July Retreat!

Fancy a weekend away to learn some new line designs? Come to our July Machine Quilting Retreat!

The Retreat venue is the Chaplin House converted barn - a lovely venue with lots of light and good working space. The retreats are a new venture for us, and they've been brilliant.This July retreat will be our third this year. The food and the fellowship are excellent and a worthwhile part of the whole experience.No materials are required for the sessions. We talk about care of the JUKI, thread options, creating line designs and gaining fluency on the frame.

The participants are a good mix between new and experienced quilters.The retreats are small and hosted by Martha Milne and Trudi Wood - so there is plenty of one on one instruction. I've found it quite inspiring to see ideas bounce off a group of diverse but like minded people. Let me know if you're interested or have any questions: martha@machinequilter.co.uk

The Week After

It's been a week since the Machine Quilters Retreat and I am only just posting! Today I'll give a basic overview and go into more detail in later posts. It was lovely to be able to escape from ordinary life for a weekend. The girls were a real pleasure! Trudi from quilting prolifically was our guest quilter for the weekend.

The Chaplin House converted barn was transformed with many of Trudi's quilts. There were examples of Trudi's very first efforts right down through to her current projects. So we were able to track her progress. We were all inspired!Some girls brought sewing machines and we helped to get them threaded and tensioned properly. Trudi demonstrated the best way to clean and oil a JUKI. She even showed us a secret trap door - a great way to get out the gunk!

We had a couple of New English Quilter frames set up so we could practice various machine quilting line designs and see new designs demonstrated. Emma wanted to learn feathers and made a fantastic start! One of the best things about this part was seeing how different people execute the same line designs differently.

Some girls brought tops and we brainstormed together about possible quilting patterns and auditioned various threads. This is a gorgeous top which Joan made, called storm at sea.

We ended with a 'threaducation' talk where everyone got to touch and compare a variety of machine quilting threads and learn about how best to use them. It was a real bonus to see how these threads played out in Trudi's many quilts!

I left inspired by everyone and looking forward to the next Machine Quilters Retreat in April. The food was so good that I've asked for the same again. With any luck we might be able to take our coffee and tea breaks on the deck overlooking the back garden. Roll on Spring!