Quilt Club UFO night is held on the last Friday of the month, and I’m always keen to go along and spend time stitching with fellow club members. That’s if we are not heading away for a caravan weekend, it’s always a shame if the dates clash. What to take to work on, is always the question. During the day I laid out my burgundy and cream log cabin blocks on the bed to see if I had made enough. Not wide enough, I decided, I’ll need to make another row of blocks to add to each side. The mattress and base on new beds these days are so deep that quilts need to be much larger to fit nicely. Then I spent some time standing over the cutting board slicing more burgundy and cream strips, located my bag of centre squares, then packed up the sewing machine and assorted bits and pieces all ready for my night out. Oh, mustn’t forget to prepare my plate for the shared meal, club sandwiches this time, I think.
The ladies arrived and settled in, ready for a good night’s stitching. The food for our evening meal was placed on the kitchen counter, together with a bowl of baby chocolate fish, to keep our energy levels up. Hand stitchers gathered together at the long tables in the centre of the room, while those of us with sewing machines sat at tables around the perimeter of the room, close to the power switches. I started work on 8 more log cabin blocks, stitching each log on, folding the fabric back to trim the excess off, them jumping up to the ironing board to press. It’s slow work, but paper piecing keeps the blocks nice and accurate. I’m sure I wouldn’t get the same great results if I wasn’t sewing on the lines.
What I’m working on
Kathy’s 6 year old grand-daughter loves cats, so of course her new quilt contains lots of fun cat prints. Kathy was cutting lots of squares and rectangles to make flying geese blocks out of paw print fabric. Kathy also took charge of the kitchen, heating up things in the oven, dealing with the dishes, and making sure we were all well looked after. Thanks very much, Kathy.
Pussies galore for a grand-daughter
Kaye came in for a bit of good hearted banter when she brought out her hand pieced play blocks from last month’s UFO night. But, she told us, she has been doing all sorts of other sewing during the month, and was saving this project for tonight. With all that hand stitching, it will take a while, and the variegated thread adds a nice touch.
Hand stitching the foam blocks together
Leigh was also working on a long term project. Her fun appliqué cat quilt was purchased from The Cloth Shop and she has been busy cutting and fusing all the pieces together. When all this fiddly preparation work is done, she will hand button hole stitch each block. Leigh has some chooks at home which have been very busy laying, and brought in some lovely eggs to give away. I was lucky to get half a dozen to take home – thanks very much, Leigh.
Leigh’s cat project
Half square triangles of every imaginable colour all went together nicely in Jan’s pin wheel quilt. These blocks were part of a challenge run by Sawmillers Quilt Shop. I like the way Jan is putting these blocks together with the black framing squares. She has heaps more blocks to play with, so it will be good to see how it looks with the next border added.
Jan’s pin wheel quilt
Sandra loves batiks and has batiks of many lovely shades in this quilt which will be made for her own bed. This nice simple block has been arranged into big squares with black sashing between. Still more blocks to be added, and it will look great when it is done.
Sandra’s batik blocks
Now, back to the hand stitchers at the middle tables. Vickie was working on an appliqué block featuring strawberries on a pretty blue background. Just look at those fine bias stems. She showed me a picture of the complete quilt, which will be stunning.
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Vickie and her strawberry block
Just look at this Crinoline lady with such fine stitching which Mary has completed. This will be made into a pretty lace trimmed cushion. Mary is one of the original club members, and learnt embroidery as a child, she told us.
Embroidered cushion front
And Sara and (another) Mary were sitting together working on yet another Mystery Block of the Month project together. (These girls in the club all love their Block of the Month projects). This one was designed by the very talented Lynette Anderson and each segment comes with a beautiful hand crafted wooden button, which gets added after the blocks are put together and quilted. And those teeny tiny hexagon blocks will be part of the quilt too.
Lynette Anderson BOM
So that’s an overview of what everyone was working on during the evening. Add in the friendly banter, companionship, and tasty shared meal, you can see that we all had a great night. And thanks again for those eggs, Leigh, much appreciated.
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