Monday 22 July 2013

The Weekend - Part I

Where to start, other than to say that the weekend was absolutely fabulous. Fabulous food. Fabulous weather. Fabulous classes. But most of all - fabulous people.

Marg drove down with Emma and me on Thursday. In typical fashion, as soon as we were far away enough from my house to not want to turn around I realised I hadn't packed any shoes. As I was wearing the hot weather school run sports sandals there wasn't a chance in hell I wanted to spend the whole weekend in them, so Thursday afternoon commenced with shoe shopping.

Despite many a comment made over the weekend, my forgetting the shoes was not deliberate, but it might be next time.

After shopping we was done we met up with Krista (my amazingly lovely roommate) and Leanne for dinner and then went to see a show - One Man, Two Guvnors. Excellent show that had us laughing all the way through.


Friday morning was free time so I tried to do more shopping and failed (I hand my head in shame). I consoled myself with sushi and then the retreat began.

After receiving our fab goodie bags (to be shown in another post), I proceeded straight to my first class in embroidery. It was fun. Obviously I am already comfortable doing embroidery but I was there with nice people and chatted to Jo and Sarah the whole time so happy me.


Afterwards we all met on the patio and the lady from Siblings Together came to collect all the quilts that were donated. Jo and Katy helped me finish sewing on the binding for Helen's quilt and I got to hand them in together. The charity are going to try and see that the mother daughter quilts go to two sisters which Helen and I think would be really nice. (Forgive the photos. The sun was so bright that the colours and washed away.)

Next on the agenda was a big group of us going out to dinner together. It was a great evening. So nice to see 38 quilters from different countries all gather together and just have a good time. There were people from the UK, Ireland, Canada, USA, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Australia and -- if I've forgotten your country please forgive me.

I'm not even going to attempt to name everyone here.
If you have a specific query about who someone is please ask in the comments.
I managed to sneak me (and my cleavage) in there.
The troublemakers.
Ha!
Saturday morning was Improv with Lu. I was kind of tired and didn't really do what I was supposed to do, but I had fun. Hope Lu didn't mind too much. Then after lunch was English paper piecing with Katy. That was just a table full of women laughing hysterically and not getting much done, but having such a good time accomplishing little that we didn't care.

Next it was upstairs for the Sample Swap (I'll go into who I got to swap with and what I received in a different post), followed by the quiz which I was on the winning team. Nothing to do with me. I just sat there thinking 'How do they know all this?' the whole time.


The quiz quickly segued into the market evening at which I practised great restraint to keep in budget - but there was sooooo much good stuff you could have indulged in. This was followed by the raffle draw. I won a prize! I didn't take a photo though. Because I gave it to Leanne as I won foundation paper piecing paper. So not getting used round here.

By then it was late and I was hungry. A group of us wandered off to a Moroccan restaurant that had been recommended and had more fun talking, laughing and eating. You can't go wrong with good company and good food.

The winning team top left.
Me dancing bottom right.
Sunday was the final day and I did needle turn appliqué with Mandy. She's super nice and I know this because she had patterns for everyone but let me do clam shells, because I wanted to do clam shells. I like Mandy!

And then unfortunately it was time to come home. Because I had a cake to ice, and put fondant on and then docorate. Then I had a Y6 leavers disco to attend. The fun doesn't stop here.

All the children had photo mosaics to show them over the years.
As you can see, Emily has't changed. (*grin*)
And that's me, home and knackered. But I have a dance class to take a child to now so must scoot. More in future posts coming soon.

Susan

44 comments:

  1. Hi Susan, It was great to meet you and my goodness wasn't it a lot of fun. I was amazed at the pile of Siblings Together quilts, it was massive. It's obviously a cause that people feel strongly about. That Moroccan food looks great :)

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  2. so glad you had a good time .. pics are wonderful xx mmm "forgot" your shoes did you??? mmm...

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  3. Oh that looks like sooo much fun! Can't wait to read the next installment :-)
    I saw 'One Man, two guv'nors' last year and cried with laughter most of the way through - loved it!
    Happy Monday,
    xx

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  4. Sounds wonderful!
    This looks like so much fun! Wish I had been there too.
    .....and I think that is a very good plan to buy new shoes each time

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  5. it was so great to see you, and I am delighted that you posted my beautiful portrait ;-)

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  6. Sounds like you had a great time - love packed so much into your time. Fab pics and LOVE your new shoes!
    I wonder how many people who read this/spoke to you about it will be 'forgetting' to pack shoes in future :-)

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  7. Thanks for organizing the meal, I had a fab time too. now to finish off all that I started there :o)

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  8. It sounds like a wonderful time!

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  9. Random comment. where did you get sandals in pic on left...love them!
    Great recap btw..am hoping I get a mention in Hadley's ;-)

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  10. So much fun! It was lovely to see you (and the flapjacks).

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  11. Sounds like an amazing time! And I love your picture dancing...you are so talented!

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  12. Looks like you had a fantastic time! I enjoyed seeing all the instagram pics over the weekend x

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  13. It was so lovely to finally meet you Susan! Wasn't the whole weekend such a blast from start to finish! xxx

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  14. Was lovely to meet you this weekend x

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  15. Great pics! It was lovely to meet you even though we didn't have much time to chat. Hope we can organise a get together soon though!

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  16. Sounds like such a wonderful time!

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  17. It was fun, but absolutely exhausting, I've even had to have a kip on the sofa this afternoon, and i didn't get out of bed until half 9!! :o)

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  18. Hi Susan! You must have had the greatest weekend! I just try to imagine how much talking and laughing there has been! I'm happy to regognize many blog friends from your photos.
    I love your shoes! x Teje

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  19. Well it looks like you had a blast! Good on you for "forgetting" your shoes ;) Who knew you'd look so fabulous in green chiffon! ;)

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  20. What Kelly said ;-)
    In all seriousness, thanks for organising the meal. I had a blast! Xxx

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  21. Wasn't it great. I had the best weekend. Work today was a real come down and it was a looong day

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  22. Accidentally forgot to pack shoes...I've heard it all now! Glad you all had such a good time. I look forward to hearing more over the next little while. Love the cake!

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  23. So jealous! Looks like you had a great time!

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  24. Had to ask marg if she was actually there??? She must be good at ducking the camera! Looks like you had a ball!

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  25. Amazing- TWO good pictures of me! Also I saw One Man Two Guvnors when Rufus Hound was in it at the Curve in Leicester (is he still in it?!) and it was BRILLIANT.

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  26. It was an amazing weekend. Di x

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  27. Bloody awesome weekend!!! Thank you for all your organising xxx

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  28. Looks amazing...and impressed by anyone attempting needle turn applique!

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  29. Wow- this was an epic post. Sounds like you had a ton of fun with your friends.

    Did Marg make a dash out of camera shot every time someone picked one up? I cant see her anywhere!

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  30. So thrilled I FINALLY got to meet you! Brilliant weekend and I am home with a new pile of UFOs. So nice to see you got your cleavage in the dancing pic too!!

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  31. My what nice belly abs you have ;)

    What an awesome weekend. I can hear the contentment oozing from this post. Wish I could have been there again too. Maybe next year (she dreams).

    xx

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  32. I'd love to have seen your dancing moves!

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  33. Glad to hear that you had a fabulous time. Those new shoes must have come in handy for your dancing!

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  34. I remember you dancing, great that you have a photo. Lovely to see your pictures, and so great to see you there. The cake is lovely too.

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  35. Yes, it was a great weekend! So great to meet you and thanks again for inviting me to dinner. It was a hot blast!

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  36. I don't know about Sarah but I almost don't want to read anyone's posts. LOL JK I am so glad y'all had a great time!! So lovely to see the pics.

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  37. lovely photos of our mega dinner! Thanks for organising that Susan, and as before, not enough time to chat with you!! I guess we'll have to try again next year :)

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  38. Definitely starting the diet for next year now! Oh, and I think I gave some of those lads at the disco a bit of cleavage titillation when reading my e-mails on my phone ;o)

    Thanks again for the bed for the night!

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  39. Any retreat that starts with shoe shopping and sushi is okay by me!

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  40. I'm exhausted all over again! Xxx

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  41. Looks like a wonderful time - I love all those photos! I'm envious of your shoe buying ability - I've been looking for some summer shoes/sandals since March and still haven't found any that fit...

    P.S. Seems like green chiffon is just your thing - you should wear that outfit more often!

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  42. As always about a hundred years later than everybody else, I'd just like to tell you how lovely it was to meet you. And that I'm already hoping for another meeting.
    Also, thank you so much for organizing the dinner and yay, I can even see myself in the photo :D

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