Together again....................

Here it is Tuesday afternoon, and Margaret has just left the building, and all is quiet again....(well, except for Raylene and I!!) The vacuum cleaner has been out, beds stripped and washing done. There are still some things to be put back to order, but tomorrow is another day. Counting the sewing day last Thursday, there has been a total of 5 days of fun, conversation, laughter and of course stitching here at        Number 8. There were 5 stayers besides myself and quite a few locals calling in to say hello, or join us with stitching.

There were 5 machines set up on the tables and would you believe they were all Pfaff machines!!

In a recent post I said that Raylene was sorting the strings into colours for another string quilt, and here she is starting on the blue blocks.............

...and don't they look so much different when they are trimmed!!?

Then onto some purple blocks...............

....................and then more of orange.

Then it was time to lay them out into some sort of order, and this is what was decided on. Of course, there is always a few to offer opinions and change things around.

Ta daaa, here is the finish! I received one comment from someone, who said how the border matches  the colours in the blocks so well....... I have to tell you that we worked "backwards" and picked the border print and made the blocks to suit. Much easier than trying to find a matching border afterwards. This is now waiting for a backing and in the quilting queue and will be donated.

Margaret, from over the border, arrived Friday afternoon, and she is the lady who sent me the email enquiring whether there was anything happening here for the long weekend. Thus the one who we can blame, credit for things starting back up again. She set her Pfaff up and set to work sewing these strips together. An elderly neighbour has passed away and she is making quilts to be donated with some of this fabric.

This pretty little quilt was finished off and later a lot of bling was stitched to it and will be donated as a fiddle rug to a nursing home. Sorry missed a few photos, as Margaret also made a teddy bear.

Robyn's sewing history includes much clothes making but is fairly new to patchwork. Here she is getting a lesson in adding binding to one of the Angel's quilts...............

                   ...................and using her new Pfaff machine...............

.............and the job has been finished. Now adding the label and another quilt ready to be donated.

Awhile ago, a lady from the local Salvation Army secondhand store asked Raylene if she would be interested in working on something that had been given to the store. It was a very large crocheted rug, which had not been finished and was very heavy. The fairy is always up for a challenge, and with lots of advice from us all, it was decided that the rug needed to be divided into 4 sections. It was 20 blocks across by 20 down, so she set about dividing into sections of 10 x10. 

After the sections were divided they needed to be edged and loose threads fixed. Raylene started on this, and Erica volunteered to edge them.

And it wasn't long before there was 4 finished rugs, which have now been taken back to the shop to sell. A fantastic effort and made into more useable rugs.

During the dividing process there was lots of black wool ends, which ended up all over the house. Thankfully most of them have now been vacuumed.

As well as edging the rugs, Erica finished the binding of one of her own quilts, while also  enjoying the conversation and renewing friendships made at the retreats over the years.

I had a bundle of 2 1/2" strips that I had been thinking about using, and decided to  make a scrappy trips quilt. It didn't take long for me to get the strips sewn together into units.....

.........and then they were stitched into a tube, before cutting and resewing back into the blocks. (It seemed like a good idea at the time, but after a few blocks I realised that it was much more work!!) I had intended to make 20 blocks, but soon changed that to 16 and a lap size!! 

And ta daa, by Sunday afternoon I had a finished top. The sashing looks very pale in this photo, but is actually more yellow. Another quilt for the queue and to be donated.

Yvonne has been making string blocks over the last few months. She is fairly new to patchwork, but is a very creative card maker and is learning fast.

2 heads are better than one, and here is Yvonne and Pat placing the blocks, and choosing a sashing colour.

Yvonne was not here for the whole weekend, but came for some sessions and has made this much progress. The borders will be more strings, in an effort to use them up, and then this will be in the quilting queue and donated somewhere. (Even after all these blocks, the string containers are growing!)

                                              

Helen called in for a chat a couple of days, and will be back to sew another time.

Julie came for part of a day, and brought her crocheted blocks that have been "around" for some years, and wondered how she could finish them ???..................

............and here is the queen of advice giving her some ideas. Stay tuned for an update, sometime. While she was here, Julie got lots of inspiration and went home with an idea for a patchwork quilt.

While you have seen a few photos of Pat helping others, she also managed to achieve some finishes of her own. 

I may have posted this quilt of Pat's before, but now it has borders and will be in the quilting queue as soon as she has picked out a backing.

In between the productivity, there was much conversation and sharing and solving the problems of the world!! The range of topics to chat about were numerous and every so often one of us would quote an old saying, which led to wondering how and why this came about. I should have written them down, as I am struggling to remember them now.

Evenings were spent in the reclining position, with wool in hand, for those are skilled in this.  Someone said this pic looks like the ladies in the old folks home all lined up!!??

Robyn has a birthday this week, so we decided to "have a party" for lunch on Monday and made her a cake. The fairy went out to the shed and resurrected the pink hats and paper flowers to make the event more festive.  There is a Pink box, where things that were usually brought out for the Pink retreats, have been stored for the last couple of years.

Of course we had to have a group photo, although the day girls are not in this. I think this is probably the first group pic since March 2020??

As each lady reluctantly left, (and the departure times were stretched out to be as late as they could), they all commented that it was so good after all this time to be together again, and that we need to do it again real soon. I think the weather has been very cold this weekend, but it has been warm with the fire and the renewal of friendships inside. I have only been outside once in the last 5 days, and that was to attend church Sunday morning.

There are plans for more weekends soon, and I would like to hear from you if your are interested.

Blessings, From Jude