AWS Retreat

Here I am all packed up for our Antique Wedding Sampler retreat with my sister and two friends.

Block #11

We stayed in a large house in Fryerstown. 

There was lots of space to spread out. 

Did you know that chairs aren't just for sitting on? 

Auditioning for Block #20

 We sat and sewed or ate our meals looking at this view out on to the slightly overgrown garden that was just full of bird life. We were lucky to have perfect Spring weather.

We had to keep the gate shut to try and keep the rabbits out  - you can see the luscious grass they were after. The garden is to the left, you can see all the rabbit holes on the right of the 'rabbit proof' fence.

Inside the garden...

The scene beyond the garden. 

We had cloudless blue skies everyday.

It was fun sharing and choosing fabrics. I scored some more Liberty blues off Judy for my Dear Jane :)


Re-visiting this block to find a new centre...hmmm maybe.

Selecting fabrics for Sofie's block #11.

I shared my method of making stars by using flying geese, and had two star pupils...

Sofie's star

Lynne's star

I hope they're making lots more for homework ;)

I wanted to prep a few blocks as I'll be travelling for a couple of weeks. I managed one block...

My block #20

 ...and this is Lynne's version of the same block, prepped and ready to sew.

Sofie was also sewing this block but unfortunately I didn't get a photo, and I didn't manage to get a photo of any of Judy's sewing(sorry). She didn't have much because as usual she spent most of her time helping us with 'colour consultancy' and fabric selections.

We were only 10 minutes away from Castlemaine so of course we had to drop into Threadbare  - would you believe everyday for 3 days?! I'm sure you can understand. We checked out some potential AWS border fabrics.

 

And got to meet the famous Sammy, he sure loves to be photographed. 

I even got a kiss.

Funny how my shopping bags got progressively bigger with each visit.

I did manage to finally finish block #14.

And picked up a small memento at the Maldon market on the way home.

Ceramic houses by Ann Ferguson

It was a great weekend, so nice to get away from it all and just sew, eat delicious food and fabric shop. 

We have christened ourselves the G'nT (Gin and Thread) Sisters and we are going to start a new blog together.

I'm off on holiday for a couple of weeks. Hubby and I are going to do the great Aussie rite of passage by driving across the Nullabor desert to Perth in Western Australia. Hopefully I can manage a few posts along the way.

Cheers

Carole