Teaching at a quilting retreat!

I’m sorry for my silence lately. I have been very busy whipping up a couple of projects for… (drum roll) The Berrima Patchwork “Quilting in the Highlands” Retreat for 2013!

About two weeks ago, late one evening, I received an email from Tamsin and Sue at Berrima Patchwork, inviting me to teach at their quilting retreat next year (27th-30th July 2013). My first thought was, “But I don’t quilt!” I had my suspicions that Michele Hill who was one of their teachers at this year’s retreat had been singing my praises to Tamsin and Sue. (Michele recommends my left and right-handed stitch dictionaries to all her students.)

When I spoke with Tamsin the next day, she said that she was unaware of Michele’s love of my books and that they had actually been watching my work for a while, and did want me to teach embroidery (not quilting, phew!) for them at their quilting retreat. We discussed some possibilities for classes – they wanted two two day classes – and I went away and put my brain in gear.

For a while we did consider the possibility of using one of Michele’s designs in a collaborative sort of project. I love Michele’s gorgeous William Morris style designs, but in the end, I decided I wanted the fun of designing something myself.

Since Tamsin and I spoke, I have been madly working on the two projects for her – and having a WONDERFUL time! I did a quick trip down to their shop one day last week (Berrima is in the highlands south of Sydney) to look at fabric and choose some to work with. For someone who has only had her driving licence since last December, I did 5 hours of driving that day, which was quite a big deal!

I finished the first of the two projects on Saturday, and then the second one yesterday morning. I had to photograph them and send off the photos to Berrima. They loved them. “The photos look amazing, they really have left us speechless!”

Hopefully in the next few days I will be able to reveal to you the photos of all the fun I have been having over the last few days. One of the projects is completely what you would expect me to come up with. The other is not in my normal style, but was so much fun to do and I was really happy with the look.

If you’re interested in the retreat, Berrima Patchwork held their first one this year, and it was a raging success. You can read about it on their Facebook page – which is also where the teachers and classes are being revealed.

Maybe I will see some of you there?!