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Saturday, October 12, 2019

Almost there, and Quilt Club Night

I’m almost at the finish line with my current UFO, the Christmas Mystery Quilt.  All the blocks have now been quilted, and the borders have too.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I don't really enjoy machine quilting, but I’ve persevered.  How I would love to be able to do fancy feathers, swirls, and bubbles, but sadly all that creative stuff is beyond me.

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Straight line quilting on each block

The borders were quilted using the variegated thread with gently waving lines.  Next step was to stitch the blinding on – something I had prepared earlier, as the TV cooks say.  But where was it?  I looked here, I looked there, and it was nowhere to be seen.  Then I checked another hidey hole, but no, not there either.  How frustrating.  With one last place to look, the missing binding was finally found, thank goodness.  I even found a little label I had made for this quilt.  It won’t take too long to machine stitch on, then I can sit and enjoy hand stitching the final stage.

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The missing binding, found at last

I attended the evening meeting of my quilt guild during the week.  Due to travels and other commitments I had missed several monthly meetings, and in the interim, the wooden forms have been replaced with lovely comfy upholstered chairs.   Erilyn McMillan from Palmerston North was the guest speaker, and what a delightful lady she was.  Well known for her War series of quilts, she described each one in detail, relating background stories from her extensive research.

The story behind the red and white quilt was particularly sobering.  On a visit to Gallipoli she was told “the blood of 10 thousand men flowed here”.  On her return home she felt she just had to to make a quilt to commemorate those Anzac soldiers who had perished there.

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The brown and gold quilt honours the many animals who served and lost their lives in the Desert Campaign. 

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Last Post was the first war quilt Erilyn made, and started her on the journey of her War quilt series, and has made 15 or so.   She said that there was one more idea percolating in her mind which will be started shortly.

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The meeting concluded with supper and drawing the raffles – and lucky me, at long last my number was called, so I got to take a lovely squishy parcel home.

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Pretty tea towel and two FQs

7 comments:

Janice said...

The finish line is in sight you’ve had a very productive week. The presentation at your guild would have been very interesting. Congrats on your little win. The tea towel is pretty.

Karen S said...

Looks like you had a very interesting guest speaker.

Pink Rose said...

Hi Jenny your quilt is looking fantastic and what a wonderful talk at the guild,it all sounds very interesting.
What a wonderful prize to win,well done my friend xx

Kate said...

You can relax whilst doing the hand stitching and then sit back and admire your quilt and all the work you put into it.

Tired Teacher said...

The war quilts are intriguing: I would love to see them in person. You'll soon have one less UFO on your list - well done!

Connie said...

Well, another thing that we have in common . . . putting things away in safe places and then forgetting where we put them, LOL. I'm glad that I'm not the only one that does this. Your quilt is beautiful, looking forward to seeing a completed photo. I love hand-quilting as well, although I do most of mine on the machine, I try and do at least one or two a year by hand.
Also before I say goodbye, Congratulations on winning the raffle!

Lyndsey said...

The finish line is almost here for the UFO. I bet that feels really good. The war quilts are really interesting and I like the way they have been made. Your win is the icing on the cake of a productive and interesting week.