Retreat Shop Hop

Grandchildren have taken over my house, so the Shop Hop photos have not been published. I'll remedy that now.

We had a great Shop Hop and the 6 Adelaide quilt shops benefitted to the tune of almost $30000. Not a bad effort in this economic downturn - now to be called a recession.

I only took photos of my bus, but I am sure there are others around.

Our first stop was some distance away up Cross Roads to "Riverlea Cottage Quilts" on Unley Road. What a spending frenzy then occurred. I had to use my sternest schoolteacher voice to get them moving!!!

Next stop was 'A Stitch in Time' on Fullarton Road. Here we were treated to a most magnificent morning tea.

Then all the way back down to 'Patchwork by Sea' at Brighton (Jetty Road) where Michele Hill happily autographed copies of her brilliant book and Lessa Siegele showed us a new quilting gadget.

We drove back up to the top of Cross Roads to have a lovely light lunch at the Waite Research Institute.

I know when I made the lunch announcement a number of my passengers were rather concerned that their bodies were going to be the subject of 'weight' research at lunch time. After all the food we had been 'forced' to eat over the weekend, we would probably have made very interesting research subjects!

After lunch we travelled to "Quiltaholics" on the Norwood Parade for a bit more spending .

And then back down Cross Roads again to visit 'Tricia's Discount Fabrics' at Edwardstown.

Suddenly ladies who thought they might have spent enough, discovered that they just had to buy in quantity and take advantage of the great prices!

Our final shop stop was way over on the Port Road at Hindmarsh - through peak hour traffic . This was 'Hetty's Patch" and I had never been there, so was really pleased to be able to pay a visit. Pretty little shop.



Spending over for the day, we made our way back to Glenelg. As we were running a little late, our lovely bus driver Roger made an extra stop at the airport to drop off four vewry happy Retreatees and then we finally did make it back to Glenelg.

It was a great day and every one had a ball. We must thank the shop owners for their great hospitality, their help and their cheerfulness in dealing with nearly 100 eager quilters. Hopefully the $30000 that was spent made it all worthwhile for them.

The end of a successful Retreat. Sadly we farewelled old and new friends, but with the expectation of doing it all over again in May 2010 at Bathurst.

Liz Needle

Workshops and people

Even more photos.

Committee members taking a well earned break

Elvira, Jill, Maxine, Patricia and Tracey L











Members of the ATC group swapping and chatting












Making beaded baubles














Ramona Hermann and Jan Mac discussing charity quilts














Sit and Sew girls












The Committee's Name of the Rose Challenge. See how you go naming these roses.

A truly magnificent Dear Jane quilt to inspire you.

Liz

More Retreat

More photos for you to peruse. Michelle Watters has also put up a lot on Facebook. You have to do a search for Michelle and then the Retreat.


Happy diners looking for a Lucky Spot under their chairs.












Keynote speaker Michele Hill who kept us in giggles all night.











One of Michele's beautiful William Morris inspired quilts.














Our mascot Duncan enjoying a glass o9f wine with friends
















The Jans like to have a group photo each year.

I have a prize for the first person who can write a comment naming each one accurately in order.






Liz

I must apologise for not updating this blog, but life has been a bit hectic. I did try on Sunday night when I got home, but Blogger was being difficult and I was too tired to persevere. I'll update you now and put up some photos of some of the highlights.



The winner of the Jane McGrath Raffle - Quentin O'Keefe who took home a fabulous Bernina, courtesy of Otto Windler (pictured here with Quentin) from Otto and Pennie's Sewing Centre.












Second Prize winner was Michelle Watters. Here she receives her prize of a week's holiday for 6 at the Sunraysia Resort, Mildura. Jill Sparks who works at Sunraysia is presenting this prize. Suddenly Michelle found herself with more friends than she knew she had!!









The Die-Hards - Scquilters who have attended every one of the 12 Retrteats so far held.
From left: Barb McGibbon; Kay Dungavell; Michelle Watters; Maggie Gilbert; Robyn Anderson; Fran Williams; Jan Powell.


Each one is determined to be the last one standing and they had a lot of ideas - evil ones - about how they could achieve that aim.

More later. Blogger is still being a bit difficult.

Liz

The end of a wonderful first day!

The retreat is now in full swing - Glenelg's Grand hotel abounds with quilters carrying assorted bags - not all of which they were given at the Retreat. We suspect that local traders have benefited from the influx of quilting visitors with money to spend.
Whilst we're not going to give too much away information about the happenings here, we thought that you would enjoy seeing some photos.

Dinner at the Grand



















Announcing the Raffle Quilt winner - Jenny Ray



















The lucky Jenny Ray


















Liz thanking our wonderful sponsors

















Sit and sew on the first afternoon



















Duncan and his new drinking pal enjoying a glass of South Australian white
























Elvira welcoming our interstate and local guests to the 2009 Scquilters Retreat















The committee take a well earned break

















Duncan lends a helping hand giving out the apparel bags


















The end of a perfect day in South Australia

At last

Finally, we are there. Today many Scquilters converged on Glenelg and filled the nearby motels and hotels. Screams of delight, much hugging and kissing as old friends met and new friends were welcomed into the circle. A few nervous virgins (first time retreaters) hung back, not sure what to do or say, but it didn't take long for them to be drawn into the warmth and friendship that Scquilters is all about.
Tonight about 100 girls and a few partners dined at a local restaurant and ate their way through a delicious buffet meal. The staff probably wondered what had hit them.



Some of the happy, noisy crowd














And of course Duncan had a wonderful time. Here he is with Bonnie and Graeme Elvey








Committee members Chris O'Brien and Jenny Loveder






Duncan enjoying a glass of an SA white
















And of course, the food.







News around town today. Fran Williams and Jan Prentice obviously shopping at the same shoe shop. Nice boots girls.

Maggie Gilbert, Fran Williams, Michelle Watters and Liz Needle sharing high tea at the Stamford.

Congrats to committee member Heather Bolt on becoming a grandmother again - yesterday.

Commiserations to Joy Vale who is unable to get to the Retreat at the last minute - the roof blew off her house !!

Tomorrow is the big day. Registration at 2.00pm in the foyer in front of the ballroom. See you all there.

Liz

One sleep

One more sleep! The excitement mounts. Scquilters are beginning to arrive in SA. Tomorrow they will be rocking up to Adelaide Airport in droves. Scquilters looking for other scquilters, their luggage, taxis. The Airport will be a buzz, especially around 1.00pm. See you there.

A few happy snaps of Duncan at Glenelg. He is eagerly awaiting the dinner tomorrow night so he can get to meet all "the lovely ladies".

Duncan checking out a new Glenelg tram. Quite frankly they have the hardest seats of any public transport I have been on. Not a patch on the lovely old trams. I wonder if they still run the old ones. If they do, take one of them.

And here he is at the Wishing fountain. Not sure if he is making a wish or trying to fathom out how he can get the coins out of the fountain.

Weather Update
Thursday - 22 - shower or two
Friday - 22 - light shower
Saturday - 24 - partly cloudy
Sunday - 21 - mostly sunny
Monday - 24 - mostly sunny
Tuesday - 27 - mostly sunny

See you all soon!!

Liz

Two more sleeps

Only two sleeps to go until the fun starts. Finished my ATcs, only have to sew the binding down on my challenges, ironed my fat quarters. No packing done yet. Have a pile of stuff to bring, so will have to give some thought to that. I need to make a list.

Went through my stash today to choose fat quarters. Funny, but nearly every piece of fabric I pulled out wasn't quite a fat quarter - too narrow, pieces missing etc. Did anyone else find that? Must admit I did manage to find and iron quite a few - about 60(said very softly).

Did anyone notice that Duncan had a little friend in some of the photos? His girlfriend "Dymphna the Desirable Dragonette". He's quite chuffed about it all. Never had so much fun in his life.

Duncan visited one of the shops on the Shop Hop, just to ensure that they were ready for nearly 100 happy quilters.







Here he is making friends with Jenny of Patchwork by Sea, although she doesn't look too sure about those teeth.





See you all soon.

Liz

Duncan travels

On Thursday Duncan drove down to Goolwa with Jenny to visit with Elvira. No doubt many weighty Retreat matters were discussed and decisions made. More importantly Duncan visited Goolwa and checked out the water situation in Lake Alexandrina.


Here he is checking out the bridge to Hindmarsh Island. This was the subject of huge publicity some years ago - Secret Women's Business.











And looking out over Lake Alexandrina - where once there was water in abundance!

This picture tells the tale. This is the Goolwa Barrage, designed to hold back water - when there was water to hold back.

On a lighter note - only 4 sleeps until we meet at the Thursday night dinner and 5 sleeps until the Retreat officially begins!! How much to do before then???

Well, I have finished one set of ATCs and the other is in mind. I have pinned together my Retreat Committee Challenge (but I am not really happy with it), I have started a Little Quilt of Love. Angel presents - not yet (sorry my mortal - I will get there, though maybe not hand made); Table Topper - not a hope in Hades; Show and Tell - luckily mine was finished in time for the Retreat before last, but never got there; siggy squares - not this time - too many from previous years; clothes - in the wash; Tiara - broken!!! Chocolate - good old Easter bunny; wine - bottle shop on the way. Anything else?

See you in a few days.

Liz

Sightseeing

Duncan has been out and about today. He paid as visit to the Grand - site of our Retreat. The guy on the desk doesn't seem too sure about him. The poor fellow is probably having nightmares about our weekend at the Grand. Can't think why!!



Here we are right on the beachfront. A few more metres and you are walking on sand.

















Duncan checking out the registering process at the Grand. I hope the guy on the desk looks happier when we all arrive!!!!






Finally Duncan checking out the War Memorial at Glenelg. I bet he never had this much fun when he was living at Barb's Sew and Knit. Thanks Jenny.

Liz

Introducing

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our committee - he will be acting as our PR consultant. Yes, he!! We thought it time we had some male representation on the committee. Duncan will be pointing out some of the sights and not to be missed spots around Adelaide, so keep a look out for him

Duncan is a personable fellow and was donated to us by one of our Glenelg sponsors. As yet we have not quite decided to do with Duncan - we are open to suggestions - but in the meantime we have decided to make use of his unique talents by employing him to show you around Adelaide.

Here he is in Jenny Loveder's garden. Duncan has a love for and a knowledge of wine so we thought he fitted well into our wine theme. So much so that we have named him "Duncan the Drunken Dragon".

The hand knitters among you would appreciate his beauty, no doubt.

Today he visited the physio with his friend Jenny. Wethought he needed a massage and a spinal stretch in readiness for a big week of sightseeing and then a weekend with 150 adoring female fans.

Liz

Retreat Reminders

You have probably read these on the Retreat list, but if you are following the blog, here they are again.

1. If you are attending the Thursday night dinner, could you please wear a name badge. Two reasons - so that other Retreatees know what to call you and so the staff at the restaurant know who is a Scquilter (they are expecting you to be wearing a name badge - not necessarily a Scquilters badge).

2. Undercover parking is available at the Grand. It will cost $7 a day for Retreatees. 24 hour parking is $15. If you want to do the Full Monty and have valet service, it costs $20 a day.

3. Registration begins at 2.00pm on Friday. The Retreat officially finishes at 3.00pm on Sunday - 49 hours of non-stop self indulgence!

4. If you have been unable to get electrical equipment tagged, it can be done on Friday night at a cost of $5.50 per item, but please only use this as an emergency measure. Otto's time is limited and precious.

5. If you have a Dear Jane quilt finished, we would love you to bring it for display. In 1999 Irene Carrig inspired many Scquilters to start their DJs and we would like to remember and commemorate that 10 years later.

6. Please remember - No swapping at meal times!!!

7. Please bring your own first aid supplies and medication.

8. Please remember to tip the committee generously - chocolates and wine would be nice.


That's it for now. More later.

Liz

Two weeks to go

Only a few weeks to go now - just over two in fact and life is beginning to get very frenzied in Adelaide. Apart from ongoing hassles with venues, the committee is getting it together and I can assure you, we will be ready for the onslaught of 150 enthusiastic quilters, come the weekend of the Retreat.

We spent last Saturday putting together the goodie bags and the raffle gift bags and thanks to our very generous sponsors, we have many treats in store for you. If you are lucky enough to become a recipient of one of our prizes, please thank the donors by email, phone or post. They do appreciate your thanks and are more likely to become repeat donors if they feel appreciated. Check out the list of sponsors on the Retreat website and if you happen to be visiting one of them, please tell them how grateful you are for their support.


Committee members filling goodie bags. The photo is a bit blurred because they were moving so fast around the table. LOL!!

Unfortunately I forgot to get a photo of the finished pile of bags, but Maxine's long front hallway was filled with bags.

This is Maxine's lounge and the boxes of donations left after the goodie bags were finished.












Tagging - A reminder about getting your electrical tools tagged before the Retreat if you can. Otto Windler will be able to do emergency tagging on the Friday evening at a cost of $5.50 per item, but it is emergency only. He is coming from work and will have a limited time in which to do the required tagging. Please help us by doing as much as you can before you get here.

Car parking. Under cover carparking is available next to the Grand for Retreatees. The cost per day will be $7 and if you want 24 hour parking, it will cost $15 a day. Valet service is $20 per day. Car parking is available in the nearby streets, but on a weekend it is like hens' teeth.

Not sure how many sleeps to go - BUT it is not very many. Get moving on those challenges, siggy squares, angel gifts and your packing!!!

Liz