After a nice, easy, early morning jaunt across the capital on the tube, Leanne and I hauled everything down to Baden Powell House from her hotel room, which may or may not have required a couple of trips *ahem* We were greeted (the second time, after we were scolded for being too early the first time ;o) ) with a goodie bag, name sticker and a card full of names, which we had to spend the next hour finding the owners of. There’s nothing like breaking the ice by staring at the chests of your fellow retreaters whilst chiding them for not appearing on your list. There was a draw to be held if you found them all, but alas, one eluded me the whole time – I found one person with the right first name, but no matter how much I tried to persuade her, she wasn’t up for changing her surname…
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| Goodie bag goodies |
After an hour of squealing, screaming, and mammary examination, John called us all to order, and we had a good rummage through the fat quarters from the fat quarter swap before we headed off to our first classes. Now I’ll confess now that I got hardly any photos, and especially not of the classes, sorry about that!
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| Fat quarter swap goodies |
First up for me, class wise, was freezer paper piecing, after which our fabulous teacher Kerry had assured me I would be laughing in the face of Y seams. I managed all my Y seams relatively okay, but I did learn a valuable lesson in putting jigsaw puzzles back together the right way round, because by not doing so I gained a couple of slight wrinkly bits at the inner corners…
I’m not sure I’m entirely laughing in their face yet, but I can summon up a good giggle ;o)
I got evicted from the table my mammoth sewing machine was on after that first block so that the designer challenge people could do their thing, so I wandered round and did get these photos of the hives of industry around the main hall – please excuse the instagramness, I really couldn’t be doing with digging out the DSLR at that point! As far as I can work out, there’s 4 classes going on here – freezer paper piecing all the way down the left hand side, the designer challenge middle far end, EPP at the far right end, and possibly frame purses on the near right end.
This was around the time the Liberty lady arrived. I don’t think there was a more popular person at the retreat that day as we all flooded over to stroke and drool over her wares! I was lucky enough to snag one of her gorgeously touchy feely pincord bags, and also a wee bundle that was leftover from Kerry’s class the following day:
After this we toddled upstairs for the sample swap. Here’s my haul, and any suggestions on where to place each of my 4 Zakka Style sewing kits for stitching emergencies (since I’d made one for myself to take too), may win a wee prize (and no, not one of them!) Please also admire the London fabric lined wee handbag too:
Next up was lunch, well, lunch time anyway. Now my lack of lunch was entirely my own fault – I had duly filled in the dreaded banana and kiwi allergies, but had failed to mention that I don’t like sandwiches. Actually I don’t eat bread at all, but I always forget this, because I don’t eat sandwiches for my lunch ever, I forget that other people do – mental head slap! Next year I will be better prepared!
Post lunch I was EPP-ing with Tacha, and Brioni came out to play too, so they showed us the way they both do things, and now I feel the need for some experimentation to decide which I prefer – I have a whole cushion cover to work on, so I have plenty of subject matter to try on! I could probably have got further than this, had we not been discussing a sad subject, so I had to bring the bears in for everyone to have a cuddle, and then I never sewed another stitch – oops!
The attending Clan members – Maple, Edwood, Woodward, Birch, Bluegrass and Maisey made lots of new friends, and here’s some pics I acquired from others that were there:
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| Courtesy of Kat |
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| Courtesy of Trash |
Our next task was the Iron Man Challenge – we were handed a fat quarter bundle of Thomas Knauer’s new line, Savannah Bop, so Trudi rounded us all up, and we set to, producing possibly the fastest Ohio Star ever! Trudi and Fiona cut, Judith and I sewed, Terri pressed, and Pippa unpicked a bit I managed to screw up twice (oops!) We handed the top in and then headed out for a big dinner with Brit Bee + friends (well, the portions were normal sized, the group was big ;o) ) Susan had done a great job finding somewhere willing to take on 29 unruly quilters, and a good time was had by all, including our special guest, although she didn’t eat much, in fact she really looked rather grumpy about being there, Jack wasn’t at all convinced about her…
Yay for Day 1 xxx
Definitely you need one of those sewing kits in your car, it will undoubtedly come in useful for replacing ball bearings or whatever you needed for your journey home. You might need a Swiss Army Knife in there too to cover all eventualities!
lol I have three too including the one I made for me too! You can have one in every room, in every handbag and well, you can never have too many! Why didn't I get to say hello to Jack?
I am sure you need a zakka pouch in the car for unforeseen emergencies! One at work for when it all gets too much – maybe that one needs a little voodoo doll beside the pin cushion for lunchtime entertainment. Then two for the house – one upstairs and the other down. Sorted!
Wait a minute, one, only one picture of Jack? Are you kidding me?
Hugs,
Prudence
What did you get for doing the Iron Man challenge?
It all sounds far too good!! And that's just day 1… wow!
I'm so very jealous. I'm currently considering auctioning toes or some such thing to cover a flight to get me there next year..
Let's see..4 kits.. one in your purse (obviously), one kept always in luggage for travel (at least I have a kit that lives in my luggage), um..one in your car because I'm a copy cat..annnddd one in the fridge in case you ever pop a button getting more cake..or ice cream..or some such thing. (ahem..to be fair *I've* never popped a button going for food..but I know someone who has)
Ooh… nothing quite as much fun as a gang of sewing gals getting together.
I'm so glad to see the bears getting into the quilting. I hope they hugged every one who pricked there fingers.
Hugs
I bet the bears were loved by all those rowdy quilters. Looks like fun was had by all.
Hugs
Iris
Looks like good times. Jealous!
I am jealous, sounds like you are having a blast. 4 sewing kits – 1) car, 2) bedroom, 3) purse if large enough – if you have a desk in the draw 4) suitcase travel bag. Have fun!
I'm loving the reports on the retreat!! 4 sewing kits? Well I, um, collect (?) them from hotels, (not as pretty as yours obviously) and have them at work / in handbag / in car and downstairs, as opposed to the entire room full of needles, threads, pins etc up just one flight of stairs. However, my emergency kit in my handbag also contains wd40, spot removed, a penknife with screw driver, a nail file and tweezers, … [so *thats* why my bag is so heavy?] so I think there is a slight "be prepared" obsession, which I've been told owes more to being Norwegian than the six weeks I spent at Brownies
I think you should put one in the bathroom right next to the magazines. Let's be honest. You've already read them all and you could use a little more productivity in your life.
(Insert Laura laughing)
Reckon realistically Danny had the best suggestion… lol
Still miffed I missed the rest of the clan… one day….
so you identified everybody by staring at their chests …. would I have to do that by touch? 😉
I would definitely have emergency jaffa cakes in my emergency sewing kits … and I'd have them all over the place in case I got peckish!
Good tip on the sandwiches, I don't like them either! At a push I don't mind a panini but not sandwiches unless there really is nothing else! I will bring a box of Kipling cherry bakewells to keep me going until tea time!
Brill pics K! Your teddies are gorgeous! Jxo
Hmm maybe I should trade you something for a sewing kit? I am enjoying the stories, keep them coming.
I really did enjoy myself but my face doesn't always show it! Funny thing….people tell me that all the time!
ha! i still crack up every single time i see flat rhonda! so damn funny! she does look rather upset!
Great intro to the real day one! It's still funny to hear the FQ Retreat tales =D
I'm having a giveaway on my blog. There is one extra day to enter =D
http://ibescheraldine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/official-150th-post-giveaway.html
another great recap of the retreat.