces on the train home, and this week I have jiggled the pattern a little and come up with this...

Not looking forward to pulling out the basting though.

On Saturday morning I had Touchdraw with patient Lynne.  I downloaded this app onto my iPad before I had even got out of bed on my birthday last year.  I managed a few basics back then, but wasn't hopeful I would ever get it!  In class I created these...

And trying to remember everything I was told, today I managed to create this!!!

Success or what!

Saturday afternoon was the first of my full 3 hour workshop sessions.  Portholes with Lu.  I missed out on this class last year, and was over the moon to get in this year.  I used one of the loaner Pffafs; thank goodness for Ange or I would still be trying to thread the bloody needle now!

In the 3 hours I created my pair of boobies portholes and absolutely love this technique...

I see many more portholes in my future, Liberty and Oakshott portholes perhaps!  This class was the perfect balance of learning stuff, having a laugh with friends Ange and Kerry at the back, (albeit at Kerry's expense!), and a super-smashing-great teacher.

My final workshop on Sunday morning was Cathedral Windows; another one of those techniques that having looked online, I needed to see in real life to understand.  Brioni was a great teacher too; making it look so much easier than I found it on the day to be honest.  All that pressing does my head in, but trying to rush did not make for pointy points...

Back home, without fun distractions, (Kerry and Jo mostly), and using card templates for accurate pressing, I have prep'ed the rest of my pieces and am probably going to get stuck in tomorrow when the weather breaks good and proper.

I did not produce any finished items, unlike last year; but I am fine with that because I really have learnt things I would never have been able to alone, and I guess that is what it is all about.

So there you have it.  I am linking this post up with the Fat Quarterly linky, and to make it simpler for anyone who is interested, here are links to the rest of my Retreat posts this week...

Where to begin?
Winners...
Fabric, fabric and a bit more fabric...
Giving...

I really hope I have paid justice to the hard work put in by the Fat Quarterly team, and haven't bored you all too much by clinging to my youth the weekend! 

To anyone who I met and spent time with, albeit too brief, over last weekend - here's to next year xxx

Fabric, fabric and a bit more fabric!

I went to Retreat with 40 of these...

... and after a bit of this...

Jan caught me in action!

...I came home with this...

... and I only bought this back as I felt a bit daft walking round with just one left!  Thank you again to every single one of you who helped me out!

Which was a good job really, because I had to supplement my spending money somewhat after my first foray to Shaukat...

A couple of half meters, and a quarter meter that even has brown in!!!  Considering the sheer amount of fabric to chose from, I think I was very restrained.

Not so restrained at the Saturday night quilt market though!

From top left...
A Pina Colada & Mojitos FQ bundle, selected by my lovely and dearly missed friend Sarah from Cindy's Fluffy Sheep Quilting stall...
A pair of Liberty button badges made by the blooming Ceri...
Two F8th bundles of Oakshott; Michael was even kind enough not to make me go back to my hotel to collect my £5 voucher I stooopidly left packed in my goodie bag...
A super star of Liberty Lifestyle FQs from Fabrics Galore; and why I didn't buy any of the Liberty Hello Kitty, I will never know!...
A pair of green Architextures FQs from Pin It & Stitch...
...and last but most certainly not least, my own bundle of Leanne Fanny scraps, they are so beautiful.

OK so I may also have come home with a Simply Solids pre-order too...

And also my FAL win from Justine...

Mary and I struck a deal a while back, I sent her my Retro Flowers/Drunkards path templates, and she has sorted me out with a couple of lovely vintage sheet FQs...

And that is almost all I came home with.

Tomorrow I will show you the gifts, as they deserve a post to themselves, and then on Friday I promise to show you what I actually made, because I wouldn't want you to think it was all about the shopping, socialising and having fun!

I am now on my summer break, the kids have broken up, so who knows, I may even get time to sew with some of these beauties!