Charity, Friendship, Organisation..........

.............all very good reasons to quilt.  And so the girls did.
Inge was busily pinning her sandwich, another of her charity quilts, this one a bright and vibrant kaleidoscope quilt.

Inge has the handiest tool to aid in closing the pins,  little dowel rods with a thin metal extension to slide under and raise each pin for easy closing.....

Didn't think to take a close piccie, so this is a cropped version, hence a bit blurry, but if you squint just right you can see the end of the rod, looks a bit like a nail without the head.......(ugh! did I just say nail, near a quilt?....)
Sheila was our group Leader a couple of years back and at the end of her term, as a Thank You for all of her hard work, we made friendship blocks for her.
Sheila decided she wanted a quilt for the Guest bedroom, so added a few of her own blocks, then, for a bit of fun, using the quilt tying idea, she decided to use some of her favourite buttons and buttoned this beauty. We had such fun today, remembering and recognising our blocks.

The block Sheila is holding up is her fave........or as she said one of her most faves, it really was most cleverly designed just for Sheila, who in a previous life was a sports teacher.

We are having a 'Friendship' Quilt day in the near future, where all those with a friendship quilt will bring it in for Show and Tell, those without have permission to cry........now who said that!!
I wonder if a plackie bag of blocks will qualify......maybe some fast stitching should take place, or maybe it will be tears for me.....

Some of the wonderful blocks that were created for Sheila.

 

We were all given a piece of fabric to play with and create from, there was a choice of two, one with bright daylight tropical colours the other was the night, clever concept chosen by Helen, who sadly is no longer with us.

Sue bought along her newly created Hexagon Bag, it always stands upright! and has the cutest created square button closure. Sue will be teaching Hexagon madness, among other things at the Retreat this weekend, the girls are going to have so much fun, I know, they have started with the laughs already, and the descriptions of what the are going to wear..........well really, the mind boggles, I think mainly is is just Jim Jams and fluffy slippers.......cutting down on space you see....more room to pack more fabric and stuff......

 Ooooh, how did that happen? missed the pic of Arvo Tea, and it was totally delish, a wonderful spread again, so here it is.....our Arvo Tea.....talk about spoilt for choice!

Lastly, I would like to share with you a few of my remembrances of a wonderful lady, Irene Marshall, Leader of the Silversmith group, who suddenly passed away on Monday.

I remember the wonderful floral displays she created while leader of the Floral Artists group until it disbanded.
The beautiful silver and gold pieces she created, including two pieces she did for our Son's wedding, the bride and grooms initials for their ring pillows.
Her willingness to teach, to share.  She was an avid gardener and never stinted on gardening advice when asked.  She struck cuttings and sold them at the Cottage to raise cottage funds.
Her humour, she had a great insight into people and their ways.
Her energy, she was a tireless worker for the cottage, and I'm not the only one who will never forget the sight of Irene, at that time in her late eighties, up a ladder, dragging the stored fair items down from an overhead cupboard while two gents held the ladder for her....truth be told they probably rushed over after spotting her up the ladder, but it was a sight!
She will be sadly and greatly missed.
We have truly lost a Treasure.