I’ve just come home from the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild’s first Retreat, and I have such a blast! Nine of us went, and although I cannot tell you all the details (what goes on Retreat, stays on Retreat!), I can tell you that we all had such a great time, and got so much done! For a start, the house itself was brilliant! The kitchen was fully decked out, with every utensil, pot, plate, pantry item you could possibly want for cooking or preparing pre-cooked meals. The bedrooms were gorgeous, with really comfortable beds, the entire place was freshly painted, bright, light, airy, gorgeous. Everything was so well thought out, it was obvious that Bev had really done the planning and thinking to have it be just everything you could ever hope for in a retreat house. The company was delicious. We all got on so well, it was a fabulously relaxed atmosphere, and we indulged shamelessly in chocolate, biscuits, cakes, food, … yes OK, wine too. And music. Aren’t iPods and iPhones fantastic?! We watched movies too. Can you guess which ones? Friday night… You’re terrible, Muriel. We gave the appropriate tribute to the late Bill Hunter. Saturday night, we watched another movie, one that’s a tad older, but the leading lady had the most beautiful violet eyes. A Place in the Sun. Beautiful! Although I wasn’t happy with the ending. We had to wait a long time for the final outcome, and it wasn’t that desirable. Still, it was good viewing material. And I did get my hand sewing done.

Here’s what I got done during the almost 48 hours we were there. First, I finished two whole panels of the quilt I’m making for my friend. I called it the Eureka quilt last year, but I don’t like that name. I’ll come up with a new one. It’s looking rather good I think.

panels 1 and 2

This was my room at the retreat. Not bad, right?

The second thing I want to show you is my Liberty Stars half-hexagon. It’s the last one!!! That’s it, I’m done making hexagons, and its now time to put them all together. Rachel came up with a grand idea with regards to working out which block goes where. I need a huge space to be able to lay it all out, and I don’t have one. She suggested I take a king-sized sheet with me to our next MMQG Sit and Sew Day, and lay it all out there. I can even use one of the other big rooms if I need to, we’ll be at South Melbourne in June, so there’ll be plenty of space. Here are the blocks. Thank you so much, Marg, for swapping Liberty fabrics so I could finish this!

half-blocks nos. 7 and 8

Next, ta-dah! Here’s my blouse all finished:

it's perfect for under my black tunic! pics later

Next up is my new little Slouchy Make-up Bag (pattern by flossieteacakes):

looks nice in Kaffe Fassett fabrics!

here's the lining

This was a test run before I did one for my niece. I picked up some gorgeous fabric for hers on our way up to Hepburn Springs. We stopped in at Mill Rose in Ballan, and oh my! What a gorgeous store! Unfortunately, no one had any heavy interfacing, so I couldn’t make a second bag, but that situation will soon be remedied! I was so happy with how this one came out that I’m going to get onto my niece’s right away, now that I’m back in Melbourne, with Spotlight only a stone’s throw away.

And finally, I got more of the quilting done on Gita’s Chelsea Quilt:

I'm quilting in a blue Perle 8

One last thing to show you. MJ made me a little threads bin. I love it!!! Very spesh!

threads bin made for me by MJ

So, enjoyed myself thoroughly, and can’t wait for the next time I get to go.