Happy campers

We've just been to quilt camp and boy was it fun. Lots of girls worked on lots of different things and there was a heap of fun happening all weekend. Here's a selection of projects from these prolific quilters.

Show and tell on Saturday night was a feast for the eyes. I only see some of these girls from one year to the next and they always have fantastic quilts to show us .

We were in the country and it was a bit chilly at night. We had a short walk to the loos and Karen was making sure she survived the trip! 

Pam is a really  dedicated quilter as you can see from the pic. She's on a deadline to finish her quilt for the Sydney Quilt Show to be held shortly. Pity work gets in the way of our passion but I know she'll get there.

A close up of Janette's hexagons - aren't they beautiful. I believe there will be around 6000 in the finished product - good luck girl!

And here's what the well-dressed quilter wears to show and tell! Janet was making sure she was ready for her warm cosy bed as soon as the fun and games were finished.

Thought you might like to see this site all about your sewing machine. We can never hope to know it all.

Happy quilting!

Dookie - where's that?

Dookie is a little town in rural northern Victoria not too far from Wangaratta. I've just been to a quilting retreat at Dookie College run by the Wangaratta Centre Quilters and it was great. My friendly companion tutors were Gina Burgess and Lorraine Crocker from Adelaide and Deb Louie from NSW. We met up with Heather Ridley also from Adelaide on the first night.

This was our accommodation for the weekend - plasma tv and gas central heating - too good!

The huge site is an ex-agricultural college which is now a research centre. Also used for all sorts of retreats including quilting. There were lots of buildings around the campus like this and beautiful large trees that must have been planted when the college began. Acres of paddocks with farm animals and beautiful gardens. We even saw a fox running across the lawns one lunch-time.

The girls in my class chose to do my Pickled Lillies quilt over the two days and they sewed their socks off! I think they had fun and I know I did. Below is a selection from the workshop. Lots of different colour combos to please the eye.

Sunday just before we left to drive back to Melbourne Airport we had show-and-tell from all the classes.

Here's Gina with a few of her Kaleidoscope students - how clever are they.

Heather's class was making a coral reef - seaweed and fishy stuff - amazing.

Deb taught her free-motion class with great results.

And this is my group's efforts. Sorry Lorraine I seem to have missed out on a pic from your class.

Kay from my class is letting me show you these. She has one in memory of a quilty friend who passed away recently and the other shows how keen she is on sewing! That's dedication.

It was a whirlwind visit for all the tutors but a wonderful venue and great food.

The company was excellent and everyone was so friendly to the interstate visitors. Thanks for having me girls.

WOW factor!

At my Hobbysew class yesterday the girls were really on fire! Lots of finishes and great show-and-tell.

This is Jenny's Oriental Journey and it sure has been a long one. Jenny traced 37 foundations onto interfacing to save removing paper at the end - that's a chore but she was happy to do it that way.

Zoom in on the quilt to see some great fussy-cutting close up.

The fabrics she chose are just so sumptuous it makes you want to dive into the quilt!

Last month we saw Laurel's quilt centre finished and this month it's the whole deal - mitred borders and everything. "I'm so thrilled" was her quote for the day. It's really beautiful.

 Check out Barbara's NYB top with partial borders. What a riot of colour and perfect piecing too.

These are all 6" finished size blocks and quite fiddly.

One of the pleasures of white-gloving at the Sydney Quilt Show is meeting so many friends and students.

I had the pleasure of also meeting the lovely Jenny Scott from Always Quilting, the Australian distributor of Aurifil Threads.

We had a lovely chat about Aurifil - Mako 50 is my preferred thread for applique, piecing and quilting - and about quilting in general.

Hop over to Jenny's blog and see a selection of quilts from the show whose makers all use this beautiful thread. She also has lots of useful information about which thread is best for which project.

Happy campers!

Once again our quilt camp has come and gone in such a short time. Lots of planning culminated in a great weekend for all and it was the biggest roll-up we've ever had.
The weather was kind but cool - just right for sewing til 2am for some of us!
Here a just a few pics from my phone which is why they are so bad. It might have been the wines I had before our show-and-tell on Saturday night do you think.

Lyn's Gilly's coverlet

Lorraine's Dahlia - the 1st one I've seen finished!

See the ribbon? Alice won Best in Show at the recent Camden Show - what a star!

Pam's quilt for her daughter

Marrianne's HUGE top with the most amazing broderie purse flowers

These are only a few of the fantastic quilts shown on Saturday night. The variety and workmanship was truly inspiring. Quilt camp is a fun time to get away and do what we love the most with good company and lovely surroundings.

I stole this quote from Kathy Doughty's blog - I'm sure she won't mind as she put into words exactly what I was thinking of our weekend.

"It is fun to have someone show us how to do things. It is fun to sew in a group. It is fun to share the joy of creating in a group of like minded individuals."

How true!

Happy Mothers Day

Lots happening in different classes at the moment. Ros has started this Pine Burr quilt to try and use up some of the stash. The centre striped fabric is quite striking but not a current one. What a shame.

Judy is on a NYB journey with fantastic results so far. Great use of batiks and hand-dyes. It turns out she's a friend of a friend twice removed. Life's amazing sometimes.

Margaret is one of my older students and has been sewing up a storm. The blocks were made and sewn up in four weeks and they are all 6" blocks. What a woman.

This is part of my new project - or one of them. It all started with the fabric below which is on the border of this version of the good old dresden plate. It includes some foundation piecing in the triangle border and lots of applique. I loved doing this top and am a bit sorry it's finished.

Just need to quilt it now.

On Friday I had the pleasure of being the guest quilter for show and tell at The Cottage Quiltworks in Warriewood. What a lovely shop - beautiful premises and great fabric. If you haven't been there yet put it on the list. Really nice girls and did I tell you their fabric was great! I have been invited to teach at their Quilt Retreat in July - five days of classes with 10 different tutors - and I will start regular classes there on the 2nd Saturday of the month from July onwards. Give them a ring if you're interested in joining me on a Mariners journey.

Had a really nice Mothers Day today - went to Ikea with my daughter and even had meatballs. It was a lovely day and had some retail therapy too. Hope yours was just as good.