Review Time

On Sunday past, it was the 2nd Stitch Gathering, a Modern Quilt Retreat, in Edinburgh. Last year I was lucky enough to be one of the teachers at the inaugural event and really, you would never think it could be bettered.....but, Jo & Jonathan pulled it off again. What a brilliant day.

Our venue had changed, for the better. Lots of parking outside and lots of room inside.

The day began with registration and handing in our "tickets" - this year our ticket was a calico bag that we had to embellish in whatever way we fancied. Later in the day it would be handed to our allocated swap partner. This was the bag I had doctored -

After meet & greet, it was time for class - this year I was teaching my Mega Pinnie - I had a great bunch to teach and everyone had a finish at the end of the session - what a result!! I must also say a big thank you to the lovely Alison for being my class helper.

Let me show you some pics I took along the way..........

At lunchtime we all enjoyed a lovely spread and then had the chance to shop - Jo had brought lots of goodies with her from her shop, and she kindly agreed to me having a mini Aurifil pop up shop so I was able to spread the Aurifil love to lots of ladies.

We also did our bag swap. Mine went to Di - I was so happy to have her as my secret partner as she is in my online Bee and I really wanted to make her bag quite special. Di came to the SG with 

Trudi of Quilting Prolifically fame and I totally lucked out by receiving the bag she had made for me. I was beyond chuffed. Her quilting skills are legendary and you can see this in the following pics. Inside, the bag is lined and includes a zipped pocket. I absolutely love it - thank you Trudi. 

If you think you might need the services of a longarm quilter, look no further than Trudi, her work is FAB - U - LUSS.

In the afternoon, more classes and this time I was able to enjoy being the learner as I took part in Fiona's Reverse Applique hoop - by hand. We had a lovely, relaxing session and a mini show & tell.

Last year, our tickets to the SG were printed on fabric and we were asked to embellish it in some way. All of those 6" "tickets" were transformed into this fabulous quilt and raffled on Sunday, for Maggie's Centres, a wonderful charity. I think over £600 was raised.

Of course, no retreat would be complete without Goodie Bags - unbelievable!! I have left mentioning it until now because I want to take a moment to thank all of the sponsors who generously helped to make our bags so brilliant.

So, in no particular order, a huge thanks to the following -

1. Aurifil, for some thread.

2. Nairns, for some biscuits.

3. Pilot, for one of their brilliant Frixion pens.

4. Coats, for some needles & threads.

5. Dashwood, for a FQ.

6. Love P&Q for a copy of their magazine.

7. DMC for embroidery thread.

8. Very Berry Fabric, for one of her lovely Liberty Scrap packs.

9. Groves & Banks for lovely embroidery scissors.

10. Liberty, for a lovely baby cord tote bag & Tana lawn sample.

11.Blend Fabrics for some fabric.

12. Robert Kaufman for a 5 FQ bundles (!!)

13. myBearpaw for some DMC perle cotton & some beads.

I shall end this very long post by saying a huge thank you to Jo & Jonathan - your organisational skills are amazing. I heard so many positive comments throughout the day so be very proud of your achievements. Here's to 2015.