Come dressed for a Christmas Party

Pinestream Quilters had their last club night of the year and it was quite a night.  We took along some festive food items for the local food bank to bring a little joy for those less fortunate.  There was a special Christmas supper planned, a competition or two, and we  were asked to come dressed for a Christmas party.  Now, my colour range of clothing doesn’t really extend to Christmas red or green, but I did my best, dangly Christmas earrings and all!  Here I am all ready and waiting for lift from my quilting buddy along the road, we take turns to do car duty each month.

Ready for a quilting party

There was a Christmas table runner competition this year and the results were amazing.  Big and small, there must have been over 20 entries.  They were judged by “Viewers Choice”, and being quite a procrastinator, I had trouble deciding on which one to choose. 

Christmas table runners

To be quite honest, any one of them could have won, they were all great.  In the end, I chose a log cabin table runner, with the narrowest logs I had seen.  I couldn’t sew anything with such tiny pieces, I am sure.  This was made by Anne, and many others must have been impressed with her work too as it took 1st prize.

More Christmas table runners

Our monthly “Show and Tell” is always the highlight of the meeting.  There were some particularly spectacular works this time.  I loved the quilt that Sharon had made with Vietnamese fabrics which her daughter had brought home.  These fabrics shimmered and shone under the lights, and the gorgeous quilt was backed with sumptuous velvet.

Sharon’s quilt made with Vietnamese fabrics

Gillian’s tapa cloth quilt in an eye catching design using two different shades of this beaten bark cloth.  She had brought back a couple of rolls of tapa cloth from her time living in Fiji.  Once stitched, don’t unpick, Gillian advised, as it damages the fibres.

Tapa cloth quilt made by Gillian

This New York Beauty quilt came to our meeting straight from Sue, the commercial quilter, and Linda has yet to bind it.  It is a wonderful design, perhaps a bit out of my league with all those points.  Linda didn’t seem to have any problems though, and I loved her choice of colours.

Linda’s New York Beauty quilt

I love quilts with a New Zealand theme and June’s tui in a kowhai tree is beautifully framed by tiny flying geese set in a wavy border.  This small quilt is just exquisite, and so beautifully quilted.  Another UFO finished, June declared.

Tui in a kowhai tree, by June

Marg loves collecting doilies and buttons and has combined these two when she made several doily dollies.  They came along to club night safely nestled together in a box for safe keeping.  Aren’t they just beautiful with their embroidered doilies and buttons for hair?

Marg made these doily dollies

We then had a musical quiz to guess the name of Christmas Carols being played from just a snippet of the tune, and sadly my team didn’t do very well at all.  Song sheets were then delivered to each table and we all joined in with some rousing renditions of our favourite carols.  Mother Christmas travelled around the hall dipping into her basket full of fat quarters for us all.  That was a lovely surprise.  Then it was time to enjoy our special festive supper.  Joyce had made a lovely Christmas cake, using her secret family recipe.  When I told her how nice the cake was, and the icing was especially tasty, she told me it would be because of all the brandy she put in the icing.  What a great night we had.

  Joyce cutting the Christmas cake