The Felting story of our Communal Mural.

Well Felters, as you know from one of our previous reports on the 2013 Otaki Retreat,  Otaki Lodge has had to close its' doors, due to roading progress.

 I hope you are all having a good look around your areas to see what would be a suitable place for next years' Retreat. Do let us know what you have found!

We wanted to thank Maureen, the camp manager and our wonderfully enthusiastic hostess, who has put up with us over the years, trailing wool and fluff and soapsuds all over her campsite.

So we did what we do best; we felted her a flowery mural. We all put money in the pot to start off with a background bat. And then over Thursday and Friday this background was laid with floral tributes from everyone there.

At some point Maureen was seen walking past the mural (totally unaware of its' destination) and saying out loud," Oh, that looks nice, all those flowers!"

 People just nodded and confirmed this, giggling to themselves I'm sure.

On Saturday it was ready to be felted. First it was wet down and pressed. 

There was an ever changing team of felters involved in the whole process.

And off they went, rolling and rolling. A hundred times this way and a hundred times that way. Unrolling and adding more hot water and perhaps some more soap.

Checking and doing some rubbing, many hands all working different areas.
And while they worked, they talked. 
They talked about their families and about  their new projects and ideas. 

More unrolling and checking followed. Here Sharon and Flo are making sure nothing is about to come loose.

And just for good measure, some more rolling. It was starting to shrink nicely.

"What do you think Jenny? A couple of hundred more rolls?"

 At last it had felted properly. The mural was  rinsed and spun-dried, and small areas were stitched down to secure them. Jenny and Heather are having a lovely natter as they work.

A fluffy replica of Maureens' little dog was needle-felted into the floral garden; Yvonne, Tracey and Ellen created this happy critter.

On Saturday night, after our dessert, it was time to present our communal effort to Maureen. But first everyone tried to take a picture!

There was much ooh-ing and aah-ing and running around with cameras. Luckily we quite like being informal!

A very cheerful mural indeed. Well done everyone!

Marilyn presents her with our thanks and gratitude. As you can see great surprise was showing on Maureens' face. She loved it!

We are so pleased you liked it, Maureen. It feels so good to give you this.

Much applause and hugs all round!

Here is Maureen supported by her wonderful camp cook. This was an end of an era for us.
And we all said our fond goodbyes.
And so ends this felting story from Otaki Retreat 2013.