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