Reflections on the 2013 Fat Quarterly Retreat

The Fat Quarterly London Retreat is over again for this year.  Once again, it was a wonderful, fun and exhausting weekend with lots of lessons learned and ideas gathered to make it better next year.  There were many highlights for me including meeting and spending time with new and old friends:

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Teaching Touchdraw and precision piecing:

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Meeting Delma from Siblings Together and handing over 31 quilts:

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meeting Alex Veronelli from Aurifil who I have worked with for a couple of years now but never met:

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 Spending time with the wonderful Michael Oakshott and his wonderful Oakshott shot cottons:

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Seeing all the beautiful quilts people brought to retreat including this one by Susan Claire (Gourmetquilter) which had been featured in Quiltmania and which had actually been the reason I bought that issue of Quiltmania two years ago.

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Working with the Fat Quarterly team:

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But my overriding feeling from the whole retreat is the happiness I get from being in the company of so many quilters for a whole weekend.  Sometimes we feel like we're so busy rushing around trying to keep the retreat running smoothly that we don't have time to stop and smell the roses, sit and relax and just spend time and chat with and properly welcome each and every one of you.  So that's our top priority for next year - to spend more time with the attendees and put more work into making your weekend as relaxed, fun, enjoyable and sociable as we can, whether its your first visit and you don't know a soul or your third year and you know most of the room.

FQ Retreat London 2013

Thank you to every single attendee, teacher and team member for making our dream of a modern UK quilting retreat a reality for the second year running.  

Comments

  1. It was such a great weekend - although as a newbie I was a bit overwhelmed for the first day! There was so much chatting to do, skills to learn and people to meet that it hardly felt like my feet touched the ground. Must have been crazy as the orgnaiser! Thanks to you all for doing such a great job and hoping to go again next year :)

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  2. Thanks again for hosting it :o) I've still never had a chance to actually chat to you lol

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  3. Thanks for making it such a brilliant weekend.
    It would be lovely to talk to all you *famous* organisers too. Maybe we can all help out a bit more as well.

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  4. It was lovely to meet you. I found the weekend quite overwhelming and didn't get to chat properly to hardly anyone. How did that happen? Thanks again for organising it x

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  5. Thanks for making it all so easy :) x

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  6. It was so fun and thank you for all the work to do it. I hope you will announce the next year dates asap, some of us have a lot of logistics to manage to get there.

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  7. Thank you for making me feel so welcome. Now come to the US so we can really hang out.

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  8. Looks like a great & inspiring time!

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  9. It was a great experience and thanks to you and the team for all your hard work! Already looking forward to next year. Can I be the first to put my name down for a shared room in BPH?

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  10. Sounds like an amazing retreat and from all accounts in blog land it was a fun filled weekend. There is nothing better that sharing time with a group of amazing quilters. Thanks for sharing..........Marie

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  11. It was such an amazing time - thanks to you and the FQ team for all your hard work!And it was a real treat to meet you Lynne - can't wait for next time!!

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  12. I loved it this year, give yourself and the team a great big pat on the back, you all did a great job!

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  13. Someday, some way, I am going to a FQL retreat!

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  14. It all looks and sounds amazing - I have no idea how on earth you manage to organise this with such a small group of you, you must all work your socks off! One day I'll make it...

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  15. i know so many blogging. quarters who love the retreat! i work in a school office so it comes at a really busy time for me, but i think next year im going to do my best to gatecrash for an evening meal at least!

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  16. It was amazing! The classes were fantastic and there was definitely not enough time!! Thanks so much to all the FQ team x

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  17. is there one for next year as I'd like to attend - sounds great - money is always tight but if I get enough notice I can start saving now! Thanks

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  18. Thank you! It was great to meet you and to attend your class.

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