Merry Berry Fun!!
Berry is one of those places with fabulous clothes and homewares shops and lots of great eateries. It's close to beaches and national parks,
but the reason for my visit was the wonderful shop of Berry Quilt & Co. ...
When I walked in I was immediately drawn into the wonderful selection of fabrics, a fabulous mix of modern, pretty, eclectic, electric, bright, dreamy, 1930's, repro, lots of linens and more.
Recent renovations have created a beautiful light filled, airy space.
I'll let the photos do the talking, you can pretend you're walking around the shop.
The wonderful big class room.
Sharon and I worked into the evening like a couple of quilt fairies to hang my quilts around the shop.
It's hard to resist touching these textured quilts.
We had the loveliest group of ladies join in the workshop. The great thing about 2 days is we get to settle in and make friends.
This is Skye, she has the best smile!! and she makes everyone around her smile!! I'm not sure what my hair is doing in this photo. I pin it up out of my face when I'm teaching, I guess it got a little puffy.
Time flies when your having fun and before we knew it it was 4.30pm and time for the trunk show.
Nibbles came out,
The champagne flowed...
And I started talking about my journey as a quilter and telling the stories behind my quilts.
I brought along an interesting mix of quilts; old ones, new ones, some unfinished tops, mini quilts, some that I've never shown anywhere before, my prize winning quilts and other favourites. I loved that there was as much interest for the backs of my quilts as for the fronts.
Thank you to everyone who came along to who listen to my stories, and for saying such lovely things about my quilts. It was such a special gathering and I'm encouraged and inspired to finish a couple of the tops I showed, and to keep using fun fabrics in the backs of my quilts.
The trunk show went until 7pm, after which we raced home to Sharon's house to celebrate a birthday and watch the Royal Wedding. We had fun spotting our favourite hats and dresses. I picked an orange dress as my favourite, no surprises there :)
Sunday flew by even faster than Saturday...
Charlotte has caught the fabric folding bug! She was going straight home to iron more triangles.
Wonderful show and tell!! So many fabulous colour and fabric combinations! These are some of the finished circles. There were more in progress that we might get to see another day.
And a happy group shot! A huge thank you to everyone for coming along and embracing these techniques with such enthusiasm and smiles.
And a very big Thank you to Sharon for being the hostess with the mostest, and creating the most wonderful weekend in Berry!!
There may have been a bit of dancing...
Just for fun! Does anyone else out there remember The Nutbush?
But wait there's more!
While in Berry I popped into Sew and Tell. The sign says "Delights for the Embroiderer" but there were delights for all sorts of textile crafts.
Gorgeous wool to inpire kinitters and keep crochet hooks happy.
Yarns in every type and colour.
Fabulous samples from floor to ceiling.
and every type of button you could ever imagine.
A couple of photos taken on my stroll around the town.
Cottoneaster berries - I had to take a photo of some berries seeing as I was in Berry.
A pretty gardenia called me over with its intoxicating scent.
I loved the sunny yellow of these autumn leaves.
I've saved a quilt photo to finish with. These were the quilts Sharon had on her guest bed for me. The mix of old and new is so perfect. The contemporary quilt on the left is Sharon's 'Garden View' quilt and the quilt on the right is a grandmothers garden hexagon quilt that has been hand quilted in beautiful tiny stitches. I loved them both!
Wishing you all happy sewing until I'm back with more colourful daisy adventures.
12 Comments
A great time in Berry....
ReplyDeletewonderful report, it's clear you and all the workshop members had fun. The shop looks so wonderful. If I ever come to Australia ;-)
ReplyDeleteFun post as usual Rachael ! Thank you for sharing the work of these talented ladies ! And this shop is ...wow and wow !
ReplyDeleteI looked at the royal wedding on saturday ... It was beautiful ! I'm pretty sure these two are both in love ! I am soooo romantic no ?
I just hope it won't be difficult for Meghan ...
I love going to Berry it is a lovely town full of great shops and last weekend I joined you again for a workshop, my third class with you. and I learned so much. Everyone had a great time Rachel thank you
ReplyDeleteBerry good! Sounds like a Berry good time was had by all! .......come on I cannot be the first to pull out that pun!!!.......lovely to see your teaching taking you to some beautiful places.
ReplyDeleteNow...this one takes the cake...the biggest cake of all...The golden sun on the leaves...the stunning quilts...Champagne?????? Making someone I know dance on the table...Amazing Grace that I could share in this outing!!! Getting my glass out right now..xo
ReplyDeleteWhat a great place to teach. The room looked so cheerful with your quilts hanging up. The trunk show must have been rather fun. We have been through Berry on a few occasions but never had time to have a good look. One day...
ReplyDeleteLooks like a really fun weekend! I love Berry but haven't been for such a long time. Lianne showed me her little pots she bought at Haven n Space, so I might just need to have an outing down there, one of these days.
ReplyDeleteWhat a glorious riot of colour for your teaching venue and your quilts decorating the walls make a beautiful sight!! Looks like all had the best time ever. I should find a magic carpet and hop on over to one of your workshops!!
ReplyDeletelooks like another amazing adventure! so many smiles and fun times with other quilts. I don't know that dance. Gorgeous flowers. Can't wait to have more here in the US.
ReplyDeletethanks for the colorful post I always like seeing your quilt collection - and great dress!
What a gorgeous setting. And looks like another lovely group. Pleased you managed to squeeze in the big wedding as well. It must be dangerous visiting and working in all these amazing shops. i would go broke!
ReplyDeleteLove the yarn shop you visited, too.
Good to hear your latest Workshop went so well. You certainly all looked very happy. As always, gorgoues blocks. The fabric in Sharon's shop looked great, very tempting !
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for leaving me a comment. Your kind words encourage me to keep sharing my work and stories.