Sew Wots Christmas Lunch

Today was the final Sew Wot get-together for the year and we had a nice lunch out at a local cafe to celebrate.  It was a full house, with the nine Sew Wot ladies turning up for our Christmas lunch, dressed up in our glad rags. Mary looked particularly charming in her blue patchwork skirt with a handkerchief hem.  This pretty flowing skirt was a gift from her daughter.

Mary’s patchwork skirt

Then we got down to the serious business of choosing lunch from the menu – always a bit of a trial for me.  Procrastination is my middle name - what to have?  Pork Belly Open sandwich sounded just right, and others chose burgers, fish, and chicken.  The food was beautifully presented, and very tasty, and we were all pleased with our meals.

Our challenge for Christmas was to make a toilet bag for our nominated (secret) Sew Wot person, any colour, size, shape and fastening.  It should contain some appliqué or embroidery, and include a traditional block.  One by one the parcels were handed out and opened.  What a lovely array of styles, colours and shapes, all so pretty and functional too.  There were a few little surprises tucked away inside too.  Carol’s bag, made by Helen, was stuffed full of sweets and chocolates!  And Pam’s pretty striped Geisha Girl bag, stitched by Moira, came with a rather fetching pink shower cap.

Pam with her toilet bag and shower cap

Nine pretty toilet bags, all quite different

The gift giving didn’t stop there.  Heather B, with help from her grand-daughter Naomi, had made ever everyone a Christmas tree decoration, with our names spelt out in the beaded tail.  Aren’t they pretty!

We each received one of these from Heather B

Then we asked one of the friendly staff to take our photo outside in the garden centre – sorry it is a little dark against the bright sunlight.  It was a lovely morning, and we all had a great time, eating, chatting, and swapping gifts.  Our regular two weekly stitching mornings now take a break and resume again in early February.

Nine happy Sew Wot ladies

A little shopping and a blog reader

There I was, concentrating on my shopping list as I moved around Spotlight in Palmy.  I had items on my list, such as a pair of knitting needles size 5.5mm.  Yes, I did have two in this size, but they were different lengths, so goodness knows where their partners ended up.  I’m slowly knitting myself a nice cosy woollen cardigan, and because the back and fronts were knitted all together, I used one of those new fangled (to me anyway) double ended needles with thin cord in the middle.  Don’t know what they are called but I’m sure the keen knitters out there could enlighten me.   I like to knit both sleeves at once, and wanted to go back to knitting needles for this part in the process.

I'm getting there slowly

What else?  Two cushion inners so that I can get on with the job of making my daughter two cushions for her Christmas gift.  And some brown felt and little black buttons to make the head of my Christmas yo-yo reindeer.  But  I can’t see him being completed in time for Christmas – not this year anyway.

For my reindeer

As I was approaching the service counter, a customer being served said hello.  It was Joy, from Wanganui, an avid blog reader, and we had met once before.  She is not  just a quilty blog reader, she also reads Romany Rambler, our travel blog, and follows our travels as we tour around in our caravan.  Joy now has a “Bucket List” of places to visit, thanks to places we have visited with our caravan, and written about.  So “hello” back to you Joy, it was so nice to catch up with you, and know that the words and photos winging their way around cyberspace are read and appreciated.  Here is an earlier photo of Joy and her friend Judy, who introduced themselves to me at the Cotton On Quilt Show some months ago.

Joy and Judy at the Cotton On Quilt Show

Prairie Point Stars

Sometimes you see a certain something on the internet which jumps out and says “make me!”  This was certainly the case when I saw the Prairie Point Star Christmas ornaments stitched by the very talented Sue who writes the Super Mom – No Cape blog.  See her tutorial here. I just had to make one, or maybe two, they were so pretty.  Printing off the tutorial I settled down to read the instructions, then looked through my Christmas fabric stash to see what I would use.  I rather liked the effect of using just two fabrics,   so chose two lights and darks and got cutting, pressing and folding those little prairie points.  After I had stitched and stuffed the flat squashy base to stitch the points on to.  With all the preparation done, I took all the pieces along to my recent quilt club sewing day and sat and stitched those little points on, one after another.  That wasn’t too hard at all.

Then with the addition of ribbon and buttons, they were ready to hang, and best of all, in time for Christmas.  Many thanks to Sue for sharing her clear instructions.

Club Stitching Day

It was the last club stitching day of the year, and 18 or so keen and dedicated ladies brought their sewing machines and hand work along to the hall.  I’d decided on hand stitching for the day, and feeling rather ambitious, took along three bags of different projects!  I did a little on this one, a little on that one, then settled down for the rest of the time to work on my Christmas ABC blocks.  Diane’s Nostalgia blocks were so lovely, made of of family doilies, lace, trims and buttons and beads.  This will be a fabulous quilt when it is completed.

Just a small sample of Diane’s completed blocks

Sewing machines were quietly humming away, and on the extra large table a couple of ladies were basting a large quilt.  It is always handy to have another pair of helping hands with this job.  There were a lot of different projects being worked on, from a child's bag, to placemats, machine quilting and piecing.

Sashiko placements almost finished

For a young girl, pretty in pink and purple

It was a lovely relaxing day, and we all sat around the extra large table for coffee breaks and lunch.  There were a few freebies up for grabs – someone brought along a surplus of free range eggs, and another lady had some tomato plants looking for a new home.  I had a great day out, plenty of stitching and plenty of conversation with like minded ladies.  Although perhaps next time I will take my sewing machine and one of my many UFO projects along.

It must be Christmas

It looks like Christmas has arrived!  A few Santas  have popped up here and there, a trio of golden Christmas trees are arranged on the dining room window ledge, and the Christmas Wreath is hanging up outside.  Festive quilts and wall-hangings have been hung up on the walls, and other treasures have been arranged “just so” on the dresser and other empty surfaces.  Such as my treasured Jim Shore snowman collection.  I had one of these little darlings, then received two more for my birthday.   I believe my pen friend Carol bought a set of four, and plans to send the last one out for a birthday gift next year, if I’m really lucky.

Three Jim Shore Snowmen ornaments

Just hanging about, Jingle Bell Santa

While all the decorations look lovely, the same can’t be said for my sewing room.  That’s where the plastic crates are currently residing, empty now of all the Christmas treasures.  They had been stored up in the loft in our storage area, over the garage.  This is accessed by a drop down wooden ladder, and I didn’t fancy taking the empty crates back upstairs, only to get them down a few weeks later to pack everything away again. So they will stay where they are, in the meantime.

Selvedge Christmas Tree wall-hanging

Our snowy village scene gets switched on every evening, and looks so pretty as the lights twinkle and sparkle.  Not that we ever have a white Christmas,  living in our part of paradise.  Here in New Zealand we celebrate the Christmas season in mid summer, so it is sand, sunshine, and barbeques all the way, lucky us!

My Stitching Bag

Finally finished – my new stitching bag.  What’s not to love – it’s blue, and pretty, I love it.

My new stitching bag

Detail of the wildlife

It all started out with me attending a class way back in August to learn about re-using doilies.  I was very lucky to collect some when my MIL passed away, and had grand visions of using them to make a quilt.  But this one, being blue, didn’t really go with the rest, so I thought it would be just the thing to use on the front of a bag.  It started out like this, after I had stitched some words in the centre.  I needed a little help to get started, but was told, oh no,  you just can't plonk it right in the middle, it must be placed off centre.

My blue doily

So I had a change of plan, and with a little help, came up with a different idea.  How about a leafy branch and a bird up here, and arrange the doily artistically  in the lower corner?  By the time I arrived back home, all I had to show for my day out sewing was this.  But the plan was to work away diligently  on my bag, otherwise it will get put away and join the ranks of UFOs already in residence in my sewing room.

All I completed in class

Once home I added  a few pretty blue flowers on the corner of the bag.  The flowers were machine appliquéd in place, and I added a button in the centre - then just a little hand stitching to link the flowers together. And while I was sitting at the sewing machine I constructed the straps and machine quilted a piece for the back of the bag.

A few flowers in the corner

The doily was trimmed down and stitched in place, as was the cute little butterfly which I found on another of MIL’s doileys.  And then I spent many peaceful hours doing   “big stitch” quilting with Perle No 5 thread.

Big Stitch quilting

Once the hand stitching was completed, assembling the bag didn’t take too long at all.  I love how it has all come together, using the vintage doilies, and a combination of machine and hand stitching.  And the best thing is – it’s finally finished!

My turn to host the Sew Wots

We take turns to play hostess to the Sew Wot group and my turn rolled around on Tuesday.  There was a full group, except for one of our ladies who is recovering from surgery.  Our elderly cat  Muffy made a beeline for Pam, and the two of them were squashed up in the Lazy Boy chair, when Muffy insisted on lying down behind Pam, while she was perched on the front of the chair.

Helen had brought along her two entries in our recent quilt club Challenge – a very wise looking owl, and a Tiki.  Check out that red rosette pinned to the owl – Helen won First Prize in the Advanced Section!  Well done, Helen.  And many thanks for the lovely flowers.

The owl and the tiki

Helen brought me a bunch of Sweet Peas from her garden

Carol’s contribution to Show and Tell were two cute little stuffed dogs, made from an Indygo Junction pattern.  They took an awful lot of stuffing, she said.  The red dog is staying with Carol, and the pretty purple dog will be a gift for her grand-daughter.

Carol with her colourful dogs

You can tell Christmas is not far away when a Tree Skirt makes an appearance.  Heather B had finished this just in time to give to her daughter.

Heather’s Tree Skirt

And what about these two little cuties?  Heather B was putting the finishing touches on tiny little Father Bear.  Mary decided he needed to have a friend in the photo, and she passed over the pretty dolly hanging from her scissor fob, so they could pose together.

Two tiny toys

In between chatting  and morning tea, everyone was busy stitching.  Heather E was stitching even more hexagons together, she is a real whizz doing these.  Moira was working on another of her William Morris blocks, and Carol was doing a dainty stitchery.  Mary had found a real Op Shop bargain of a panel - a set of dressing table runners.  She had added some of her beautiful crochet edging, and was now embroidering them.  I didn’t even get my stitching out, much too busy taking photos and organising morning tea.

Our next fortnightly get-together will be rather special, as we will be lunching out at a cafe for our Christmas “do”.  There we will have a big reveal on the surprise gift we have been making.  Everyone was given a name so it will be fun to see who gets what.