Floating Four Patch Blocks and Chocolate Fish

Friday night was Remnant night – when quilt club members gather together for a fun social stitching night.  It is always interesting to see what everyone brings along for the shared meal.  Mary made one of her famous sausage pies, there was quiche, curried sausages, a dish of home made chocolate balls, and bread rolls.  I took along a plate of cream cheese, and chopped dried apricots and crystallised ginger sandwiches.  “Yuk”, said Robin when I was preparing them at home, “nobody will eat those!”  He was wrong – the ladies loved them!  And there is always a bowl full of chocolate fish to dip into, just the thing for a pick-me-up after a bout of sewing.

Some of the ladies worked on the charity quilts our club is making for needy people.  The members had stitched up a whole pile of floating four patch blocks, requested with light and dark backgrounds.  These were laid out on one of the big tables and we all gathered around to check out the colour placement.  Helpful comments abounded as the light and dark blocks were shuffled around the table until everyone was happy with the arrangement.  The blocks were pinned into rows, Vickie and Leigh had their sewing machines humming, and Janelle and Kathy were on pressing duties.  They really worked hard and by the end of the evening two quilt tops had been stitched together – they just need a border added.

Floating Nine Patch quilt top

Leigh and Vickie stitching all the blocks together

There was lots of other stitching going on.  Kaye is starting an exciting new project, and was busy preparing a block for the heirloom quilt she has signed up for in the local quilt shop.  And I was tracing, cutting, then fusing more appliqué leaf blocks for my daughter’s birthday quilt.  That took a whole lot longer than I anticipated, I can tell you.  Janelle showed us her latest needle-turn block in traditional green and red.  It is so lovely, and she only needs to make nine of these large blocks, she told us.

Janelle’s appliqué block

Prospective member Ute came along for the evening and happily helped with some of the pressing.  She had brought along this striking quilt she is making for her young grand-son and wanted some advice on how to quilt it.

For a young grand-son

Lois was another lady working on family projects.  In this case, the grand-child number 5  has not quite arrived yet.  Lois is making this lucky little one a lovely soft blue knitted jumper, and wanted advice as the best way to go about making a double sided merino blanket.

For Lois’s grand-child number 5

It is always a good night, catching up with fellow Remnants.  There is plenty of room to spread out, and always a lot going on.  Everyone is always willing to share their expertise and offer friendly advise.  Nice food for our shared evening meal, tea and coffee as required, and as mentioned earlier, plenty of chocolate fish to nibble on.