FQ Retreat - Part 1

So my trip to the Fat Quarterly Retreat began with a 5 am start.  Anyone who knows me will know I don't do mornings, so I was not best impressed.  But boy was it worth it. 

I caught the 7.30am flight from Jersey and travelled on a very small plane into London City...

 

 

 

And took a cab across London with my heavy suitcase.  I travelled down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, and for a brief moment imagined that I was Royalty as I avoided the crowds and heat of the underground. It was wonderful ;-)

 

 

After checking in to the hotel, I headed to Liberty, where I was lucky enough to attend a talk all about the history of their store and their fabrics.  I took just a few photos, but they did ask that they weren't published.  So I'll just show you this one, which is mainly of lovely ladies admiring the beautiful artwork on display.  I'm sure this one will be fine!

 

 

Following the talk, we all headed straight to Baden Powel house and I immediately spotted several blogging friends, including the wonderful Liz and her fabulous buddies Cerri and Nikki (You need a blog Nikki!!!) as well as the very dear Susan who I was thrilled to meet after reading her almost daily blog posts for well over a year.

 

Left to Right: Nikki, Liz, Sarah

My first class was with John, where we learnt the basics of embroidery, and I made a start on a sweet little bird.  (I will show it to you in a separate post).  And I had the pleasure to sit with the lovely Amy and Sarah  who arrived late due to being a teacher and having to work until mid afternoon. 

 

Left to Right: Sarah, Amy, Leila

After a wonderful evening of Show and Tell on the Friday night, with plenty of fun, laughter and half a bottle of Rose for good measure, it was soon morning, and I was in Kerry's Fabric Fantasy class.  Seeing this much fabric in one place and being able to touch it was just to die for!  

 

 

 

I also took the Free Motion Quilt Design Class with Trudy, which was very informative, and my goodness she is so talented!  But I just found it soooo difficult to replicate her wonderful patterns on paper.  I can't even bring myself to show you an example.  But I did meet the wonderful Jo and after the class we had a wonderful afternoon with Julie and Carol stitching, chatting and stitching some more.  I was in heaven! 

Carol, Julie and Jo
 

 Saturday night ended the way all Saturdays should end; with cocktails of course!  And we even managed to lure Mr Aurifil himself along!

So that's pretty much it for part 1.  I can't believe it's taken me nearly a week to sort my photos and write this post.  And I really can't believe it's all over.  I've had SUCH a ball.  If you didn't make it, then you simply must come next year.

Hoping to be back soon with Part 2!

Sarah x

Bound for the FQ Retreat...

I've been very quiet on the blog front for a week or two now, as it's descended into end of term madness, mixed in with birthday chaos and a large helping of Fat Quarterly Retreat Preparation...

 

This time tomorrow I shall be there!!

 

So I really must get off the computer and finish packing, which has proved to be a daunting task.  (Have I packed enough sewing supplies but left enough room in my suitcase for multiple fabric purchases?!) 

 

Hoping to be back next week with all my news of the weekend and a few photos too :-)

 

I am so excited to meet so many like-minded people, it's going to be a blast.  But I am just a tiny bit nervous...wish me luck!

 

Sarah x

Swap Sewing for Cake Decorating? Never again! (Till next year)

I've been a little quiet this week.  Quiet in the blog sense of the word, not so quiet in the 'real life' sense of the word.  You see, this last week has been the build up to a very special event.

 

Yes.  My daughter's 4th Birthday party.  And believe me, expectations were high.  Hand made invites had already been sent out (and met with daughter approval.)  Now it was the small issue of the cake. 

 

"Mummy please can you make me a cake for my party.  A Fireman Sam Cake.  With a 4 on it."  

 

No pressure then!    This is what I came up with.

 

 

And if you've endured  seen Fireman Sam for even five minutes, you  will know that Norman is very naughty.  So naughty in fact that he wouldn't stay upright on the cake.  Fireman Sam was good as gold and remained vertical for the duration of the party.  But oh no, not Norman! 

 

The next request from my daughter soon followed.  "Mummy please can I have Fireman Sam cupcakes.  We need new cupcake cases too."   The pink ones in the cupboard were clearly not going to do. 

 

So several more hours of baking and fondant rolling later, I produced these.

 

 

And I think it's fair to say the party went well, in particular the bouncy castle and the face painter, who transformed the little angels into butterflies, mermaids and Spiderman, to name but a few. 

 

 

After a whole day recovering from the trauma of + 10 four year olds descending on our garden, I felt revived enough to get my sewing machine out and I finished off some nautical bunting.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture!

 

And I've also managed to package my strip for the Strip Bees, ready to send off to Julie.

 

 

I'm kind of breathing a sigh of relief that this weekend is over.  It's been wonderful, and the weather glorious, we really couldn't have asked for more.  But that's me done on hosting birthday parties.  Well, until January, when my son turns 2.  And as for cake decorating, I won't be doing that again till January either.  All that hard work, just to get cut up and eaten.  Give me a quilt any day!! 

 

Linking up with:

 

 

 

Sarah x