Berry quilt retreat and a wee bit more

After our little sojourn we moved down to Berry to attend the Berry Quilt Retreat and because people had asked we brought three big boxes and set up our shop



I tried to bring lovely goodies which I thought people would like and I think I got it right - fabric stacks


Packs of lovely threads


Nearly all the Eleganza, Dazzle, Razzle and the Painters threads


Silk flimsies , wool flimsies


Sari ribbons



Textile art stuff - machine threads


Stencils and other bits and pieces

And at the end there was very little left - so thank you so much to everyone who came and bought from us - we really appreciated it - we know it is a long time since we have traded in the east



I had a lovely class - 25 so quite big and as a result I didn't take photos apart from two - we all seemed to be very busy


Of course they all brought enough stuff to share with 1000s of others but then I had a fair bit too

BUT they all produced wonderful work and as usual, I got a few ideas I am busting to get going on.




Berry Quilting Retreat is the baby of Elizabeth Dubbelde who also owns Berry Patchwork and she has done a remarkable job because it was one of the best and most organised event I have attended and Berry is a great spot to visit. I would recommend the event to anyone




On the Saturday night there was a retreat dinner where lucky Ian was only one of two men but he seemed to survive and for the weekend he even had his own name tag which I even saw him wearing.



This year and last year I entered works in the different exhibitions Elizabeth offered, mainly to support the hard work she does. I don't normally exhibit but I made myself. Last year it was the World of Colour - this year the World of Texture with this piece which has kept me busy because it is longer than I usually work and I was experimenting with paper and fibre mostly - it is called New York New York and is based on the sewer covers I took mountains of photos of etc. I hand stitched yellow thread through some of the channels late on Thursday night and handed it in on Fri so no pics of detail. So I was shell shocked when it won. Wow - and thank you!



Then to make it seem super greedy my Red Obsession piece titled Circular Motion (thanks Ian for that) won the One Red Thread prize. I have loved stitching this piece mostly in the evenings. Love weaving flimsies and completing the background with running stitch before adding the top layer. My style of kantha.

So there you have it - a super trip in NSW South - a wonderful retreat with such a lovely talented class and two wins! Indulgence that is




Back to Sydney for a day's relaxation - we went to Bondi and walked part of the coastal path but on the way we found a park and some sea





And spotted a tray of figs - wonder how my fig tree is going

Tomorrow we fly home to lots of work I know and a head full of ideas and a book of notes and sketches

The All Blacks team was announced yesterday - World Cup starts in a couple of weeks - I was sorry that Cory Jane missed out but there are just too many good players.