Stitchers Dream Day Out '09!

Here I am, back to give you my report on the 2009 Stitchers' Dream Day Out ... well ... half of it, anyways, as it was a two day event and I only attended the first day! But I'm warning you now, this is going to be a LOOOOOONG post to cover all the fun - and make up for yesterday's shorty (hey, Chookyblue! Tee! Hee! Hee!) so grab yourself a cuppa and get comfy.

I spent a bit of time late last week sitting in the back room of my home-away-from-home helping Marion, Steph and the gals get ready for this year's SDDO - and even though we all worked hard, it was fun, too, to sit and chat while our hands were busy. OK, so SOME of our MOUTHS were busier than our HANDS ... but everything got done, right!! It was great to catch up with Linda, Cristina and Megan as they worked busily behind the scenes. And I just couldn't resist taking this photo of Marion's beloved helping transport the many, MANY balloons from the back room of the shop to the marquee ...

This was actually the second trip - on the first trip, Col took one too many balloons and needed help to get unstuck from the doorway! :0)

Now, after enjoying last year's event so much, my bestest buddy Lynette has been counting down with me almost since last September to be ready for SDDO '09 and she drove up the hill on Friday arvo so she could be up ready bright and early to head to the Village Green ... which we were!! Someone write this down ... For the first time in living memory, Kris and Lynette were ready ON TIME! YAY!! Tee! Hee! Hee! In case you hadn't guessed, we usually run a LITTLE behind ... not because we get caught up chatting ... oh no, not that! :0)

We arrived at the designated car park and found Col had put on his chauffeur's cap and was on hand to ferry ladies the couple of blocks back to the Village Green AND give us all a little adrenaline jolt for the morning with a ride in his classic V8 Kingswood. Aaaaahhhh ... the rumble of a well-tuned engine! Sorry, no photo of the Kingswood - too busy enjoying the ride! :0) Once we'd signed in, we were confronted with a dilemma ... should we choose one of these ...

... or one of these ...

... OR one of THESE ...

The most GORGEOUS chocolate, raspberry and white chocolate or sticky date flavoured cupcakes! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!! After much deliberation, I chose the raspberry and white chocolate while Lynette chose ...


... the sticky date flavour. Being the good buddies we are, we swapped a little taste of each, so we started the morning with a delicious sugar rush. We were READY TO STITCH!!!! The Stitching Angel herself, the Marvellous Marion, introduced our four designers for this year's SDDO ...


Ella from "Ella & Skysie", talented local designer Shelley Anne, my stitching hero Bronwyn Hayes of "Red Brolly Designs" and Debbie Magee of "Always Stitchin'". Is this photo a little fuzzy? It's no wonder, cos I was so excited I could hardly sit still!!

The theme for this year's SDDO was "Sweet Treats" (hence the yummy cupcakes for morning tea on arrival!) and the gorgeous projects designed by the four clever guest designers were certainly SWEET! Here are just a few ...


Isn't this cute!! It's a "Sweet Treats Sewing Case" designed by Debbie. All folded up like this, it looks like a little handbag, but it folds out flat into a wonderful sewing caddy.


This cutie is the "Sweet Treats Book Cover" designed by Ella & Skysie - you slip in an A5 notebook and it can either just be a pretty cover, or can turn a notebook into a recipe book for all those recipes you collect from friends.


This is a little sewing project bag designed by Bronwyn - it also has a cute bow and button on the other side.


This is the second of Debbie's designs and this 'sweetie' is called "Cupcake".


This isn't the most flattering photo of this clever design by Shelley - I was just a bit pushed for time and space to tie it up! This is a cake cover - it's large enough to sit a plate with a cake in the centre circle panel and the 'petals' all fold up and tie together in the middle (if you're not all thumbs and in a hurry!!) to protect the cake from being bumped when you're taking morning tea to a friend's place. Once you get there, you untie the top, lift the cake out, flip the flattened holder over and it looks like a flower in the middle of the table, where you once again sit the cake in the centre - told you it was clever!! Now these are just five of the ten designs these clever-clogs designers came up with for SDDO (Ella & Bronwyn got a little enthusiastic and each designed three!)

Then it was time to open our goody-boxes to see not only what goodies were in there (too many to list and all wonderful!) , but also which project kit we had received ...


Here's Lynette delving into her box! She really is a very good sport about being photographed whenever we go anywhere together! :0)

Now, for most people, this signalled the start of their STITCHING, but being a bit of a non-conformist (or just a big chatterbox!!!) I decided this was the time to SOCIALISE! Tee! Hee! Hee! And the first person I found to chat to was ...


None other than my blogging buddy Joy! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO wonderful to get to meet up with Joy in person - and she's JUST like she seems on her blog - fun, chatty, GORGEOUS, with a great sense of humour - we did a LOT of giggling!!! I just KNEW we'd hit it off quickly as we had in blogland! And the best part is, it won't be long before Joy comes back up the hill for a playdate - YAY!!

The next person I met up with to chat with was the fabulous Rosalie who has done such a MAGNIFICENT job of machine quilting my "Fairy Bears & Butterflies" and "Butterfly Hunt" quilts for me - but I didn't get a photo of her! Oops, slipping there!! However, I DID get a photo of the next person I chatted with ... another Joy. My SDDO was just FILLED with JOY ...s!! :0) Joy was one of the fun ladies at the Girls' Getaway weekend Marion ran earlier in the year where I taught my "Girls Stuff Bags" design. Joy was the clever lady who was colouring her stitchery ... and she was using her finished bag to carry her sewing gear!!


Didn't she do a WONDERFUL job!! It was great to see that not only had she finished the bag begun at the Girls' Getaway, but that she was finding it useful - thanks Joy!!

Now ... the NEXT person I chatted to was a bit like me meeting the stitching equivalent of Jon Bon Jovi ... no she wasn't wearing tight leather pants and playing a guitar!! But she's my absolute FAVOURITE craft designer!!


Here's me, grinning like a star-struck groupie, with Bronwyn Hayes! She's such a lovely lady and explained things wonderfully in the little tutorials she gave us.

I did manage to sit down and do a bit of stitching after I'd finished my socialising - I received the kit to make "Cupcake" in my goody box, so you can be sure this is a project that WILL be finished - and then I can hang her in the lounge room beside MY cupcake dolly design - "Cupcake Katie". Actually, my "To Do" list is squealing at me today, cos I added ALL TEN of these wonderful projects to it! Tee! Hee! Hee! Here's a photo of everyone hard at chat ... I mean WORK!!

See where Col was taking the balloons?! :0)

All in all, Lynette and I had a FABULOUS time being part of the 2009 Stitchers' Dream Day Out! A huge

CONGRATULATIONS & THANK YOU!!

To Marion, Steph and their merry band of helpers (and even when things were busy and pushing deadlines, everyone WAS merry and working together as a team!!) for the MAGNIFICENT stitching event that was Stitchers' Dream Day Out for 2009!! And if you missed out on being part of this year's SDDO - make sure you get in nice and early with your booking and deposit for NEXT YEAR, cos it's going to be a beauty, too - we were given the heads up on the theme and the designers and Lynette and I will DEFINITELY be booking in again!!!!

PHEW!! Well, there you go, my report as promised and if you made it to the end, you probably need another cuppa, so go and put the kettle on! In the meantime, I'm off to work out what we're having for dinner. Til next time -

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS