Sew Wot Tuesday

It was my turn to host the Sew Wot ladies this week, and there was a merry band of six of us.  Mary had brought along some freshly picked apples from her trees, so bags of apples were passed around to us all, many thanks Mary.  And I had some quilting goodies to give away and had them laid out on the table, thanks to the stash from my next door neighbour who has recently moved into a rest home.  I’m still slowly going through several bags of “stuff” which Dorothy’s daughter passed over to me when she was cleaning out her Mum’s sewing room.  Helen settled down to stitch, and everyone else was busy knitting.

Heather, Helen and Sandra

Gemma was really misbehaving when the visitors arrived, running around like a cat possessed, jumping up here and there, poking her nose into everyone’s bags, and chewing some dangling knitting wool.  It was rather like a naughty child when visitors arrive, showing off and getting in everyones way.  She attacked the dangly toy hanging from her tunnel, and pulled it right off, and eventually curled up in the box on her tower.  Usually she is very quiet and snoozes most of the day away.

Worn out at last

Of course we had show and tell, it’s always exciting to see what the ladies have been working on.  Helen had finished the little jerkin she showed us last time, it now has pockets and buttons.  She has made several of these over the years for her grandsons, she told us, and they are knitted in machine washable wool, so that is a bonus for busy Mums.  Its a great design for little boys, and will keep them warm as another layer over cozy winter clothing.

Knitted jerkin for Helen’s young grandson

Carol showed us her just finished quilt top.  She had seen a photo of this on the internet and sat down and worked out how to make it – that’s clever, I thought.  And then Heather showed her “Circle of Friends” finished with a pretty paisley border.

Made by Carol and Heather

And for something a little different, Sandra had some pretty cards she had made.

As for me, I had made two more draw string bags for donation, made from some of Dorothy's fabric, and both with a New Zealand theme.  The purply one features fantails, one of our pretty native birds, and the green one was made from a scrap of colourful sheep fabric.  We have lots of sheep on farms here, just not looking quite like these cheeky ones.

And I got to show my recently finished Checkerboard quilt.  And just to confirm how kind quilters are, the yellow spotty backing (and a whole heap of other fabric) was given to Heather some time ago to share with the Sew Wot ladies.  I thought it was perfect for the back of this quilt.  The bags and quilt will be going to Foster Hope charity, for children in foster care.

Checkerboard quilt

Morning Tea is always an important part of our get-togethers, after all, we are not called the “Eat A Lots” by Helen’s hubby for nothing.  Oh dear, I must admit that I had an oops in my baking, I’d made some chocolate Afghan biscuits (with cornflakes) but obviously the mixture was too soft and they ran everywhere.  Of dear, but I came up with Plan B and whipped up an unbaked slice to take the place of the Afghan biscuits.  Together with a fruit cake, and sandwiches, there was plenty of goodies to go around.  Sadly with my current back problem it is very hard for me to stand at the kitchen bench (and walking) so a lot of the food prep was done with me sitting down at the table, carrying ingredients over.  Guess my mind wasn’t quite in a baking frame of mind.  Many thanks to Sandra and the other ladies for helping with the hot drinks and clearing up afterwards.

It was so nice to see everyone here and catch up with all the news.