FQ retreat

Well, yesterday was an AMAZING day - and very surreal.  Sitting next to someone that you chat to over a blog and suddenly you find yourself on a Saturday in June chatting away with them in real life whilst you sew.

 

getting to know everyone



The morning started with everyone trickling in to the main hall after having received an amazing goodie bag.  There were lots of squeals and hugs and peeking at name badges to check that it really was who you thought it was!  I got to meet all my bloggy friends, some just for a few minutes, but mostly I got to have a good chat with them all! And I met new people, some of whom don't blog, some who do. And I got to know others a whole lot better than I did

 

lots of chatting





the FQ team

There was lots of time for sitting and chatting between classes. My first class was frame purses with Katy, which started at 11, so I sat with Fiona (Poppy makes) and Jo (life in lists) :two lovely lovely ladies, while we waited for the class and we sewed and chatted, while others around us did their classes

Freezer paper class (look theres Lucy!!)

 Fiona and I did Katys class.  We got to chose a FQ of Libertys new fabric: there was a lot of oooohing and aaaaahing.  This was my finished article
 

finished purse




finished purse

  Katy was an amazing teacher and Fiona was very helpful, showing me where I had gone wrong when I couldn't figure it out!!
 

everyone threading their purses




Its not a neat job



 I also got to know Di a lot better yesterday. I only discovered her blog recently and it transpires that she lives about 10 mins away from my brother and her son and my nephew go to the same school!!  It was great getting to know her and chatting away, it really didn't seem like we had just met!  

The afternoon class was Lynnes paper piecing.  This was fun and once I got my head around cutting pieces to size rather than using scraps I was fine.  There were some amazing finishes (which of course I didn't get pictures of!!)

 

Lynnes class



finished article - well, a quarter of it anyway

 

My day was topped off by this win in the raffle

I won a jelly roll!!

 The raffle was the most generous one that I have ever taken part in, and I didn't have to purchase the ticket! 

I left at about 7ish.  The journey home was tedious as I don't like the tube and caught the bus, which took forever as London was beyond heaving!

The day was amazing, I really hope the FQ team do it again next year.  I would really like to thank them for all their hard work because without them it would never have happened and I hope they know just how successful it has been