Monthly UFO Night

My attendance at the monthly Friday  UFO night is always a bit “hit and miss” I’m sorry to say.  Quite often it seems to fall on the Friday night of a caravan rally weekend, so I can’t attend.  This month I was lucky – in fact June is the first time I have managed to attend this year.  I joined a small dedicated elite group of stitchers for great evening of sewing and companionship.

Our tasty shared meal went down a treat, with all sorts of goodies from home made sausage rolls, a big dish of macaroni cheese, a plate of egg sandwiches, quiche and cheesy toasted bread.  All washed down with tea or coffee, and generous helpings of liquorice allsorts and choccie to sustain us while we worked.

Mary brought along some of her early work to show some of the younger members.  She reminded us that she started her patchwork back in the days before rotary cutters, board and rulers were even thought of.  Shapes were cut with scissors using a cardboard template, all her appliqué and quilting was done by hand, and there were no dedicated patchwork fabric shops. This photo of  Mary’s ivy wall-hanging does not do justice to her beautiful appliqué, embroidery and quilting stitches.  I loved the harddanger cushion too, so pretty.  Something I’ve never been game to try, as I don’t think I could trust myself with the scissors to snip those threads in between the stitching.  However, I’m very lucky to have two pretty hardanger pieces stitched for me by my daughter, Nicky.

 

 

Kaye was working on a French inspired design in black, white and hot pink, with a touch of lime green.  Her “Ooh La La”  wall-hanging with lots of interesting appliqué blocks is going to look stunning.

Ooh La La indeed!

Another stunning quilt was Sarah’s Autumn Leaves, a medallion style quilt in glowing colours.  Sarah is making her version in a range of batiks set off with black home-spun.

Blocks from Sarah’s Autumn Leaves

Serious quilters will know of the wonderful Civil War Bride quilt which has had fans busy stitching the different appliqué blocks.  Vickie has completed all her blocks now, she told us, and it working on the appliqué borders, with a meandering vine, flowers and leaves, fruit and birds.  What an undertaking, and something that Vickie has loved every minute of. 

  Vickie’s appliqué border

And Leigh was working hard to finish the binding on a quilt for her grandson.  This has been made to keep him warm and cosy at boarding school.  It is a great pattern for a college boy, with a graphic pattern in black, blue and grey stripes, and nice and snugly with a brick colour polar fleece backing.

Ready for boarding school

I spotted a cute sewing container on Leigh’s table.  The pretty tin was full of blocks for another project, an ABC quilt.

How nice is that?

I worked on two of the three projects I had packed for the evening. Started stitching the seams on  my little kiddies jumper, then stopped working on that for our shared meal.  Then Leigh gave me some one-on-one tuition as I tackled my first ever yo-yo, after I had read the instructions but still wasn’t quite sure.  It should be easy, and it turned out it was, it was just a matter of interpretation.  Thanks Leigh, for your help.  Hopefully I'll get quicker as I get more practise.

My yo-yo count for the night

We then had a very special little celebration, as we all wished Mary well on her 84th birthday.  Kaye had brought along a cream sponge as a surprise, and Mary was certainly surprised, and delighted too, with her birthday wishes.

Happy 84th Birthday, Mary

It was a lovely finale to another great UFO night organised by the girls from Town and Country Quilters.  Good fun, and good company, thanks ladies.