Whale of a Time

 I attended my quilt club''s monthly stitching day on Saturday, its always a nice relaxing kind of day.  Morning tea is provided and we take a packed lunch along.  One or two of the members take their sewing machines, but I don't bother, it's much too difficult for me to unhook my machine from the cabinet, and it is so heavy to carry into the hall.  So  it's always a hand stitching project for me.

We hadn't been in the hall long, and had  barely got settled when we heard an extremely noisy "whup, whup, whup" overhead.  It was a large grey helicopter and we watched as it hovered then landed right on the large grassy area outside the hall.  What on earth was happening?  It seemed there was a Search and Rescue taking place, several people with high vis jackets and back packs ran across to the helicopter and climbed aboard.  It took a while for them to be buckled up, and eventually the helicopter door closed, and it took off into the sky.  That was an exciting start to the morning.

Excitement out the hall window

We finally settled down and got on with our sewing projects.  The iron was plugged in for those who wanted to use it, and there was the hum of a sewing machine.  A couple of the ladies took advantage of the rotary blade sharpener which the club has purchased, so they had newly sharpened blades to work with.  

 Busy working

Elaine was slicing away, cutting strips for an African quilt, she is making this in memory of her recent African Safari holiday.  And Jude was busy cutting out pockets for the Advent Calendar she was making.

The start of Jude's Advent Calendar

What was I doing?  Doing more slow stitching on New Zealand Land and Sea panel.  I hadn't worked on this project for a while, but that's OK, it was always going to be a long term project.  I spent some time happily stitching around a large whale.  Oh look, there's a giant squid swimming close by.

Hello, whale

The helicopter arrived back, and the Search and Rescue team disembarked.  As there was no ambulance waiting for them, and no one offloaded on a stretcher, we presumed it had been a training exercise.  We stopped for lunch then back to our various projects.  Susan had a finish, this lovely blue and green donation quilt.  Simple but very effective, an ideal combination for donation quilts, I always think.

Susan's quilt

We finished our stitching day at about 2.00pm, and all helped tidy and pack up the equipment, before heading off on our way.  I do enjoy these stitching days, working away in a comfy room, with pleasant company.  And it is always so interesting to see what the other ladies are working on too.