Post Retreat Slump..

Reading the blogs of other attendees I am not alone in having a bit of a slump after the highs of the weekend. My mind has been assaulted by so much colour and design... I have seen so much enthusiasm and have been swept along with the great wave of plans for new projects... I am now going to be participating in my first Bee... The FQR Kinky Bee... (don't ask!) and also a swap with Frame Purses...  So I am looking forward to sorting fabrics and deciding on the style of my blocks...

A last  few pictures from FQR before I move on....

My Sample swap partners...

Elizabeth, Nicky, Emily & Di..

Here is Christine from Grapes and Hearts in her customary Paparazzi stance..

Sample from my Portholes class with Lucie Summers..

I really had fun on this class and loved the technique.. 

So I had a play with some silk scraps.. I plan on framing this... added a bit of wadding behind it to give a bit of depth when it is layerd up behind the mat.

I also taught a Jelly Roll class at the weekend, five of my students were very new to quilting but coped very well with a pattern that was not the simplest and what they lacked in technique, they surly made up in enthusiasm... I had fun.

Post FQR Linky Party

What a great weekend.... it all went by far too fast and I arrived home in a state of bewilderment... What have I been doing? Where have I been? Who did I talk to?....

Right from the work go the FQ team made us very welcome, with a Goody bag and a 'Name Bingo' game to get us all talking to each other.... It has been said by others that there was a lot of staring in the Boob area, as a lot of us had participated in a name badge swap - Remember I had Boris guarding my cleavage... But as only 2 of the participants were the 'male' of the species I don't think anyone was offended...

We soon settled down to our first classes and mine was Framed Curses Purses with Katy... actually it was 'easier' than I was expecting but the glueing was a bit messy and I still have to clean off some 'overspill' but that was because I was in a bit of a hurry...

I was very impressed with the facilities at Baden Powell house.... all the years I was involved in the Scouting movement I never made it there.. The staff were brilliant.. the cry of "Coffee" or "Lunch" went up and everything was laid out for us.. (that was a bonus... I was expecting to run out for sandwiches..)

At lunch we had a quick huddle on the roof terrace and traded our handmade treats... Everyone had made fantastic items so it didn't matter which group you were in... they were all to a very high standard... but I was very pleased particularly to be in the same group as Mrs Sew & Sew she had shyly shown pictures and I had squealed that I would love to be in the same group...

My swap swag....

and on the reverse of these two I had the date & place, so I will always remember .....

So thank you to Group 2.... Elizabeth, Emily, Nicky & Di... I love all my pouches, they already have contents... and Emily's notebook (with Golden Ticket..) is in my handbag, stuffed with cards and email addresses from the weekend... I made spares so I also had another swap with Vicky but her pouch didn't make it into the photo session it was already in use in my car...

My afternoon class was Paper Pieced Pillows with Lynne, I had opted to make a Union Jack pillow.. & managed to make it to the halfway point for the front.. I have since been working to finish and it is ready to have the back put on.. photo's later..

A group of us popped down the road for dinner but returned pretty quickly to continue with our Iron Man Quilt Challenge and the Pub Quiz... where we were graced with the presence of some VIP's...

Not too sure about Wills tats....and has Charles been in the Jewelry box again?

The Windsors were victorious in the quiz ..... Didn't one do well....

I think Day 2 will be on another post... Off to get that flag done....

Small Blog Meet.....

Thank you to Lynne over a Lily's Quilts  for setting up this opportunity for newbies like me to meet others in blogland.
I have only been blogging for a couple of months and my main focus has been on the Fat Quarterly Retreat which I am packed still faffing about for..

It will be a great opportunity to meet other bloggers and quilters from around the world - pretty impressed that there are a few hardy souls that are traveling great distances to attend - Get in at the beginning this event could go global.....

My previous posts have my latest sewings.. but because I don't like to post without a picture, here's one from our village...

Good of HM to drop by really... she must be quite busy!

I love the way people are getting into the spirit of this occasion.... it won't happen again in our lifetime.