I have proof!!

In the city where I live, right in the center of South Africa, no matter to which fabric, sewing or quilting shop you go, they sell only ONE brand of cutting boards.  Now for the first time in my life I wish someone would phone and contradict me.

So ever since I did a formal quilting class I had one of these (before then I used scissors).

During a PFAFF sew-away I bought another cutting board and at that stage I didn't even realize it was a different brand.  All I noticed was the difference in color.

Since then (2010) I occasionally felt that whenever I cut on the old (green) board I would go through cutting blades like crazy but when I used the newer white board my blades seemed to last longer.  I however didn't quite have proof as I use both equally.

While stitching the Twisted Log Cabin blocks I had a green cutting board nearest to me and then I got the proof. I had to sharpen or change the blade after every 2 blocks.  Each block has 25 pieces, so plenty of cutting per block.  When sharpening the blades became a chore I changed cutting mats, changed the blade and there with the white cutting board I cut the last 12 blocks with the same blade and it was still good for more cutting.

So newest mission....  find another brand of cutting board for my white one will unfortunately not last forever.

Second quarterly guild meeting

We had our second meeting on Thursday, 3 May and I always take photos of the food table which makes me wonder whether I go for the quilts or the food.

The challenge for this term was Inchies/Twinchies and even though I did not participate some of these entries took my breath away.  So much love going into something this tiny.

I did however take the quilt I wrote about in THIS POST along for show and tell.

I also entered 2 quilts for our annual Bloem Show and won 3 prizes for these.  Two first prizes and a special trophy prize.These were the quilts entered, the one on the left won for the best free motion quilted item and the one on the right for the best group quilt.




Here is my three envelopes containing monetary prizes and me receiving these.

The nicest surprise on the meeting was seeing a student quilt completed from the free motion class I taught.  Nice work Lenie!

The evening we had yet another prize giving this time at the Bloem Show and the venue was to say the least, beautiful.



This is the trophy I received.

Karin and I sadly did not stay for dinner as we had a date with our men and where did they take us?  An open air bar at the Bloem Show.  Fortunately good company made up for the loss of the looks of the venue.

A lovely sunny day

and the little ones came out to play.

and I am off to our quarterly guild meeting.

Visiting the Bloem Show

We also took a little family time over the long weekend and visited the Bloem Show.  Just leisurely strolling through all the exhibition halls and looking at the goods sold by the vendors.

I didn't take too many photos; I suppose being a quilter aware of copyright I was scared I'll get charged with something illegal.  So I only took photos of those whom I knew won't sue me.

This was the reason why we had to take the blonde to the show year after year when she was little.  She enjoyed a camel ride more than any other of the rides at the fair.

Then I snapped the PFAFF ladies in their booth.  Marie (owner) left and Marlene (saleslady) right.  They were totally unaware of me taking this photo.

Remember my post about Marlene's grand babies HERE?  Well Marlene brought a nappy these little ones wore when born to the shop one day to show me.  Unbelievable to think that any human can be this tiny.

My DH showed real interest in buying ma a brand new machine but it seems Marie thought it to be a big joke, so now I'll just have to continue with what I have.  Darn!!

Done shopping we enjoyed lunch before going home.  Here the blonde and DH enjoy their platters.

Long weekend achievements

The men did a heck of a lot in just 2 days and the cupboards in the garage got this far before they stopped.

I finished all the blocks in the Twisted Log Cabin quilt but for some reason never removed the paper way back when I started the quilt.  Turned out a good thing as with all my computer upgrades I misplaced the original planning file.  The foundation papers were however numbered which helped to jolt my memory.

Stitching the blocks together with the paper still attached was no easy task but I have the new lovely tables and I just took the Grand Quilter from its place, replaced it with another machine to allow this paper stiff quilt to glide along as I sew.

Now however I have the tedious task of removing all these foundation papers.  Yikes!!