Monday 26 August 2013

We Gathered, We Stitched


I've been!

Yes,  the eagerly anticipated Stitch Gathering has taken place - it was yesterday (Sunday) in glorious Edinburgh which basked in beautiful sunshine.
I travelled in an Ayrshire party of four - thanks Christelle - and we arrived at our venue, Napier College, at 9am.
As folks arrived we chatted, had coffee, and were treated to the most humungous Goody Bag. The bags themselves were made of Liberty baby needle cord & filled to overflowing with goodies too numerous to mention But a special thank you to Ali from Very Berry Handmade for generously providing us with little Liberty Scrap Packs.
We swapped name tags..........mine came a wee bit later as it was made by Sarah who endured a horrendous journey from Shetland, so glad she made it safely.

We then moved on upstairs to our classrooms - we were on the 6th floor and we had stunning views of the City.

Despite teaching for 9yrs now, I was strangely nervous and glad of the copious amounts of bottled water available. I needn't have worried though, I had a lovely bunch of ladies.
My class was Easy Crazy Patchwork and it evolved into a really pleasant stitching session.




Crazy patchwork can be a right messy business! But from chaos, eventually there is order.


Everyone who attended the Gathering had received a fabric ticket with the instruction to enhance & embellish - they are going to be joined and made into a quilt. Well, it's going to be quite a quilt, the blocks / tickets were wonderful. What a bunch of talented ladies with heaps of imagination - go on, take a peek,

And then it was lunch time.................yum!

During our lunch break we had a lucky dip (better than Santa's any day), a fat quarter swap & show & tell.
Suitably refreshed & relaxed we moved onto the afternoon session where I happily morphed into student mode and learned how to do a bit of fabric origami, with Jo. Still a wip, I will share another day.
All things must pass but even after a full day of workshops we had more treats in store,  for just a five minute walk from the college was Jo's shop..........
...................where we were welcomed with drinks & nibbles before embarking upon a little retail therapy. We also had the chance to view all the quilts in Jo's Modern Quilt Exhibition.

All that was left after that for the Ayr group anyway, was a quick Starbucks and the drive home.
What a success The Stitch Gathering was. Jo is a total dynamo and with the help of husband Jonathan, they make a formidable team. Thanks again for all your hard work.
I really enjoyed meeting so many new people,  I met some lovely bloggers too, that so far I have only encountered online and that was a treat.
I hope we can look forward to another Gathering in 2014.








23 comments:

  1. I never thought I would say this but it is a shame that I live in London - I totally wish I could have been there today! It looks like it was awesome! Maybe next year!

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  2. It sure looks like it was fun!

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  3. Oh why couldn't it have been last month, sigh.

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  4. It was lovely to meet you. hope we will see each other next year! juliex

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  5. Sounds like a wonderful time was had by all.

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  6. It was just lovely to meet you in real life Sheila! So glad your class went well. I overheard people at the exhibition commenting how much they had enjoyed your class.

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  7. Glad you had a great time and that Sarah made it! Missed her at FQR.

    Look forward to seeing the origami!

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  8. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Even though I am really regretting taking myself out of going to save money. Next year hopefully!

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  9. Sounds like the soul was fed. What a lovely day.

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  10. Looks like a brilliant event. So wish I could have gone!

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  11. Wasn't it such a fab day. Jo did a brilliant job and it was great to meet up with all you familiar names and faces

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  12. Great blog post Sheila! And I'm so impressed with all your photos - I didn't remember to take a single one! It was lovely to see you again. It was a fantastic day wasn't it? x

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  13. Sounds like a brilliant day and how lovely that you got Sarah's nametag.

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  14. Thanks for this lovely post Sheila and great photos, expecially of the food which we don't seem to have much of - and it was yummy! Thanks for being a brilliant teacher and helping make the day so utterly fab!

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  15. Looks like you had a great time and lovely weather. Gorgeous blocks!

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  16. Everything I have seen and heard about the Gathering has been wonderful, I want to come next year!!!

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  17. Twas lovely to see you again, and I too am impressed by all the pics you took!

    Roll on next year :o)

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  18. I really enjoyed your course - thank you!:-)

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  19. So glad that you all had an amazing time: wish I had been there

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  20. It sounds like a brilliant day...one day I'll make it there!

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  21. can you add your post to the linky I just put on my blog please Sheila? thanks :)

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  22. Great photos sheila! Your class looked so much fun too. Lovely to meet you at last!

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  23. I really enjoyed your crazy patchwork class Sheila! I will definitely be using the techniques to make more blocks soon. Thanks again for a great morning.

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