Stitchers Dream Day Out 2011!!

WHAT  a weekend I've had!! I packed so much into it that it's lasted until Tuesday! Tee! Hee! Hee! OK ... maybe not ... it's just taken me this long to be able to grab some time to sort through photos and write a post about everything that happened.

If you've never made the trip up our hill to be part of Stitchers Dream Day Out, hosted by the GORGEOUS mother/daughter team of Marion and Steph Marshall at my home-away-from-home ... AKA The Quilters Angel ... I can HIGHLY recommend it!  It is such a fun day of being spoilt, stitching, chatting and meeting wonderful like-minded ladies ... not to mention being given the first look at SIX brand new project designs!! But ... I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's backtrack to Friday. I rang the shop to ask Sue (who was manning the counter while Marion and Steph finished setting up for the weekend) how everything was going and whether they could use another body to help set things up. Her reply began with ... "WEEEEEEEELL..." Uh oh! That's not usually a promising beginning! One of the guest designers had got caught in bad weather and missed her plane and had to reshedule, which meant the connection with the airport bus didn't work and someone had to drive down to Brisbane, there were gale force winds and it was bucketing down rain ... which led to the discovery that the marquee leaked and the weather forecast for the weekend was an unseasonable cold snap!! EEK! But do you know what?? Marion and Steph and their merry band of workers all pitched in, the rain stopped in time to get set up, the leak was fixed and everything was in place for the Saturday ladies to enjoy their special day of stitching. PHEW!!

Do you see that bleak sky? Brrrrrr!! It was COLD and windy on Friday and Saturday!!

Now ... this was the fourth year that my bestest-buddy-since-we-were-nine Lynette and I have attended one of the two glorious stitching days of this event. And can I say, just quietly, we were REALLY pleased that we booked for Sunday, which was a bit nicer weather-wise than the Saturday! :0) Along with the other ladies, we were greeted by Marion's Mum Ethel with a cuppa and some of the cutest little bite-sized bickies ... which I ate rather than took a photo of ... oops!! :0)

At last ... we were allowed into the marquee ...

Here's everyone settling in to their tables ... do you see the giant pom-pom flowers at the top of the marquee poles? And look at those pretty 'goodies bags'. You just KNOW there's lots of fun surprises in there! :0)  Lynette and I were at what we dubbed the "Naughty Table" ... right up the back corner of the marquee! Tee! Hee! Hee! Obviously Marion has been talking to our school teachers who used to separate us as soon as we walked into a classroom! Marion must have decided to keep all the trouble-makers at one table to keep an eye on us! Tee! Hee! Hee! Lynette and I were joined by Lesley and Nicole, who were at our table last year too, along with new table mates mother/daugher duo Maree and Jo ... also repeat offenders! :0)

Look at those smiles ... you can't half tell they're related, can you! :0) And lovely ladies they both were! In fact ... we all took a vote and decided that we'd like to book our table and table-mates again for next year. Tee! Hee! Hee!

Marion then welcomed everyone and introduced our guest designers for 2011. On the left of this pic is Julie Lovell from Calico Farm Designs, the zany Natalie Ross of In Stitches, and you can just see Libby Richardson of Art Smart Craft Cottage Designs beside Marion ... maybe she was camera-shy! :0) Each of these clever, creative gals had come up with two brand new projects for us to enjoy ... and I KNOW you want to see what they were!!

A table runner and little girl's bag from Libby, wristie pouch and iPad cover from Natalie and some super-cute owls and a set of small stitchery hangers from Julie. How spoilt were we!!!! :0) Bet you wish you came now! Tee! Hee! Hee! Each of the participants was given a goodies-bag and included in that bag was the kit to make one of these GORGEOUS projects and my little kit is to make up Natalie's wristie pouch ... since I've never actually COMPLETED a project I've started at SDDO, I'll keep you posted! :0)

Throughout the day, we were also treated to mini-tutorials by the three designers on techniques they used in their projects.

Libby showed us her painting technique that she uses to add some background colour to her stitcheries.

Here's Julie showing a very attentive Lesley how to create the cute crochet flowers she used to decorate her little owl softies. Natalie demonstrated needle-turn applique ... but got a bit interrupted when she got to our table, so no pic there ... told you we were considered to be the naughty table! Tee! Hee! Hee! I DID however get a pic of Natalie and I together at the end of the day.

Yes ... Natalie IS quite tall and I AM quite short! :0) It was funny, actually ... Lynette and I were having our arrival cuppa when Natalie came to get a kick-start of caffeine and she looked at me and said ... "You weren't here yesterday, were you?" I said, no. She put her thinking cap on and said, "Well, you look familiar to me." I commented that although we hadn't met 'in person' before, we've chatted back and forth on blogs and email ... at which point she said ... "Oh! I know! You're Kris from Tag Along Teddies!" Yep ... recognised! :0) Guess I look like my photo in real life! Tee! Hee! Hee! Natalie and I agree that we have quite a lot in common, including a 'chatty' blog style (OK ... neither of us can manage to write short posts ... that doesn't really make us long-winded!! That's our story and we're sticking to it! Tee! Hee! Hee!) ... we both have a slightly 'left-of-centre' sense of humour ... and we're both rather baffled by the popularity of hexagons! :0) I guess you either 'get' them or not!!

And speaking of slightly chatty, zany gals ... here's Natalie and me with the inimitable Helen. Helen is part of the Quilting Angels group and she is a HOOT and a HALF! :0) In keeping with the day, she had decorated her earrings with DMC and Cottage Garden thread skeins, had fabric strapped to her wrists like Wonderwoman bracelets, had hot-pink Quilters Angel bags as cuffs for her boots and roses tucked into her boots to tie in with our "Down The Garden Path" theme. Everyone will remember Helen! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And speaking of 'naughty' ...

We were taking photos of Libby with 'Our Helen' and who should pop up in the background making bunny-ears and pulling faces??? You guessed it ... Natalie! I think Marion may have to make our 'naughty table' a lot bigger next year! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So ... that was Stitchers Dream Day Out for 2011 and despite a few hiccups in the weather and some slight reshuffling of transport, a FANTASTIC time was had by all. Well done to Marion, Steph and their team of busy worker-bees for making the weekend such an enjoyable one for all of us who were 'playing ladies'. :0) A big thanks to Julie, Natalie and Libby, too, for sharing some of their brand new designs with us and braving our Toowoomba 'spring' weather to come and 'play' with us ... can't wait til you all come back again for another play date! :0)

OH!!! I almost forgot!! I also got to have a quick catch up with the lovely Jenny from Bundaberg. I met Jenny when I popped into the local patchwork shop in Bunday on a visit ... as you do!! ... and we had a lovely chat. Hope you had as great a day as Lynette and I did, Jenny!! :0) (I would send you over to visit Jenny's blog ... but I confess to losing her blog address - Oops!!!) 

 Are you all completely JEALOUS now?? Cos if you are ... maybe you need to pop over HERE to see what's happening NEXT year and book your place ... I know Lesley and Nicole did before they headed home on Sunday! :0)

I still have lots of stuff to share ... busy weekend, obviously!! ... but I have to shoot off. My parents are here for the week and Mum is keeping us hopping to get through her "To Do" list! PHEW! I'll need to go back to work for a rest! :0) Hope you all had a fabulous weekend too ... I promise I'll be back soon with some other news! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS