Sunday, July 28, 2013

To London and Back - Fat Quarterly Retreat 2013

Cindy's Modern Stitching Bee Quilt

Mostly, the Fat Quarterly Retreat is about the people. I had the best time - these are truly 'my people'. That picture is of Cindy's quilt from the Modern Stitching Bee, and includes some of my bee mates too. From left to right, Susan, Cindy, me, Nicky, Emily and Di.

I've been back almost a week, and still awake and sleeping at the wrong times, but it was so worth it. I got to see so many of my friends and meet many new ones that I only knew via the internet, and happily meet more that I had never met at all before. I did not take a lot of pictures during the retreat, I talked and laughed and learned and just had fun instead.

FQR 2013 - gifts from wonderful sponsors

There was a wonderful bag of loot from fabulous sponsors.

Sample Swap and pouch from Susan

Susan gave me that wonderful pouch with the embroidery on the side. For the sample swap, I received that beautiful mini quilt from Kris, the lovely zig zag pouch and round pincushion from Susan and the wonderful long skinny pincushion with tiny liberty hexagons from Justine. Thank you all, these are beautiful.

Some new things - FQR 2013

I had a great time with Krista, a long time Canadian internet friend who I finally met in person in London. She gave me that cute little Liberty print ring which I am wearing as I write this post. The Liberty print key fob was made by Hadley and the Comma pendant was Kerry's creation. The yarn is from the my Liberty shopping trip with Cindy and Marit, and a scarf was started on the plane ride home. The wallet is from my shopping trip to Cath Kidson with Shevvy and Krista.

Hand printed fabrics from Leanne Fanny

There was a market too at the FQR. I bought this excellent hand printed fabric from Leanne Fanny. You can find it in her store here.

Liberty fabrics

Here is the stack of Liberty scraps and strips I bought. Well, there are a few half yards at the bottom. I went to the Liberty store with Krista and again with Cindy and Marit. Krista and I also found a stack of scraps at Shaukat. (I might have also purchased some sample books there too, but those are for another day.)

Lest you think all I did was shop, I should mention that I also went to a real London play, which included heading out early to get the cheap same day tickets, popped into a couple of Museums, walked about Tralgar Square and Camden Gardens, and had several lovely meals with friends.

Improv mini and some hand stitching done

I took wonderful classes from excellent teachers. I made this improv mini in improv class with Lu and then I started the hand quilting in her hand quilting class. I also took photography with Judith who shared excellent tips, and paper piecing with the very talented Joanna and Julianna. I will share my typewriter as soon as I get it finished.

Excellent books - Lu Summers and Brioni Greenberg

I came home with excellent books, by Lu Summers and Brioni Greenberg. They even autographed them for me, they are both such lovely women.

Radisson Blu Edwardian Vanderbilt - London, UK

I stayed here, at the Radisson. It was so fun to return to the same hotel on the same street, to use the same subway station and get coffee at the same Starbucks and walk around the same neighbourhood. I do love London, and am already saving for next year.

Sample Swap items from me and Elisabeth's name tag

Here are the trivets I made for the sample swap and Elisabeth's name tag (the "e" is from Diane's pattern which is here.)

Octagonal Orb, ready to gift

I put the Octagonal Orb quilt in the hands of the Siblings Together folks. They loved it and told me they would aim to give it to a boy, as the Always Bee Learning women and I had planned. There were many other excellent quilts handed over that day too. You can see some of them here.

Name tag for me

And I wore this fantastic name tag the whole time, made by the lovely Sarah - who I did get to meet as she was able to arrange things so that she could come.

So, that is my FQR 2013 recap post - you can read some other posts about the retreat by going here. It is hard to explain how much fun I had hanging out with my people - people who like to make things, especially quilts.

Thank you to the Fat Quarterly Team, the teachers, the sponsors, and especially to the participants. I expect I will be back next year.

Best,

Leanne

44 comments:

Gertie Pye said...

It was great to meet you Leanne, and there were many squeals of delight when your famous mini quilts made their way to our table! Glad you had fun, it all went by in a bit of a blur.

Lynne (Lily's Quilts) said...

Thank you so much Leanne, that was such a wonderful post and it was lovely to see you in London again. XXX

www.randomthoughtsdoordi.com said...

Great post. It was so nice to meet you.

machen und tun said...

grest recap, Leanne, and it was so very nice to meet you in person!! I am glad you had such a great trip and are back safely in Canada. See you again next year :-)

Isisjem said...

Lovely post. We only met briefly, I loved seeing your wonderful siblings together quilt in person.

Canadian Abroad said...

It was wonderful seeing you again. So glad we got some time to sit and chat on the Thursday as the rest of the time was so busy.

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

Oh how nice for all of you; to get to meet and spend time together.

Ella said...

I'm having so much fun reading everyone's posts. I am hoping I'll get to go next year!

Debbie said...

Sounds delightful in every way!

Strawberry Patch said...

It was a wonderful weekend indeed and lovely to sit by my bee buddy and stitch in classes together!

Poppyprint said...

Oh Leanne, this post made me all teary from the happy memories. I haven't been able to bring myself to write a post yet. I'm not quite ready to know it's all over. It was so lovely to meet you in person finally. Thank you so much for including me in your London leisure time, taking me to Shaukat and lunch with Shevvy, dinner and show with Susan, Marg and Emma. What an amazing 15 hours of London that day was!! Without you I might have come home with a few more pounds in my wallet, but where's the fun in that? It's super fun that not only are we kindred spirits in quilting, love of Liberty, but shoes, too!! xoxo K

Nilya said...

Dear Leanne, loved to meet you and hope we will Talk more next Year lol

Sarah said...

YOu sure did pack a lot in to your time in London. I was so thrilled to meet you even if it did feel a bit like a pinball experience of zinging from one person or event to another. YOur octagonal orb was even more fabulous in the fabric flesh!!

{Leila}Where the Orchids Grow said...

Was lovely to meet you Leanne and admire your mini quilts! Hopefully til next year :)

Katy Cameron said...

Wow, you packed a lot in there! Lovely to see you again, although I'm sad we didn't get as much time as last year!

Tammy said...

What beautiful pictures you posted. Sound slike you had a fabulous time.

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Brilliant to see you again.
Lovely round up, and awesome Liberty haul xxx

Tennjenny said...

Are the stitches in your nametag as tiny as I think they are??

Liz DandeliondD said...

It was lovely to meet you and sew with you too.
xxxx

Susan said...

Love that yarn! It looks so soft! Nice also to see the modern bee quilt of Cindy's finished.

MariQuilts said...

Sigh....so lovely, can't wait to hear all about it in person!!!

Svetlana said...

yay, it sounds like you had an amazing time!!! All the projects, given as well as received, are wonderful.

Annabella said...

Fab post Leanne - and some of my very favourite people in the top photo :)

Anonymous said...

Looks like you had an amazing time. Love the Liberty fabrics - gorgeous! Have a great day.....Marie

elle said...

Welcome back! Sew good to be with likeminded friends!!!

Karen said...

Looks like a fantastic time! Great memories and fun with friends. Lovely

Little Island Quilting said...

I'm surprised you had any room in your suitcase for clothes!
Lovely to meet you and interesting read.

Jo Jo said...

Sounds like you had a fabulous time. I'm sorry I wasn't there to see your fabulous ST quilt. I keep returning to it to look at again and again!

Clare Mansell said...

It looks like you had a fantastic time, I missed out this year, but will definitely come next year!

Charlotte said...

it was so lovely to see you again! Glad you had such a good time :-D

pennydog said...

I preordered the exact same two books. You got some real treasures there! Glad you got back safely and hope to see you there next year :)

Michele said...

It sounds fabulous. I'm glad you had fun.

Jo @ life in lists said...

It was so lovely to meet you, and thanks for sharing pics of your goodies, you did well!

Esch House Quilts said...

What a fantastic trip! I hope they keep going long enough for me to go one day :)

Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts said...

Wow .. great trip! Thanks for sharing.

Archie The Wonder Dog said...

Thanks for a fabulous post, glad you had a marvellous time!

Catherine said...

I hope you do make it back over next year, it was so lovely to see you again

Unknown said...

Great post Leanne - it was nice seeing you again.
tx

cakath said...

Sounds like a wonderful trip. Your post was wonderful also!
Some day perhaps I will get a chance to go...

Jessica Hadden said...

Wow! Quilty friends and quilting loot, it doesn't get any better than that!

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

Wow Leanne - sounds like you had an amazing time! I've read about the FQR on so many blogs and it sounds wonderful! I really love the improv pieced mini you made and the hand stitching looks wonderful on it too.

CapitolaQuilter said...

I'm so glad you shared your FQR trip. Amazing all around and happy for you. Your name tag is just perfect.

Elisabeth said...

It was so lovely to see you again, Leanne! I am still totally chuffed with my name tag and in awe at your fabulous piecing. I've started saving for next year too so I hope I get to meet you again.

tusen said...

It was so very lovely to finally meet you Leanne and to see (and touch ;)) the Octagonal Orb quilt.