Retreat Advances

a still shot of the filming session last week

The opportunity to focus on one thing.

This was such a busy week with planning sessions and filming sessions and all the homely things that keep body and soul together. But the machine quilting weekend gave us the opportunity to focus on just one thing.   

We worked on this same pattern during the retreat

I took the shot below in Trudi's garden studio when we met to plan for the Feathering Retreat weekend. By Thursday Trudi had finished machine quilting the over all feather pattern and on Friday we had it displayed in the Garden Room at the Petwood to inspire us during the the Retreat.

On Tuesday Trudi still had this quilt on the NEQ frame 

The theme for the weekend was feathering.  We started with what I like to think of as pre-feathering patterns and worked our way through them doodling designs on rolls of paper and then on the frames. We tried out lots of new threads and figured out how to clean and oil and tension our sewing machines so they would purr merrily along on the 6 foot Art Quilter frames that Trudi and I brought along.

Now it's the perfect backdrop for Kathy and Trudi

The best part of the weekend was watching people develop into confident doodlers and chuffed quilters. We were all so surprised at the difference a day makes. People came to the weekend unsure of their own abilities and uncertain about whether or not a retreat could really help. By the end of the weekend everyone was delighted!

Janice and Mags during Trudi's trunk show

Mags emailed me some feedback today

Martha, I would like to thank you and Trudie for a wonderful weekend at Petwood Hotel, Woodhall Spa.The retreat was just perfect and I will be recommending it to my friends. I was struggling with my quilts, they were all being done in the same pattern. Now with your training techniques I feel that I will now be able to produce a much wider range of designs. I learned so much and just can't wait to put it in to practice.

Thanks again.
Mags

Our retreats are a great way to advance! The March Feathering Retreat is filling up. The dates are March 9th -11th  email or ring to get on the list. We'll post future retreat dates soon.