Machine Quilter Retreat

Jackie holding Sally and Peter's giant log cabin quilt top

 The Petwood Hotel is beautifully situated and full of old world charm. The food is fabulous too. But what makes our Retreats so special is the people. We think that great things happen when a few people gather together around a machine quilting frame. 

Ann, Emma, Brenda, Carol, Maggie and Martha around the NEQ 6 foot frame

 Small is beautiful!  So we limit the numbers to 7 or 8 participants and we have at least 2 teachers.

Sally, Jackie, Maggie, Carol and Brenda with Jackie's quilt

It makes for a friendly atmosphere so it's easy to get to know each other and share ideas.

Peter and Martha chuckling over the 8 foot NEQ frame

There's lots of time one to one interaction as we doodle designs. We go from pen and paper to thread and fabric, gaining confidence on familiar designs and learning lots of new ones.

Sally, Maggie, Carol, Brenda and Martha with Sally's quilt

One of my favourite sessions is when we audition various threads on the unfinished quilt tops that people bring. I make sure that there's a good selection of Machine Quilting threads for people to choose. It's so inspiring to see all the gorgeous quilts as we explore machine quilting options.

Ann and Emma looking at the ripple stipple design on Jackie's quilt

This such a good mix of people.We had so much fun! We're already planning a reunion!

April Retreat

Lexie and Martha on the 6 foot Art Quilter frame

 Our April Machine Quilter's Retreat was lovely. Small is beautiful! With three participants and three tutors there was plenty of one on one instruction.  Joy and Lexie were experienced quilters but relatively new to machine quilting on a frame. Both brought their Juki TL98 P sewing machines so we could help to get them properly tensioned for free-motion quilting.

talking about loading the quilt sandwich

Joy and Lexie wanted to consolidate basic skills and move on to the next level. We explore trouble shooting techniques beginning with sewing machine tension. 

Joy practising a new line design on the frame

We move on to drawing designs with pen and paper and then we go to the frame and execute the same designs with the needle and various threads. Then we introduce a new design and go through the process all over again.

Joy drawing an E's and 3's design

The pen and paper exercises enable us to master the line design and move with it. One of the best things about hand guided machine quilting is that the line designs are like handwriting. The same designs flow differently from different people.Each person brings their own style and personality to the design. On a very practical level we all learn from each other.

Lynda working on feathers

Lynda came on our January Retreat and progressed so quickly that she came back to our April Retreat for more. Lynda spent this retreat working on feathers with Trudi Wood. It was fun to have people with mixed abilities working together. I think that by our next Retreat Lynda will be teaching us all!

Lynda drawing feathers under Trudi's watchful eye : )

First on paper and then on the frame. Fantastic!!!!

penguin feathers on the practice piece

The feathers were so fun that Emily had to have a go! She's definitely doing feathers on her next quilt.

Whatever the Weather

Well, the snow was beautiful. It still looks lovely in the fields around our house. But even the A and B roads are clear in the Lincolnshire area around us. The motorways are fine too. So travelling to our Petwood Machine Quilter Retreat this weekend looks pretty good. We're looking forward to wood fires, lovely meals and a demand free weekend without distractions as we focus on fine tuning our machine quilting skills.

Dress for the Retreat is smart casual. We dress up a bit for the evening meals and dress comfortably for the day time workshops.

We'll have frames set up and we'll supply all the materials for the weekend. Please bring any finished quilts or unfinished tops for our afternoon brainstorming session.  We would be delighted to see what you've been up to. If you would like some help tensioning your sewing machine, please bring that along as well. I've just received the January Superior Threads shipment!! So there will be lots of thread to look through.

 The retreat begins at 7:00 pm with our evening meal. But the Hotel staff are expecting arrivals any time after 2:00. So you're welcome to come a bit early and settle in your rooms and relax after the journey if you like. I'll be setting up in the Garden Room in the afternoon then collecting Emily from the Newark train station. We'll meet you for the evening meal at 7:00.We're looking forward to seeing you all! Drop me an email if you have any questions. martha@machinequilter.co.uk    Follow this link to see a schedule for the weekend..

March Feathering Retreat

There are still spaces available for our March Feathering Retreat. The January Feathering Retreat was our best retreat yet.

We're away in Moscow this week giving a Machine Quilting Seminar but you can find out more about the Feathering Retreats on our website and read some earlier posts.

Trudi Wood will be on hand to inspire us with her free form feathering technique

 We hope to see you there. We're away in Moscow at the moment, drop us an email if you'd like to come or have any questions and we'll reply when we get back Monday March 5th.

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.