Things have been a bit hectic since I returned from our 2.5 day retreat in Bungendore just outside of Canberra on the long weekend in October (for NSW). It has taken me this long to have some moments to stop and reflect on the weekend and the retreat.
Raylee from Sunflower Stitcheries and Quilting hosted the retreat under the banner of Sewcial Retreats and she runs two retreats a year…. around April and October.
The retreat was in Bungendore, about 30 minutes outside of Canberra which is a cute little town and our venue was the Carrington Inn…. and it was delightful!
This was the walk from the shops back to the Carrington and our room…. delightful! Our room was spacious and the shower, wow!! I forgot to take a picture, but lets just say they had to provide an instruction manual for all the options for that shower!!
The room for the retreat was called Rose Cottage and is a separate building with huge windows, loads of natural light as well as a gorgeous sun room where we had our meals and breaks.
There were three people to each massive circular table and there was room for ironing boards and design boards as well as a pop up shop from me, one from Raylee and one from Paula of Quilting Magic!
And there was still heaps of room to use the middle of the room for quilt layouts, display and basting!
And the food, oh my goodness, the food was lovely! Light, fresh and just enough.
These were just some pics of the morning and afternoon teas available! Lunches were delicious too.
As soon as I arrived (and had finished setting up my pop up shop), I set up my sewing space. My XL Tutto bag fitted everything in well!
And of course I had to take my Quilt Coat with me too!
I worked on two projects whilst I was there… two WIPs (works in progress) that have been sitting around in tubs for AGES!
A version of my Charm Framed pattern – not sure I like the fabrics that I chose for it oh so long ago (isn’t that always the way!!) but it is now a quilt top waiting to be quilted, so yay!
The second project I got almost to quilt top stage is Sunsets (pattern by Charisma Horton), though I did make some tweaks to her pattern.
I used Sky Ombre by Jennifer Sampou and I love the colours of it (they look a little ‘muddy’ in this picture, they are more moody than muddy in real life!). All the colours of the sky as the sun is setting.
The strips underneath spoke to me of watching the sun set over water so I had a lot of fun selecting different colours and getting feedback from my fellow retreatees!
Raylee and Kelly (her off sider helper on the weekend) ran a really lovely retreat. It was inclusive and friendly and relaxed and very well run.
They did this lovely thing where people could write on a little card and pop it on your sewing station while you were having lunch or grabbing a coffee etc. Soooo sweet coming back to a little note thanking me for my talk, complimenting me on a project, my bubbly personality etc! And it was such fun popping little notes onto other’s tables too.
So if you are interested in going to a lovely, relaxing retreat and you are going to be anywhere near Canberra in April or October, make sure you put it in your diary and book in as soon as bookings open up!
Head to Raylee’s website https://sunflowerstitcheries.com/ to sign up to her newsletter to keep in the loop!
