grapes and hearts: London’s calling…

… or what I’m going to change next summer when I’m going to the Fat Quarterly Community Retreat in London.

My name is Christine,
I’m 33 years old and from Germany. I am married, have two little sons (3 and 5) and work halftime. So I have to squeeze my sewing into the little spare time that is left when work, housework and family duties are done.

The first retreat this june was soooooo much fun and I absolutely want to go next year! So I bought my ticket as soon as they were available. I went on my own last time. But there’s no need to change that! Everyone was so nice and friendly and I can only advise those of you who ponder to just go and buy your ticket! The flickr group helped a lot as people were already getting to know each other by chatting and planning all kinds of swaps.

What I will change next year is: I’m not going to drag my sewing machine to the airport, through to gates, to the airplane, through another airport, halfway through London, upstairs and downstairs, through sunshine (was there any?!) and rain (there was enough of it) and all the way back again. The incredible team of FQ had enough sewing machines (Pfaffs!) from the local UK general reseller so if they do provide this generous offer again, I will happily leave my sewing machine at home.

Other than that, I’m going to stick to this year’s plan and go a day early and perhaps stay a day longer (when the kids are already away at my parent’s, I’m determined to relish every minute…).

What I’m most looking forward to is meeting those that I got to know this year – including the lovely ladies from our FQSR London 2012 based bee: Sew-Euro-bee-an. AND meeting new faces, like-minded souls, chatting about sewing, quilting, bees, swaps, fabrics and notions all day long.

The ginormous raffle was great, too! And the giveaway bag was truely amazing and super generous!

This year’s makings are quite incomplete and some are still in ufo state. I don’t know yet how to proceed with my paper pieced blocks from Lynne’s class. Perhaps I should add a yellow one and turn it into a runner for the kids’ big dresser?!

I worked on the EPP Hexies I made in Tacha’s class and they will be part of a christmas present so no further details on this one (o:

I made a huge process on my Jelly Roll Race Quilt, that was still in strippy stage when I left London. But it still needs a backing, basting, quilting and binding. My friend Brigitte kindly offered to show me how to use her longarm machine and as this quilt is really big, I want to quilt it on her longarm machine.

I finished my block from Lucie Summers’ Portholes Class and made a pillow with it. It has since gone to a sweet little girl as a pressie when her little brother was born.

I love all of my projects from London as I learned new techniques in every class. And that’s another thing I’m looking forward to: more classes, teachers and more techniques – there’s still so much I want to try!

Last but not least, I’m looking forward to the “off-conference” parts: chatty breaks, drinks (late night) at the bar, breakfast in super nice company (thank you, Tracey!), the swaps (pretty please can we have another sample swap?!), and so much more.