Back to Norfolk Island, Quilts, Crafty Reads and Cats

Hello and welcome to Friday. Phew, we made it. Today I have the final photographic chapter of the most excellent Norfolk Island Quilting Retreat. If you missed Part 1 of my adventures you can find that post right here. Let’s get on with it – we have a lot of photos to get through!

Norfolk Island Quilting Retreat – Sightseeing

As well as enjoying the natural beauty all around Norfolk Island, retreat attendees got to visit some well preserved historical sites.

Norfolk Island has an interesting history. In the 13th to 15th centuries the Island was home to east Polynesian settlers, who eventually departed.

British explorers spotted Norfolk Island in 1774 (and gave it the Norfolk name). The Brits attempted an agricultural settlement (using convict labour) but gave up after about 25 years as it was just ALL TOO HARD. I mean, living in 1788-1814 was difficult enough as it was, let alone trying to do it on a distant, isolated island.

Then an ingenious British bureaucrat realised that an isolated island with a harsh environment was the perfect spot to place a penal colony. So in 1825 the Island reopened as the penitentiary where they sent the worst of the convicts from Australia. The site was infamous in its time as a punishing and miserable ‘hellhole’.

There were convict rebellions and hangings and brutal punishments. Apparently the administrating staff were as difficult to supervise as the convicts. No surprise that after 30 years the penitentiary closed in 1855 and the prisoners relocated to Tasmania.

After that dark period of history, Norfolk Island received a much happier settlement. The population of Pitcairn Island (all descendants of the HMS Bounty Mutineers and their Tahitian brides) were relocated to Norfolk Island in 1856. Pitcairn was no longer large enough to support their population and so Queen Victoria granted them Norfolk.

Today, Norfolk Island is an External Australian Territory, supported by our Federal government in most areas, and by the Queensland State government for health and education. Not everyone on Norfolk is happy with that arrangement, but that topic needs a whole other post. It’s estimated approximately half of the current population of Norfolk Island (about 2200) are Pitcairn descendants and half are migrants (mainly from Australia and New Zealand). Summer is super popular for tourism (we went in winter, so it wasn’t as busy) – around 30,000 people visit Norfolk Island every year. I can see why!

Norfolk Island Quilting Retreat – Sewing

Let’s get on to the sewing! The Norfolk Island Quilting Retreat was very laidback in its approach to the sewing component. Attendees could work on a project specific to the Retreat (provided by Angie and Kristy) or work on their own projects (sewing, handwork, embroidery, any craft). There was also an option to sew a Norfolk Island cow stuffie, with a lesson provided by the local fabric shop owner.

If your sewing mojo was on the blink you could spend the time lost in a good book or use the time for more sightseeing. I loved this loose schedule – no pressure to have something completed. And it meant I got to add on a little ghost hunting adventure one night:

But back to the sewing! The room set-up at the accommodation was awesome. We had a large function room set up with tables and several ironing boards. Four rows of sewists – most excellent!

I worked on the Christmas banner I bought for last year’s Christmas (ahem) and was happy I got it completed.

The banners spell out Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas, along with some cute add-ons like the kitty below. It was cut and sewn from a Lizzy House panel and backed with Lizzy House Christmas fabrics. I’m excited to hang these up in November (I’m an early decorator). Aussies you can find 3 of these Lizzy House panels still at The Next Stitch.

I also worked on a log cabin table runner for my newish dining room table. Unfortunately I didn’t quite get it finished, but it won’t take me too long to get it done.

Here are some of the other projects worked on by other attendees. It was such fun to see all the other clever/amazing/cute projects around the room. Not to mention comparing notions, equipment, fabrics and the like.

Want to attend a Norfolk Island Quilting Retreat?

Great news – Angie and Kristy are putting together another Norfolk Island Quilting Retreat. It will no doubt be even better the second time around! Details are still being ironed out but to receive notifications you can sign up here.

Around the Interwebs…

Eyelet fabrics by Moda are the Fat Quarter Shop basic of the month – 20% off for all of August.

I love birds so I love this paper artwork very much.

Stop-motion animation has always delighted me and I admire the artists who painstakingly create these works. Here’s a sweet stop-motion ad for Birkenstock, and the fun ‘behind the scenes’ video. If you feel like more, here’s an enchanting (9 min) mini-movie called Tulip.

Gorgeous colours, flowers, embroidery – what more could we want?!

After seeing this wonderful Instagram account I promptly reserved a couple of basketry books at my local library.

Do you live in the UK/Europe? If so, please go and see Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style – it looks absolutely amazing. Over 300 of her outfits on display, some for the first time ever. I would love to go but will have to make do with videos like this, this and this.

Reader Quilts…

I always love to see quilts you’ve made from Bonjour Quilts patterns so please keep sending them in! Either email (Kirsty at BonjourQuilts dotcom), or tag me on Facebook or Instagram.

Page sewed up a beautiful, vibrant rainbow Scrappy Lattice quilt. (Her mother, Yvonne, hand quilted it for her – how good is that?!)

Lindsay sewed this lovely baby quilt using the Sweet and Simple Squares quilt pattern. (There’s also a baby quilt tutorial post for this quilt.)

Olga’s mini Scrappy Posie quilt is a little square of sunshine! Another one with a free tutorial.

Andrea’s Diamonds in the Deep blocks received an impromptu quality inspection before they were sewn together:

A When You Wish… quilt made by Lisa in such lovely earthy-floral fabrics. This one also has a free tutorial for the baby size quilt.

Cats’ Corner

Our Burmese cats, Lulu (brown) and Tigger (orange), have a very hectic morning schedule. Lulu likes to spend most of the morning as a lump under a quilt:

Tigger goes in search of the winter sun on their cat bed:

Eventually Lulu gets sick of breathing her own stale air and joins him. Then they basically sleep in all sorts of cute positions until our two high schoolers get home.

Then they can spend the afternoon sleeping in other places! C’est la vie, n’est ce pas?

Well, if you made it this far you deserve a medal – that was a very long blog post!

I’ll be back again in a fortnight (I’ll try to keep to a newsletter every other week) hopefully with a completed table runner. My queen size Diamonds in the Deep quilt top is complete and at the long-arm quilter’s studio. Fingers crossed it won’t be too long now until I get it back. I can’t wait to get it finished and on my bed.

Take care and happy sewing,

Kirsty x

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