2024 USA Retreat - 2 Day ticket - Wed 12th - Thu 13 June 24

2024 Midweek USA Craft Retreat - Wednesday12 and Thursday 13 June 2024

Featuring Nicholas Ball, Sarah Hibbert, Victoria van der Laan & Jennie Pickett

Venue: Doubletree Resort by Hilton Hotel in Lancaster, PA, USA

This Two-Day ticket gives you access to the fabulous CraftyMonkies USA Midweek Craft Retreat for both days and you will work with Nicolas, Sarah, Victoria and Jennie.

The wonderful Doubletree Resort by Hilton Hotels, Lancaster PA, chosen for its accessibility is the location for our first ever USA retreat so exciting! With this ticket you will need to arrive at the Hilton for a 9.30am start for your tailor made sewing classes on Wednesday 12 June and Thursday 13th June, a  Lunch & light refreshments will be served on both days.

At this point we are looking at a maximum of  30 students per group with your teacher, we believe in attentive teaching, we don't want to have hundreds of students to one teacher, we prefer an much more intimate setting, with plenty of space for you to work in and personal tuition from each of your teachers.

The Doubletree Resort by Hilton Hotels fits within our CraftyMonkies  Craft Retreat ethos: luxury, quality, attentive service, beautiful views and a stunning environment in which to learn, focus, relax, make friends, enjoy terrific food, (including cake!) and learn new invaluable skills. We want your every need to be catered for.

Nicholas Ball - Wednesday 12 June 2024

"I’ve always been a little bit obsessed with creating quilts that have unusual inspiration behind them. My first foray into improv quilting was my Vegetable Patch Quilt. Made in 2014, this quilt features a selection of vegetables, including red cabbage and leek, and highlights through liberated piecing the shapes and texture found within them. I’m excited to continue this theme with a brand new design exclusively for the Crafty Monkies 2024 retreat! My students will learn the basics of several of my core piecing techniques and the art of observation as we work together to create a truly unique piece"

Sarah Hibbert  - Wednesday 12 June 2024

'I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring.' David Bowie

"Don’t you just love this quote? Want to play? I will be taking you on a fun session of jumping into paper collage.  Taking paper scraps from magazines and paper samples to creating your own unique paper design. I will be talking about colour balance, values, and layering.  So don’t’ throw those papers out!  Anything will do for collage, collect tickets, magazine articles and old postage stamps and bring them along. It will all create something unique. I use this process often as the baseline for my fabric quilts.  We will also discuss in class how you can take your individual design further and what you can create from a simple play session."

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Victoria van der Laan- Thursday 13 June 2024

"Explore stretched patchwork with me! After nearly a year and a half of a weekly practice making 8 x 8 inch patchwork sketches I've really come to embrace working small and allowing the materials in front of me to guide my work. In this workshop I'll share how I approach working intuitively, responding to the materials in front of me in the moment to really open up creative possibilities for patchwork. I'll ask you to bring a bunch of small scraps in all different shapes, colors, and patterns, some for you to use and some to add to a collective pile for everyone to pull from. Working with someone else's scraps can really open you up to new ideas! I'll share some general approaches I take when making these pieces, including both variations of traditional quilt blocks and improvisational "formulas". I've come to love the quick and tidy finish of stretching these pieces on stretcher bars, just like a painting, and I will share my technique for doing this as well."

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Jennie Pickett - Thursday 13 June 2024

"When people ask me what I do, the first thing I say is I'm a quilter, but that I rarely make quilts! I cannot resist a good quilted project and I'm so excited to be teaching a fun, quilted organizer that will be a great use of scraps or your precious pieces that you can hardly bear to use. This little organizer will be perfect for taking your hand stitching project on the go, or for using at a retreat like this one to keep all your supplies organized and at your fingertips, so you have more time to finish your other projects and aren't always hunting for your notions. Kits will be available to purchase online before the event.!"

Here's what you will need for your CraftyMonkies 2024 USA One-Day ticket:- 

• Your own fabric you would like to sew with (more details to follow but it will simply be from your own stash, no need to buy anything fancy!) 
• Sewing machine in good working order – with manual, and standard sewing machine feet. If you are unfamiliar with your machine, please take a few minutes to practice stitching in a straight line. You will need no further skills than that! 
• Sewing threads in neutral colours (cream, ecru, greys – bring what you have!) and coloured swing machine threads for embroidery stitches. 
• Rotary Cutter (45mm rotary cutter is the best size) and mat (18” x 24 approx so a fat 1Ž4 fits on it easily) – please check that the cutting blade is sharp. I will have some spare bits of equipment, but it means you may have to share! 
• Rulers – Easy Rule 2 (long ruler) and any square rulers you have hidden away will be useful. 
• General sewing kit (pins, scissors, stitch ripper, etc). 
• Optional items – craft iron and ironing mat (so you don’t have to queue!). There is an ironing station planned with domestic irons, so only bring small irons and don’t worry if you don’t have one – it’s not vital.