Hugged Out!

My hugger is burned out after all the squeals and squeezes incurred in the meeting of bloggy buddies at this past weekend's Fat Quarterly Retreat!  What a fab lot you all are and how brilliant it was to meet so many online friends.

Warning - long and potentially rambling post ahead.

Di, Me and Catherine - so great to meet up with them again!

Di, Judith and Me - yep, we had a photographer swap!

Di, Me, Catherine, Judith and Jan
We must have nabbed somebody passing to take this one, so thank you whoever did!

I look so cheesy with my big grin in these pics but it was a good time and I just couldn't stop myself smiling!

So, as a newbie FQRer, what can I tell those of you who didn't make it this year?

Most importantly, start saving your pennies and go next time if you possibly can!

You will get to be inspired by fabulous quilts at the Show and Tell like these -

Nicky (on the right) made this massive beauty with Oakshotts.
My son thinks this quilt is amazing, Nicky! (He's right!)

Jan's Road to Tennessee quilt from her Bee A Brit Stingy bee is a glorious riot of summery scrappiness!

Catherine's Lynne Bob Square Pants Quilt is fabulous - wish you could see her gorgeous handquilting on it.
She's smirking behind that quilt, you know, because she had the hipBees do all those HSTs for her!!!

Di's sprouts quilt is nothing like the manky greens on your Christmas dinner plate.
It's totally gorgeous and has been stunningly quilted by the uber talented Trudi.

Just so you know, there's no gain without pain and the downside to Show and Tell is that you might get to be the quilt holder while photos are being taken -

Poor Catherine - she's about to drop under the weight of about five quilts in 28 degrees of sunshine!!
She's a trooper!

Then, there's the handover of all the quilts that have been made over the year for the Siblings Together charity which Delma came to collect.  I am going to be honest with you and say that I found this time really touching.  So many amazing quilts were passed on for the kids who will be going to the Siblings Together camps this summer.  As I know from Bee Blessed, there is truly something special about a quilt that is made and gifted with love, even when we don't know the recipients personally, and I just know that kids are going to be really blessed by the quilts they receive this year.  Here are just a few, but I promise you Delma (on the left in purple in most of the pics below) went home with a humongous pile on Friday night!

All the way from Canada -
Leanne's Octagonal Orb extravaganza of a quilt - she is just such a lovely person too!

Susan handing over her daughter Helen's brilliant quilt.

Susan's own quilt for ST.  I LOVED getting to meet Susan.
We've been blog chatting for over two years now and it was great to finally give her a hug or two!

Hadley delivered this very pretty girl quilt.
She snuck out from behind the quilt and for once I got the timing just right, though I'm sure she won't
thank me for this pic.  She is beautiful, so I don't know why she shies away from piccies so much.
And, she was wearing that fab tunic she made herself!

Catherine used her raffle winnings (Salt Air jelly roll) from last year's retreat to make this smashing Lonestar quilt.
I am really inspired by it to want to try a lonestar myself sometime soon!  (Dreaming on ....)

I handed over the Bee Blessed collaborative Funky Wrench quilt which so many of you contributed to making - thanks again for all your efforts.  Doesn't it look great finished?

Of course, there was a myriad of other things going on too - the classes, the Quilt Market, the swaps, the chatter and laughter of old friends and new meeting up.  I will spare you those pics, mainly because I don't have any.  Seems I was so busy on Saturday and Sunday that not a single pic was taken - oops!  Anyway, I'm sure you'll see more on many other blog posts this week.  I cannot imagine there will be a shortage!

I think for patchwork and quilting bloggers FQR is an experience you really should have at least once.  It's fun, fast and fabulous.  But now, I am totally wiped out - can you imagine how good I was at work this morning having to design a new set of financial reporting spreadsheets on an FQR (non-alcohlic) 'hangover'?  Yep, I shall be spending some time making up for my fuggy brain action tomorrow!

I might come back later in the week to tell you about my classes and show you the new UFOs I have accumulated as a result, if you can take more FQR news by then!  Promise not to labour it too much.

If you were there this weekend I hope you had a great time too.  If not, I hope you enjoy the tales that will be told on blogs this week and maybe be encouraged to consider planning ahead for a visit yourself next year.

Adios!