Our Cocktails & Stitches Retreat at the luxurious Crown Towers Perth on 19 & 20 May 2018 is not too far away now and its time to start thinking about your projects.
I have put a few things together here to give some ideas.
I particularly like the pre cut Liberty Fabric that are available at The Strawberry Thief. You can choose from jelly rolls, charm squares or hexagons. Robyn also has the full range of Liberty fabrics available. Shipping is free over $50 however I am happy to organise a group order if you prefer.
Carolina from Sew Mondo has some great quilt patterns available in her online shop. One of which I am working on at the moment that only requires 6 different fabrics and is great to start with if you are a beginner quilter. Carolina is also part of the WAQA Shop Hop opening this week, click here to see the details.
As an absolute beginner knitter, I knitted a few things last year and whilst it’s not my most favourite craft I was extremely happy with my projects. I used the Loopy Mango yarn and their cropped cardigan pattern. The yarn comes in gorgeous colours, all of which I have a colour chart here if you would like to see. The yarn is not cheap, it does pill although I have not found a single yarn that doesn’t yet. It just means you need to shave it down occasionally and look after it. The postage is not cheap either however I still feel it was totally worth it and I get comments on the cardi every time I wear it. They have a range of other projects available whether knitting or crochet. Have a look at whats available at Loopy Mango. I also have the colour chart here available for you to look at!
You know I am all obsessed with crochet and that I am terrible matching colours. I also am not particularly fond of working from a pattern. So I will be working on another hexagon blanket, one colour per hexi however these hexi’s will be a lot larger than the last blanket I made. Hexigons are made up of trebles. If this is something you would like to work on and would like to start practising please send me an email expressing interest.
And not forgetting clothing items! If I make something it will no doubt be stretch fabric, I will have the overlocker and the cover stitch machine available to use. I have heard some ladies will be making skirts, Holy Communion dress, bomber style jacket, casual lounge pants and tops.
If you have any questions or need inspiration please let me know.
It was a Tuesday night back in September 2015, Christie and Carolina suggested a sewing retreat. I responded with yeah thats cool but can I pleeeease sew too. Whilst I love teaching all the time when I see you all sewing and chatting I want to join you!! Christie Blizzard the most amazing young woman was onto it and it was booked within days.
Im the cook at my house so to be served breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning and afternoon tea was total bliss. I was for once on the receiving end, I now know what’s its like for everyone at home when I call them for dinner and understand why nobody rushes to the dinner table. This is me…”Dinner is readyyyy!” “Hurry up or it will go cold!” “Goodness me, when I say dinner is ready I expect you to get up straight away and eat after I’ve spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen!” This weekend, I did not want to leave my work until I had just finished this last bit, I didn’t mind that dinner would go cold! Our cook Peter took so much pride in his cooking that he didn’t want it to go cold either. The meals were like home cooked meals and there was always plenty of it. They even catered for those who were gluten free.
There were 14 of us in total, an amazing group of women, and our hands were kept busy. The chatter, the laughs, the sharing, the pouring of wine, the teaching was continuous. Collectively we made bags, quilts, shorts, aprons, nighties, floor cushions, pants, dolls, quilted zippy pouches, leotards, bodysuits. We used cotton, double gauze, corduroy, piping, zippers, leather, trim, lycra, french terry, quilt batting, embroidery thread, Liberty fabrics. There was pattern making, rulers, brown paper, overlocking, cover stitching, threading, rethreading and sewing. There was the crochet of blankets and knitting of jumpers with jumbo hooks, giant knitting needles and chunky yarn. Each persons personality showing in every project worked on. Well that’s the part I notice…I see so much in ones creativity and thats why I love it so. It must also be noted that the projects we worked on weren’t necessarily something we had practiced and perfected before this weekend. Most of us learnt new skills to add to our inner Nanna-ness. Call it daggy and so old fashioned but this crafting thing is the best feel good hobby and I look forward to many more Miss Mary Retreats.
