Twice in one week

I do enjoy quilting through the night with friends. The whole atmosphere just changes and for me it has always turned out to be somewhat special apart from getting loads done without any interruptions. Friend Karin and I however overdid it last week when we had not less than 2 such evenings in one week and we just had to choose the 2 coldest nights of the winter!. Tuesday at my house, with her DH away for the week and mine sleeping all by his lonesome self, we started off with Bargello quilts. I am not yet done with the one I started along with the beginners but who ever said you needed to finish one project before starting with another?

Friday evening at Karin’s house we continued and invited another quilter, Rina, along. So there we were…. Me doing a Bargello as part of a course from Quilt University, Karin working on the Scrappy Bargello pattern from Quiltville and Rina doing yet another one from a book she bought. I am making better progress on my QU Bargello than the one I started first but then in less than a week Lesson 2 from QU will appear and I’ll have to start with a brand NEW Bargello. I might just turn out a Bargello expert after this!!

May block - Design challenge

DH has one of his annual golf trips during May and if coincide with our wedding anniversary but true to himself, the golf comes first and he is hardly ever at home with our anniversary. This year however our anniversary was on a Sunday and once finished with his game on the Saturday, he drove all the way back home. Still not quite sure whether it was to be home for the anniversary of simply because they finished the previous day but whichever way this inspired my block for May.

Scrappy Bargello course

I attended such a nice Scrappy (sorry Vicky B but we do call them scraps over here in darkest Africa) Bargello course with my beginners today. It is important to me that a beginner quilter starts exploring different methods from different people the moment they understand most of the techniques. We all have our little trade secrets and shortcuts and the more courses you do, the more you learn.

I must admit I always wanted to make a Bargello but just never afforded myself the time to sit and read through the instructions in any book, so I attended this as a newbie just like the beginners and I looked forward to this course even more than they did and teacher, Iessie Steenberg, did not disappoint. We had a great day and I have to agree with fellow quilter, Daléne that it would simply be impossible to choose only one as the nicest.

I’ve taken a couple of “before” pictures and we are all eagerly waiting to see the end results.

Hillandale quilt exhibition

Spend a lovely morning at Hillendale retirement village where our guild had an exhibition. Friend Karin treated me to entrance which included a lovely cup of coffee, scones, sandwiches and sweet treats which we enjoyed outside in the warm winter sun. Got to meet Karin’s mom and sister and they don’t seem or look as crazy as her – wonder what went wrong?

Always nice to see the quilts and Karin had a couple of hers on display I've decided to just feature her quilts in the post.