Quilting retreat - UKQU Bloggerati style

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Almost 30 of the volunteer bloggers for the ukqu.co.uk website came together for the first time in real life at the weekend. Many of us have been blogging and 'met' each other online for the last year, but this was the first time most of us met in person. 

Fabric Club by Karen Lewis Textiles

I decided to focus my weekend on making something with the lovely fabrics I have been sent during the year as a subscriber to the Fabric Club run by Karen of Karen Lewis Textiles. I arrived to the retreat by train (!) and was rather restricted on what I could bring. Luckily one of the other retreat goers offered me to use one of her spare machines, and she even picked me up from the train station close to the venue. Quilters are SUCH great persons! 

Not knowing how well the borrowed machine and I would get on, I decided to make free-hand-ish blocks with curves. The machine was a beauty!!



I had a very good run and managed to complete a very bright top using most of the stronger colours from the Fabric Club, which included all new Kona Solids from 2017. All put together, it became a very happy and lovely top.


Spruced Up by Papper Sax Sten

Saturday night I also started the Spruced Up pattern by Jenny of Papper, Sax Sten; an iconic Christmas tree using Jenny's characteristic curves and some lovely Oakshots! Unfortunately, I didn't have the right templates with me, nor a printed pattern, so I had to 'wing it' and make my own templates Blue Peter Style....


There was also an amazing amount of quilts being made for Quilts for Christmas Dinners. I was pleased to see many of my own unloved blocks being expertly turned into fabulous quilts by some of the other retreat goers.

All in all, I had a lovely time. I really loved the fact that we had no set agenda, no formal teachers or classes, but rather a 'get on with whatever you want' approach to the weekend. Having an element of charity sewing and some impromptu mini-teaching sessions added to the success. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

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