Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas to all members and your families.  May you have a safe and happy Christmas break, catching up with family and friends.  And maybe, a little time for stitching too!

Jenny Benton

Avenue of Trees

You know Christmas is almost here when the Salvation Army Avenue of Trees is up and running.  I took a non quilting friend with me for her first experience in seeing this festive wonder.   We took our entry fee of a food item for the Food bank, such a good idea, entered a free raffle to win a Christmas tree, collected our voting forms and stepped into wonderland.

I was looking for the Town and Country Quilters tree, and passed and admired many on my quest.  Trees from schools, businesses, the Vet company – oh look, there it is.

Our tree, “Handmade with Love”  was full of delightful little treasures, and really looked so beautiful.  Many thanks to the club members who spent their time decorating our tree – as usual, it was a wonderful job.

December Club Night

It was a big night, notices were read, and then two recipients of textile awards given to the local colleges got up to speak.  It was great to see and hear the enthusiasm from these young ladies, as they told us of their sewing journey and their hopes and plans for the future.

Anna Williams was our evening speaker, and related her childhood growing up in a children’s home in England.  Not at all a sad experience, she hastened to add, she had a wonderful childhood indeed.  Anna didn’t know her family, and was happy to make contact with her two siblings in later years.  After meeting and falling in love with a Kiwi bloke while travelling overseas, they made a life together here in New Zealand. 

Anna teaches classes in beautiful curving Celtic bias strips and trupunto and brought many examples to show us.  She also excels at thread painting, and had several lovely examples of this technique as well.  She was helped during the evening by her delightful hubby who worked the slides and offered amusing quips and comments.

Show and Tell is always interesting, and as expected, there was  lot of Christmas items brought along. 

Christmas place mats

Christmas table  runner

A special supper was served, including dishes of strawberries and ice-cream, the raffles were drawn, and extra prizes given to those ladies who had secret items tucked away in their handbags.  Such as a needle and thread (Ute) or a tape measure (me).  We dipped into the basket containing the Christmas Fat Quarter exchange, and all went home with a lovely surprise - a bunch of happy little quilters.

Many thanks to the Committee for a great finish to our year.