Dream Day Out & Winners!

WHEW! What a hectic few days I've had! I really think I need the holiday we're off on tomorrow to catch my breath! Now, I've got LOTS of photos to share, so I'll try to keep the story-telling brief. (Stop chortling, those of you who know me well!!)

Where to begin ... well, my best bud since year 4, Lynette, arrived Friday night, primed for a sleep over and a day of stitching at the Stitchers Dream Day Out at Highfields. As is normal when we get together, Friday evening was spent chatting and catching up (poor GB's ears were probably bleeding by the end of it! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and a few slightly alcoholic beverages were consumed, all adding up to a very pleasant evening.

First thing Saturday morning, we gathered our stitching supplies, coffee mugs and camera and off we went to join day one of the 2008 Stitchers Dream Day Out, hosted by Marian and the girls at Quilter's Angel. We arrived to find morning tea in full swing (Damn! Shouldn't have filled up on croissants for breakfast!!) so we signed in, grabbed a cuppa and soon joined about 140 other ladies to troop into the most fabulously decorated marquee you have ever seen. I didn't get a photo of the main samples display area because there were always lots of people near it, but did take this pic of the prize table.


Looks good enough to eat, doesn't it? So then we shuffled our way further into the tent to find our assigned table - number 15.


Hmmm ... it occurred to us that table 15 was waaaaaay in the back corner. Now, usually the naughty people get sat in the corner - were they trying to say something about Lynette and I??? Actually, it's a change from school, where we would no sooner walk into a classroom than the teacher would assign us to OPPOSITE corners of the room to stop us chatting during class! Not much has changed, really! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And what did we all find waiting on the tables for us? GOODY BAGS!! YAY!


Here's everybody peeking into their bags amidst lots of happy 'Oooooh'-ing and 'Aaaaaah'-ing! So many fun pretties, and too many to list on a post that's supposed to be shorter on words!!

Marian then introduced this year's guest designers, Libby Richardson from Art Smart, Lesley McConnell from Faeries in My Garden, Debbie McGee from Always Stitchin and Leanne May from Candlelight Creations. Everyone had a kit in their goody bag for one of eight designs (the bag also had the patterns for all eight) and we all got stitching, with the designers wandering from table to table to help, chat and admire. Now, I've tried the montage/collage thing again to show you the eight designs these clever designers came up with for the weekend ...





I'm sure you can guess which of these fabulous designs was my favourite ... of COURSE the one with the bear applique! But that wasn't the kit in my bag. I had the stitcher's cushion - much more fiddly than I would usually tackle, so a bit of a challenge! And Lynette was pleased to find Leanne's Butterfly Dreams kit in her bag. Here we are stitching away ...


Don't we look industrious? Looks can be deceiving! Tee! Hee! Hee! We had a lovely time chatting to the other ladies at the table, all of whom had travelled from near and far to be at the Stitchers Dream Day Out - I was the only Toowoomba local!!

After a delicious lunch, we were back into the stitching and the designers continued to circulate ...


Here's Lesley explaining something to some of the ladies.


And Leanne also enjoyed chatting with ladies. And when she stopped at our table, she was very impressed with Lynette's stitching, and told Lynette she was doing a fantastic, neat job. Now since this was Lynette's first stitchery project, she was pretty chuffed!

The afternoon ended with Marian reading out a poem that asked the question, if you knew it was the last time you would see your loved ones, what would you do differently? Would you hug instead of scold, kiss instead of complain, take a risk instead of playing it safe, say 'I love you' rather than 'see you later'. It reminded us all that life can be short, uncertain and unpredictable, so we should wring every little bit of enjoyment, fun and experience from it and take more time to be with our loved ones, to tell them how we appreciate and love them and perhaps put off some of the chores that really can wait til tomorrow to have a cuppa with a friend or stitch something for a 'just because' gift. So ... we all went away after a fantastic day of stitching, chatting, making new friends and enjoying established friendships - oh and did I also mention most of us indulged in some retail therapy to varying degrees? Tee! Hee! Hee! Lynette and I are hoping to make a return trip to Stitchers Dream Day Out next year, but since neither of us were sure what we're doing next WEEK, we thought it might be a bit soon to start planning next YEAR! A HUGE thank you to Marian, Libby, Leanne, Lesley and Debbie, as well as the girls from Quilters Angel who worked so hard behind the scenes to make this a special and enjoyable day for us! And thanks too, to the businesses who were kind enough to donate vouchers and goodies for the goody bags - I think a lot of us will be having future retail therapy thanks to them!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So ... that was my busy Saturday. Today has been spent making preparations for holidays - washing, packing, writing lists, losing lists, panicking that I've forgotten something!!! Tee! Hee! Hee! But never fear, even though I shall be enjoying Bargara's warm tropical temperatures, sandy beaches and holiday pace, my beloved Geek Boy could no more leave his laptop at home than chop off a limb, so I will be contactable by email and will be checking up on my fave blogging buddies, as well as posting photos to skite about our holiday!

Now ... I know I promised to try to keep this short so you don't doze off, but I do need to announce the winners of the Angel Bear Pattern give away. And the winners are ... PEG from Happy In Quilting and Ann-Maree who either doesn't have a blog or has it through another provider and blogger won't tell me!! So, ladies - CONGRATULATIONS!! I hope you will enjoy stitching these cute little angel bears. I hope you will "bear" with me a little, as I didn't plan very well and won't be able to post these to you before I head off on holidays tomorrow, but promise to send them as soon as I get home!! So if you'd like to email me with your snail mail addresses, I'll have them all ready for my return in two weeks time.

And on that note, I shall sign off and go find my togs, sarong, sunscreen and thongs (flip flops for all you overseas people who don't speak Australian!!). Mind you, I've packed so many sewing projects that I may not even venture out of our cabin for the two weeks!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Hope you've had a great weekend, too, whatever you've been up to, and stay tuned for the Holiday Adventures of the Mad Meares'! Tee! Hee! Hee! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS