Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Will the Quilter in Red With the Fluffy White Beard Please Stand Up

So on Monday I went to the Irondequoit Quilt Club Christmas pot luck meeting, armed with a large bowl of pasta salad with sundried tomatoes (purchased not made I'm ashamed to say), and the Free Motion Machine Quilting book by Mr Quilt for the Secret Santa game.

Let me start by saying I still haven't started to be able to put voices to names, so I don't really have any idea who is who at QC meetings! ... I guess this is the blog entry that reveals to them that I can't see a jot! (unless they've noticed the white stick ... haha, yeah, I guess there's not much doubt about that!)

Let me also say that next year I'll be aware that the $10 value suggestion for Secret Santa gifts is pretty much followed ... my book was a $25 value, even though it was 50% off, it still seemed a bit extravagant compared to most other items! However I certainly don't feel hard done by because I picked up a lovely selection of random gifts from a few people who shall remain nameless (see above) and I was very happy with what I came home with in exchange for my book!

I'll describe everything first and then give you a photo of the collection. First up I was given a fat quarter. It is a dark background with widely spaced pairs of lines, a bit like narrow railway tracks. I'm told it's a red fabric with gold lines. I'm sure it will complement either one of the black / white fabrics that Thearica from Pigtales and Quilts sent me in a giveaway, or with one of the fabrics in the photo from my recent sale shopping session (see Cyber Shopaholic recently) ... then I was given a bag of home hand-dipped pretzls (which I can confirm on tonight's tasting are yummy!) and a jar of peppermints and chocolates, and finally a lovely lovely handmade snowflake... I can't remember what technique was used to make it, but it's very pretty and I believe took a couple of hours to make each one... I'll be hanging it on the tree when I finish writing this!

Finally the Secret Santa game! All the presents were spread across 5 different tables and we had to stand at the table our gift was on ( or which we were told it was on and kindly directed to!). Then we counted around the table so we each had a number. Number 1 opened a present, then number 2 opened a present and decided if they wanted to keep it or exchange with number 1... this continued aroundthe table with each subsequent person deciding whether to keep or swap with a previous gift. The only rule that once a gift had been swapped twice it couldn't be swapped again. In reality this proved quite complicated to grasp so most people kep what they opened! I got a little box containing a reel of thread, a needle threader (was of a type I haven't tried before) and a pack of needles ... now if the threader proves to be one I can operate, that might be very handy! and a few more needles and thread will never go to waste!!

So here is the photo ... a pile of fabrics recently purchased and a collection of lovely Christmas gifts sitting on top. If I ever found out who made the pretzels I may have to hold them hostage for a few more bags!! ... right, now I'm off for a soak in the bath before bed, night night!

8 comments:

  1. Ooh lots of great goodies. The way the swap was organised sounds very much like 'steal and reveal' us book crossers play.

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  2. sounds like fun...although I would imagine that game was quite the challenge for you. I hope you and your wife have a great Christmas!!

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  3. Hey, great score! So, probably a really dumb question so sorry bout that but... Do you need to speak one to one with someone for a while to familiarise yourself with their voice in order to remember them by name? How long does that take? Are you getting better at it?! Must be difficult, I am terrible at remembering names to faces...

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  4. Looks like a lovely pile of goodies and the swapping game sounds complicated! Love your new fabric!

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  5. what a fun pile of loot! awesome! sounds like you had a great time!

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  6. Mmmmm Dipped pretzels, peppermint and chocolate! They know you well at this quilt club! Good score on the fabric front too!

    You'll have to be brave and ask them to tell you their name whenever someone speaks to you. I'm not surprised you haven't memorised all their names yet, it's such a large group!

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  7. Looks like you got some good stuff! The fabric is lovely!

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  8. Love that red and gold fabric, and that little snowflake decoration. My mum used to do tatting and she made some snowflakes similar to yours for our tree one year.
    Sounds like you had a great time.

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