We have been so lucky to have been able to hold a retreat in January with UK friends and in November with just local members, all socially distanced. As we live on an island, all incoming travelers have either had to take a Covid test on arrival or self isolate for 14 day. For three months there were only a few flights per week for patients getting treatment in the UK, repatriation of students and essential business travel.
Our group have met in my garden during the summer for Quilts in the Garden and it has been popular with different members attending each month. October was the first month we were able to meet inside. Very few venues are available to rent so we have spent the extra £ so that we can meet.
I started this foundation pieced puffin at our January retreat as a gift for our resident chef, Michelle, without whom we can't operate. I was able to present this as a thank you to Michele at the end of our retreat yesterday.
We had all arrived on site by 5pm on Friday so we started proceedings with the Petit Four basket as a make and take. We had a good number finished by dinner time which was a delicious vegetarian lasagna with garlic bread and pear frangipane tart for dessert. One of our attendees couldn't unlock the steering lock on her car so my hubby came out on his way to an air cadets meeting, enticed by the promise of dinner. Unfortunately the car couldn't be fixed so a breakdown truck came on Saturday to move it.
Bingo followed dinner and I won a sample pack of Aurifil threads. Kim doesn't make choosing your prize easy as they are all wrapped.
On Saturday and Sunday we were free to work on our projects. I had chosen two to work on. The first was my Alaska rainbow quilt by Laundry Basket Quilts and I had most of the pieces cut and sorted by block with two block sets laid out on design boards.
There are a couple of mistakes in the pattern but I found it difficult to differentiate the cream and grey fabrics in the block diagrams which necessitated repeated reading of the written instructions Unfortunately the instructions for the four units makin up the block are written as one paragraph not four so it took me longer than I had expected to finish the remaining blocks.
Dinner was sausage casserole with raspberry cheesecake brownies for dessert.
I woke early on Sunday morning so I got up at 6 and Kim joined me a few minutes later and I pieced the final set of blocks before breakfast. The classroom is at the opposite end of the building to the sleeping quarters so we didn't disturb anyone.
At 2pm we held the raffle and I won a bag of scraps. Very pleased with that. On the Friday we all received a fabric bundle from Hantex who wholesale Art Gallery fabrics and other brands. One of the raffle prizes was a pack of Foundation Paper from Patterntrace which was eagerly chosen by Jane.
One of the attendees who, like me, is higher risk, told me she had felt safe all weekend, which was high praise. Lockdown may not be far away again but we were able to enjoy a lovely socially distanced weekend. Some of the measures put in place we will continue, such as preordering our food but we hope to be able to eliminate the extra cleaning and socially distancing in the future.
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