Our Christmas quilt group meeting is the most anticipated meeting of the year for me...always great food, great gifts and great entertainment! This year I was not disappointed, each gift that was unwrapped and subsequently fought over and I would have loved to come home with all of them! We have simple rules for our gift exchange: a gift can be "touched" 3 times before it's frozen. The person opening the gift has the 1st touch. If it's stolen that's touch #2, if it's stolen again, that would be touch #3 and then it's frozen - winner-winner-chicken-dinner. During our exchange we had to recount and go over who did what several times - especially on those hotly contested gifts! This year there was a tiny bit of drama, but no hair was pulled, all teeth remained intact and hugs and kisses soon followed! Like I said, great entertainment! Now, let me show you some of the gifts that were given...I didn't get pictures of all of them, too busy feeding my face I suppose!
Haha...I should have cropped this picture but I liked seeing Terry's arms folded over Helen's quilt...she was guarding it with her life to make sure no one else could steal it! I think Terry went home with it - lucky girl! But I was equally as lucky because I came home with this framed paper-pieced work of art. Denise made it - just look at how tiny those pieces are!!! When it was my turn, there were several gifts available for me to steal or open but I went straight for this - it's something I would never make on my own and I am just fascinated with all of those little bits - sewn so perfectly!!! (This is under glass so that's why there is a glare on the picture.) Thank you Denise, I will love seeing this at Christmas every year from now on!
This Seahawks table runner also came with Seahawks kitchen towels and an apron (I think!) and was very much in demand! Kareena made it and she was still working on the binding as we were trading gifts. In case you weren't watching yesterday, the Seahawks WON so now they are definitely in the play-offs...and everyone in the Northwest is praying for a Super Bowl nod!
Janet had everyone's jaws hitting the floor when her gift was unwrapped. I can't remember who was lucky enough to take this beauty home - just look at the shape of this!!! It's perfect in every way!
You know, one day I'm going to have a post that says nothing because my mind will have slipped completely! I think Stephanie made this very sweet picture - but I can't remember...it looks like something she would make! I have years of "quilt group gifts" that I pull out each Christmas and display in my home - I love seeing them and love thinking about the person who made them.
Marsha made this box-full-of-fun...2 cute towels and two hot pads plus a bag of her infamous toffee. Marsha always says she stresses over the gift exchange but I don't know why, not with a gift like this!
Stephanie made this - I think it went with the one above - again, no memory so every day is an adventure! Very sweet - Stephanie is known for her pictures - I think by now most of us have one of her pieces and I know they are treasured.
I'm guessing Neva made this?? Or maybe it was Lori? Whoever, it's great and we all said it was something that could be used from November through January because it's wintery!
Terry made this felted-wool picture - just look at how perfect her stitching is!!! Never, in all of my years, did I ever made anything so perfect!
We did have a few quilts to show before we tore into the gifts - so the following pics were not gifts. This quilt was made by Stephanie for her newest grandson, Emerson. It's a wee bit big for a baby quilt but he will surely grow into it!
Terry usually comes to our meetings with bags of quilts that she has machine-quilted for people. This meeting was no different and even though some people don't like to show their quilts until they are completely finished, when we see one of Terry's bags we whine until we get to see what's inside! So this quilt is not yet bound but we just had to see it! It's a whole-cloth quilt - no piecing, some people call these cheaters while others call them French quilts, because the French make a lot of whole-cloth quilts. Whatever you call them, this one is great! It was made by Lori, from fabric called The Ghastleys Christmas - and it's huge!
This is another quilt by Stephanie - made for her son. For me, sewing with triangles has always been of the devil...all those stretchy sides waiting to cause ripples...but as you can see, Stephanie doesn't have one ripple in her quilt!
This last quilt is the THIRD Seahawks quilt Kareena has made - and this is her own design. She's become a master at this! Lori is moving to Cleveland and Kareena made this quilt for her and surprised her with it at our meeting. Lori and Kareena are best friends, they will surely miss each other when Lori leaves, so this was a very touching gift for Kareena to give and Lori to receive.
I don't think I've ever put a picture of our quilt group on my blog before - probably because we never take them! This picture shows our entire group, except for Lori who took the picture! But you can see her peeking around the side of the Seahawks quilt above! We met in the apartment clubhouse where Kareena hosted us - she went to a lot of trouble to make it feel Christmasy! Kareena, being from Australia, cooked us a lamb feast for lunch! And as you can see, it was a beautiful sunny day in December in Seattle...such a rare gift that was!
Our quilt group has been going strong for 20 years!!! We held our first meeting in December of 1996...there were three of us in attendance! For me, it's been 20 years of fun, laughter and friendships that cannot ever be replaced.
Happy New Year to All my Quilting Friends!
