March 2018 rescheduled due to snow

Ha ha, having rescheduled our March meeting due to snow, it snowed again! This time we went ahead despite the weather. We had four in attendance and EL on face-time for a chat. CB was on a photo shoot, out in freezing cold Suffolk. No birthdays to celebrate this month, so biscuits with tea and no cake.

We start the show and tell with HT, who has been busy with her crochet and sewing. The poncho is actually deep pink with a sparkly thread.

Two small Linus quilts 

Crochet poncho for grand daughter

HW has been getting on with her lovely 1 inch hexagon flower baskets quilt. I thought I had taken a picture of the quilt so far, but NO, so that will have to wait. It is looking spectacular, a real labour of love.

1 inch hexagon flowers, these are for the sashing

AB was working on the handles for a beach bag. She felt those used in the pattern were a bit skinny, so is making them wider.

Beach bag with useful outside pockets

CD had finished a quilt for her brother-in-law and his wife. They both have big birthdays this year, so it will be dedicated to the occasion. It was designed to complement the bed headboard in their much loved static caravan.  

'Skeggy' Quilt, with border detail

As seems to be the norm these days, we have eaten lunch before anyone remembers to take a picture. we had homemade soup and bread, with pineapple upside down cake and custard for dessert, also homemade.

Remains of lunch

Birthday Celebration and a New Sofa

This month we met at HT's, a bit more work has been done on the kitchen, we were all impressed with underfloor heating, you get such lovely toasty toes - blissful. HT thought she might need a bit more seating, so ordered a new red sofa, it came at 7 am that very morning. Very smart and comfy, although to be fair we spent most of the time at the table, much to HT's disappointment. We were one down this month, as CB had a photographic assignment, in the rain. We didn't envy her! We started with tea and biscuits, why wouldn't you?

Then we had some "Show and Tell" mainly from CD, who had been mass producing Project Linus quilts and crocheted blankets.

AB had been yarn shopping and has had a visit from relatives living in Australia with presents.

Lovely yarn, would you need another reason to buy it

Purple fabric from Australia

HT was binding a Thomas quilt for one of her Grandsons.

HW is diligently hand piecing one inch hexagons. A labour of love, that travels well and will be spectacular when finished. We look forward to seeing the progress made each month. 

Progress so far

AB has nearly finished the crochet blanket. It is not quite square, but we have some ideas about getting it back into shape.

Notice the manicure - Birthday treat

CD is working on a Paula Doyle Giant Dahlia, 28 inch version last round is pink.

We had an early chat with EL in Florida, before she went off to a basket weaving class. AB opened her presents.

AB birthday pressies, tastefully arranged on the new red sofa

Then it was time for LUNCH, macaroni cheese with salad and garlic bread, summer fruit pavlova to follow.

We managed to do a little more work in the afternoon. I think if we had been sitting on the sofa we might have had a snooze and been a lot less productive. We had to have cake with candles and another cuppa to wash it down.

Chocolate orange cake

Well that's it for another month. We eagerly look forward to March, will it be cake free? Probably not!

2018: The first of many!

 A much needed colourful start to the year...

Infinity Squares - Finished CD

 

Crochet Blanket - Finished CD

 

Mini Hexagons - HW - This definitely is the type of project you need in your bag just in case!

 

A selection of Pot Holders - Finished CD

2018 will be the year for completion for AB

Final binding on baby quilt for CB

Project Linus Quilts - CD

 

Thomas Quilt for the smallest Grandson for HS

What a great start to the year!! Cheers girls.....here's to a much better 2018

December Meetup

Well, where has the year gone - the final meetup of 2017.  A difficult year for some and I expect some of us are glad it's nearly over.  A little subdue this time but productive non the less. With thought of absent friends, we got to work!

Determined to finish.... several more rows for AB

A welcome burst of colour from CD. Now to decide how to quilt the Dahlia

The afternoon was spent under this fun blanket - another one near completion for CD

A finished boarder for the Christmas gift started last month - already for wrapping CB

A small Elmer Blanket - CB

And finally the backing for the cross stitch CB started back in 2014 -
hopefully the back will be finished a bit quicker!

A wonderful lunch from AB, with bread from C Hollywood - did manage to get pictures before we cleaned the plates this time! I won't tell you H who had the crust!

  

And Santa came early for one member - pretty hard to guess who it was for.....

  

Happy Christmas one and all. See you on the other side.

November 2017 - A Birthday

This month saw a Birthday celebration 21 again! and another gap year?

What are we working on this month? HT brought along a nice blue charm square quilt to which she has added a lovely soft velvety backing and planned to quilt with straight(ish) lines.

HT Blue quilt

The quilting was completed by the end of the day.

Two crochet blankets were in progress, one nearly finished, the other on it's way. The first is a snuggle blanket for a Christmas present. A border was chosen to use the eight bright colours used around the grey squares.

CB snuggle blanket

The second has been seen before and is progressing slowly.

AB blanket

A labour of love for this piece of  hand stitched tiny hexagons. It is growing very well, but still a way to go. This is a useful project to take when travelling. This was started to use up some 1930's style fabrics, but the stash does not seem to be shrinking that much.

HW;s lovely hexagon flower basket centre.

CD is working on another two Linus quilts. This is a very simple pattern using WOF strips in various widths, the widest is a feature fabric, with two coordinating fabrics in between. These will be backed with fleece and quilted with a binding to finish them off.

Linus quilts - Anyone for Tea

The teapot fabric with a black background was dismissed as unsuitable for a Linus quilt, but I thought with some nice bright accents, it could look pretty good.

Lunch was delicious, as usual, with Fish Chowder soup and homemade bread, with ginger, mango and yogurt dessert. Too busy eating to take pictures.

We had a birthday to celebrate, so at 3pm our time, we face-timed EL in Florida, got out the cake and candles and had a sing. then the birthday girl opened her presents and we had cake with a cup of tea.

Salted Caramel Cake

Birthday pressies

We had a bit more stitching before we headed off home. I love these days, you get so much out of this type of activity. I also like the fact that we take the time to document what we have been up to, giving us the opportunity to look back at the fun we are having. Important as we mature in years, as came up in conversation today.

PS. You know when lunch is good when the host finishes the soup, and then someone else tries to 'lick' the pan!!!! ;)