A Gathering of Friends!

Saturday started off sunny and then it got cloudy and cool. We didn't mind because there was plenty of laughter and sunshine once all my friends arrived for the potluck and stitching fun. The food was so good that Pat (on the left) said that we should put together a cookbook!

Ah, yes, food glorious food!!! Everything was delicious. There were roasted vegetables, spinach guiche, barbecued beans, Chex mix, deviled eggs, pasta salads, broccoli salad and potato salad. Sound good. You bet. But wait there was dessert......oatmeal cake, little eclairs, raspberry jello graham cracker pie (yummy), chocolate cake, cinnamon bread, cookies and it was all delicious!!

And when we finished eating, Collette drew names for a couple of doorprizes that we put together. She found the cute little bag you see and I filled it with some pastel fabrics that would be good for a tablerunner. I found the tulip bag and filled it with matching stuff (yes, I was shopping at Dollar Tree) plus some pretty purply fat quarters from a new selection at Hancock fabrics. Plus, we had a little notepad for everyone and a bag filled with chocolates and caramels.

And the winner of the little bag was Lois who is 94 years young and was so excited to have won!! The stitching she brought along to work on was a crazy quilt block but she was more interested in what everyone else was working on. :-) And Gretchen won the purple tulip goodies and the first thing she reached into the bag and pulled out was the box with the fat quarters! :-)

Then it was time for "Show 'n Tell...............Carol is sharing the round robin project that she just added borders to. The southwest was unique for us midwesterners. :-)
I love this picture of Carol and Adella - relaxed, smiling, stitching. :-) By the way, it looks like snow outside those windows but it was just the glare of the sun.

Jane showed us her flannel baby quilt that is made from scraps from Pandora (who couldn't make it because of a dislocated shoulder). She also shared a quilt that she made for a project called Binky Blankets. I need to call her and get more detailed info on this donation project and will post it for all of you, too.
Carol shared this unusual quilt that is so striking! She is explaining how she did it and I would tell you but I can't fully remember. Once she shared the technique it sounded like it would be easier to do than it looked.

Gretchen surprised me when she shared finished Redwork blocks of my Snowman BOM. It was cool to see my sketch come to life in thread. :-)

We spent a grand afternoon visiting and getting caught up on what's happening with all of us. As noted - I am blessed with the best friends!!

It was about 4:00 when everyone started to leave and before we finished cleaning up, Collette took a pic of me on the front porch. I hung a quilt there and one on the railing next to the door, too. When I saw the porch in the plans for this house, I knew I would hang quilts from it. :-)

I almost forgot to tell you about the couple of little surprises.....one was some little gifts that friends brought but I forgot to take the pic so will post later. Carol brought some cool vintage lace and I am hoping some of you can give us a clue how it's made. Then my husband provided a surprise for us when he took Kaiser out for a walk, then let him loose when he came back in the house. Kaiser took a run into the living room ready to greet everyone or eat any leftovers. Jan grabbed him and I took him back to my husband. He thought it was funny. I was not amused.

Jacob spent the afternoon playing and was so good we hardly knew he was here. I had something fun in store for him for Saturday night and I'll post about that on my Grandma Skeeter blog tomorrow. Time now to call it a night.

Sandi