C-R-A-F-T Retreat

Now, this is going to be a really long post with lots of pics!!

Last week I flew to Brisbane on Friday and met up with 10 other members of a Yahoo group that I have been part of for a couple years. I flew up from Sydney, Khris & Naomi from Adelaide, Sharon all the way from New Zealand and the rest were from Queensland. Helena picked me up from the airport - thanks Helena! - and we drove to Ipswich where we met up with Khris, Naomi, Sharon and Jeanette for lunch.

We went to Mt Alford Conference centre about 1.5 hours from Brisbane. What a gorgeous location!!





We spent the weekend dabbling in some crafts ( I learnt to crochet!) and just hanging out and getting to know each other.




The food was all catered for and was absolutely delicious!!



There was also some frivolity with some games organised by Khris . Thanks Khris! As you can see a great time was had by those who joined in!

We had a Secret Sister Swap and here are some pics of what the girls received.





Of course Khris never wears pink or lace!! LOL - but she is obsessed with Owls HAHA

Here is my crocheting, it is 3 times bigger now!

It was hot enough for a couple of swims in this beautiful pool:
On Saturday afternoon another dust storm came through with incredible winds. Even after the dust cleared the winds howled all night, no one got much sleep!
This photo below was taken with the flash on and you can actually see the light reflecting off the dust particles.

Helena came prepared!!
After we left the retreat on Sunday afternoon Khris, Naomi, Sharon & I headed back into Ipswich and stayed in a motel for the night. On Monday we went shopping! Here we are at Bargain Box in Ipswich. Great shop with all patchwork fabric for $12 metre!! Needless to say we all left there with large bagfuls!!
(It was the 2nd visit for the other girls who went here before I arrived LOL)

We also went to Patches at Indooroopilly, a beautiful store, with all the latest ranges. The lovely lady there was kind enough to take a photo of us all together.

I had the best weekend, thank you to everyone who put the effort in organising it. It is amazing how you can become such good friends just by chatting on line and then when you get together it is as if you have known each other forever!! Thanks girls!!
Oh, and C-R-A-F-T stands for Creating Really Amazing Friends Together!!