We had just concluded the first ever NNC Craft Retreat held from the 16th to the 17th of October 2015.
Seen here are my cousin-in-laws Zawiyah and Zuraidah at the start of the Retreat with their respective Project kits.
See earlier blog post in 3 parts for more photos.
The Retreat was held in conjunction with NNC’s 9th Anniversary celebration. It was one of the activities planned under NNC throughout the year.
See earlier blog post in 3 parts for more photos.
The Retreat was held in conjunction with NNC’s 9th Anniversary celebration. It was one of the activities planned under NNC throughout the year.
However, since the 8th anniversary celebration
was also done this year in April instead of the month of October last year, which
was the actual month NNC was formed, we did not have time to organize a big one
to commemorate this 9th milestone.
But everyone agreed that we wanted to still celebrate it
even in a small way. So, it being a small celebration, there was no exchange of
Anniversary Gifts like in previous years. We didn’t have time to get members to
prepare one.
We also couldn’t have the door gifts like we would every year,
because we didn’t want to trouble the members to contribute twice in a year to
the door gifts.
But food we must have, and Show & Tell, and Lucky Draws!
So Margaret and Paul took up the tasks to organise the
Mini Meet, as we call it.
We agreed that the participants of the Retreat who are not
NNC members will be our guests at the Mini Meet to appreciate their support for
the Retreat.
Initially there supposed to be many who could make it to the
Meet, but eventually, as the date grew near, one by one the number of members
able to make it dwindled due to prior engagements and conflict of schedule.
I think having the Meet on a Saturday afternoon instead of a
Saturday morning like we always do also had an impact on the number of
members who could join us.
Traffic would be bad on Saturday lunch hour. Some just didn't want to go through the terrible Saturday jams going onto the highways.
Understandable. I go through the traffic jams daily! LOL!
Some prefer to take afternoon naps on Saturdays! LOL! But mostly, members had family
commitments which they could not get away with to join the Retreat.
Eventually, other than the NNC members who were Retreat
participants, only Mel and Zarina could join us, and of course, our Honorary
member, Jackie.
We started the Mini Meet with Show & Tell where each
member gets a chance to show off their current projects or projects in
progress.
I think the Show & Tell this time around is more
organised as each and every member was given time to speak individually while
others listened instead of the usual oohs and aahs that we would all do at the
same time when everyone starts laying out their works, ending up with no one
actually listening to what is being said because it starts getting too noisy as
everyone tries to speak at the same time! LOL!
I just love all the works showcased by Sally. She has been
very hardworking and productive!
She has a new product in her origami line, but I forgot what
it is called. Hydrangea flowers, I think.
Next was Margaret who brought all her lovely cross stitch
pieces to show us. She has never shown these pieces to us before, so we were in
awe of all the pieces shown. I just love her Mailarts. I use to make them too
many moons ago!
Next, Radha showed us all her lovely cross stitch pieces. I
just love her needle roll! I have not seen one of those in a long time! Radha
even told us the history behind the reasons for the existence of the Needle
Roll!
Radha, our Biscornu Queen, of course, also brought along her many biscornu to show us!
Zarina showcased her lovely puff baby quilt which she is doing
for a customer. I love the motifs of the fabric, and the orange made the quilt
stand out!
Initially I think Suseela was shy to show off her lovely
work, but when she saw how proud we were at showing off our work, she decided
to show off her lovely bag and sewing machine cover which she made herself,
complete with a cross stitch piece sewn onto them!
She also showed us her
lovely Bionic bag! I am so going to do the bionic bag! LOL!
I just brought my uncompleted Apple Core Quilt to show off.
I have not done much crafting since focussing on the Retreat took all the spare
time I had.
I also brought along a document bag which I never got around
to completing because I wasn’t sure how to attach the handle to the bag.
I hope
to get to Kelvin one of these days to get Kelvin to show me how to do it.
I brought along my Little Missy because some members have
not seen them, or have they? OK, maybe they have, but, like I said, I didn’t
have much craft products to show this time around.
After the Show and Tell was over, we moved over to the next
table showcasing all the completed projects done over the 2 –Day Retreat (see
previous postings).
Finally, before we proceeded to the next agenda, which was
eating and chatting, we had a short Lucky Draw for all those who attended.
I prepared 2 prizes – one for the participants of the
Retreat and another one for NNC members.
Paul was one of the lucky recipient, while Oyah, my
cousin-in-law, bagged the other one of a thread organiser complete with
threads.
Congrats, Paul and Oyah! Now you won’t have an excuse of not
having threads to sew your projects! LOL! ;)
Finally it was time to eat and chat. Like Idah mentioned in
one of her FB postings, we love to eat as much as we love to sew! LOL!
There was food enough to cater to at least 20 people!
Mel
made Salmon Cheese Tarts and Chocolate Strawberry pies! Yum! Zarina brought
fruits.
We catered the rest from Paul’s friend of who made
vegetarian pot pies, curry puffs and rice bubble fudge.
But the highlight of the celebration was the awesome
Anniversary cake made by none other than our very own chef Paul!
The cake was so adorable, and it’s PINK!
The cake was so appropriately themed! It had cute little
sewing machine with a length of fabrics underneath the needle with the words
“NNC 9th Anniversary celebration” written on it!
The little buttons scattered all over the cake were all so
cute!
I didn’t feel like cutting into it, but eat the cake we
must! LOL!
After that, everyone just sat down and chatted away until it
was time to close down the classroom.
It was a simple Mini Meet with only 10 of us, but we enjoyed
the Mini meet just the same.
The usual loads of food was there. So were the
happy chats and oohs and aahhs over each work showcased.
Although it would have
been even more fun with more members joining us, but I guess this time, the
timing was just not right with so many members already having prior engagements, despite making plans to have the Meet was made and announced at the
board much earlier.