lzilulu's stuff......

keepit dam sew&sew retreat.......

yes, chickadees, ANOTHER sewing weekend......aren't I the luckiest person to be able to go to all these wonderful days/weekends?? Mr lzilulu doesn't seem to mind...he and flo seem to manage quite well without me....hmmmm....hope they don't get to like it toooo much ;>)!

Three of us like minded friends set off last Friday for a weekend of bliss at the Keepit Dam Sport & Recreation Centre....my first visit and I thought the water levels were a bit down, but it was soon obvious that those who had been at last year's retreat were super excited to see some water............apparently it was totally dry last year!

We settled into our designated bunkroom on arrival.....14 bunks in our room, only six occupants so we were lucky!! We couldn't help but think what it would be like with 14 teenagers in the same space.....

There were 62 ladies and we all got down to the business side of things as soon as we had made our beds.....no use wasting valuable sewing/crafting time!! The hall was spacious and the lighting adequate....lots of sewing machines were soon buzzing and didn't stop until Sunday afternoon. As for me....well, I just kicked back and did some knitting.....

The theme for the weekend was Black White and Red all over.....we were required to make a block or two, and these were bundled up into sets of twelve, raffle tickets were sold and winners announced....my name wasn't called out :>( ......but the winners were thrilled....all they have to do is put them together and bring them back next year for chantelle show and tell.......oh! the pressure......

There were twelve sets in all.....and six left over for the smaller set!

I walked around a lot stickybeakingchecking out everybody else's creative achievements. There was needlefelting, stamping on fabric, indigo dyeing, wool spinning, rag rug making....to name a few...at one stage I thought I had been transported back to the Girl's Day Out at Nundle....I found a whole table full of ladies working on their Nundle projects....hmm...they were the "noisy mob" at Nundle too..... ;>)

Saturday night was "dress up" night and there were some fancy outfits befitting the theme......even Mrs Slocombe and her pussy.......

but the winner HAD to be the lady who dressed in the newspaper ............ black & white and read all over!!

All in all, it was a special weekend of meeting new people, crafting, relaxing, eating all the meals prepared for us and on Saturday night, F*R*E*E*Z*I*N*G our butts off when the COLD change came through.....can't wait for next year!!

Am off again on Tuesday (!!!) ....this time to Sydney.....for work no less!! The ACAT National conference...rather exciting...will be good to network with all the other ACAT teams....BUT.....the best part will be Tuesday....almost a WHOLE day to do what we please....fly into the city early morning and the conference starts with a cocktail party on Tuesday night....guess where I will be for the day??.....in Borders Bookstore I hope....checking out Japanese Craft books, new novels and lots of English/American magazines....oh! dear! I'm salivating just thinking about it.......any "must look ats" will be appreciated....

'bye for now...time for a cuppa....then over to the shed to make some pj pants ..... and a dirty laundry bag to take to Sydney....am co-habitating with a work colleague and the usual plastic bag just WON'T do ;>)

lotsofsloppystuff..... lzilulu xox

a girl's day in the country.......

Yesterday, very early, my friend Annette No Blog and I set off on a 3hour roadtrip to Nundle for a day of stitching....with two wonderful Australian designers....Leanne Beasley and Rosalie Quinlan no less....

WOW! What a day....are you ready for a photo-fest?? Hope so......

Let's start at the beginning and introduce the hostess with the mostess. Kerry and her band of happy helpers must have worked some VERY long hours to pull off such a successful day.....these things don't "just happen" and pandering to the needs of 100 excited ladies would be no mean feat...thank-you!

The other two most important ladies were, of course, Leanne and Rosalie....they were warm, friendly, and extremely generous with their time and expertise....and there was plenty of that on display!! They said they would love to come back.....and I really don't think they were gritting their teeth when they said it!!

Leanne doing some stitching........

all eyes are on Rosie.......

I was gobsmacked from the very moment I walked in to the hall.....decorated beautifully with balloons and special place settings with HAND WRITTEN nametags.

I am a member of an online group called Patch'n'Chat. There are twenty ladies from Australia, New Zealand and America. Over the years we have become very friendly and we ALL met up at the Darling Harbour Quilt Show in 2006. Perhaps you read the story about us in Homespun???? Several members have been to America and three have just returned from an American trip to Paducah. Our American members live in Indianna and from all accounts are just THE best hostesses.....now, I know you are wondering what all this waffle has to do with a day in Nundle....right?....well, one of our members (Sheryl No Blog-Yet) lives in Tamworth and Kerry had us sitting next to each other....how special is that??!! Below is a picture of Sheryl practising her needleturn applique......

Then I got to meet heaps of Bloggers.....OMG what a fiendly mob...lost count of how many times I was introduced as the new blogger on the block!! At the HUGE risk of forgetting someone I will attempt to list the ones I met ;>) Bloom, Day Day, Happy in Quilting, Chooky Blue, Living in Paradise, Riley's Ramblings, Jelly Wares (who had everyone oohing and ahhing over her quilt from Don't Look Now), Dragonfly (who had her Op Shop PJ's quilt with her...so snuggly) Janelle Wind.......did I forget anyone?? Please let me know....nicely!

Rosalie and Leanne had set projects for us to work on. Rosalie's was a needle turn applique cushion from her new book to be released SOON, and Leanne's was a stitchery inspired by Chooky Blue....

Throughout the day there were lots of lucky door prizes drawn....I was lucky to win one, a trio of patterns from one of my favourite designers, Janelle Wind.....

......and my friend Annette No Blog (pictured below working on Rosie's project)won the biggest prize....an Ott-Lite Standard light valued at $399......she still can't believe it!! and I still haven't forgiven her...am soooo happy for her!

Pictured below is my "workspace" for the day....just to prove that I got a LITTLE bit of something done ;>)...........

The day wasn't ALL about being locked in a hall with 100 other crazy like-minded ladies! We also managed to do a little shopping......some wool from the Woollen Mills to make some more of these scarves.......

.......and an ugly adorable hand knitted golliwog to add to my collection....

So....as you can see, it was a great girl's day in the country.....

lotsofsloppystuff

lzi xox