The Retreat recap - Part 1

Sometimes I just don't know where to start to convey the sense of an occasion and this is one of those times.

The Fat Quarterly Retreat was just brilliant. It was fun, interesting and exhausting. I have laughed, chatted (a lot), met up with friends and made new friends. I have tried new types of sewing and gained new skills.

I travelled up to London with Trudi last Thursday morning. Once we had deposited our bags at the hotel we headed off to Kew to visit a certain fabric shop. We also had the pleasure of meeting Tiina whose shop it is. This shop is really worth a visit, as it is a treasure trove of beautiful fabrics. 

It was futile to resist the urge to buy, so this is my haul from Tikki. I tried to buy some blenders that I cannot buy locally, as well as a couple of prints.

Lovely fabric

On Friday morning, I attended the Liberty talk as II was one of the lucky 30 who were given a ticket. It was a really interesting talk, showing us how they use old prints to inspire new ones. We were shown how block printing gave different effects to digital printing but how digital printing gave the designers more freedom to alter original designs. The talk was only an hour long but it was packed with interesting facts. 

Liberty talk

We were surrounded by beautiful liberty fabrics and quilts.

More Liberty prints

Liberty print appliqué quilt

After the talk, we quickly made our way back to Gloucester Road Tube Station so that we didn't miss the beginning of the retreat.

Let the fun begin

Look at the concentration!

Friday evening was a really chilled affair. We met on the terrace that was bathed in hot sunshine and we had an informal quilt sharing time as well as the Siblings Together quilts being handed over to Delma, from ST. There were so many stunning quilts being shown. I didn't get nearly enough photos but the ones below are ones made by folk that I know.

 I also met up with my bee buddies and friends. For me, meeting up with friends and making new friends was the best part of the weekend. We were women let loose for the weekend, with no responsibilities, and we were determined to have the best time. 

Me, Sarah, Catherine, Judith and Jan (photo pilfered from Sarah)

It has taken me a full week to process the weekend. It was truly a fantastic time and if you have never gone before then I would urge you to think about attending next year. 

Tomorrow I will show you my swap items and some of the things that I got up to in class.

Di x