Oh happy day......

It's been a somewhat exciting weekend, this one. After my day in the shop on Saturday, and a lovely Chinese meal out with the other half that night for his birthday, yesterday a few of my LMQG friends met up for a sewing day.

The lovely hostess

Nat is lucky enough to have a dedicated sewing space, so five of us happily sat around sewing and chatting, and eating lunch, and generally having a good time!  There was plenty of space for some cutting out, machine sewing, hand stitching of binding, and in my case, unpicking some dodgy quilting!

We had a lovely lunch provided by the gorgeous Kelly who was working on an Aeroplane bag - and very stunning it looked too, in the fabulously glittery latest Melody Miller range.  The weight of the fabric makes it perfect for bags and such like, and I can't wait to a) see Kelly's finished bag, and b) attempt one of my own.





isn't it gorgeous?

Kelly and her cleavage!

Check out that top-stitching

Of course, it wouldn't be Kelly without some tom-foolery, and she couldn't resist demonstrating other possible uses for the amply sized smaller bag - here she models the latest in over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders..... what more can I say! As you can tell, it wasn't a terribly serious day.

I'm quietly confident my little Janome would happily fit into this smaller bag, so I have some Melody Miller of my own that Charlotte very generously gave me for my birthday, and so I will be putting that to good use - watch this space.




binding away

Amanda was happily handsewing the binding onto her stunning diamond ring quilt, which looked lovely made from the Pearl bracelets range. She also had a play with Kelly's 11.5" inches, and we all spent a large part of the day planning what we could sell in order to justify the purchasing of new machines - needless to say there is no limit to the deviousness of female quilters when it come to inveigling a new machine into the house!
  

checking the fit

Amy was having a foray into dressmaking with her Schoolhouse tunic. it will be so summery once she's finished.

 

All in all, we had a wonderful day, and the next one is already in the calendar, when we plan to all attempt The Weekender together... apparently we have homework to do in preparation for that one!

Oh, and I just realised this is my 100th post!  Perhaps I ought to have a little giveaway...

I will survive......

Thanks to everyone for your messages, get well cards and even gifts of fabric to make sure I keep myself entertained and away from work whilst recovery goes on.  I'm happy to say that less than a week after the surgery, I'm off pain meds, well enough to take the dogs for a short walk yesterday and today have been to the pub for lunch.  I'm still taking it easy the rest of the time, but am hoping to go back to work for a few hours on Thursday - strictly desk duties only!  If only I felt fit to drive, I'd head off to meet the rest of the LMQG this evening who are lucky enough to be having dinner with Tula Pink!  However, as I said, less than a week..... 

Charlotte and Amy came to see me on Sunday so my other half could have a break from the onerous task of nursing me (?!?).  We didn't even pretend we were going to do any sewing, and just sat around stroking the dogs and gossiping!  Amy made us some lovely leek and potato soup - with 'homemade potatoes'.  And a fantastic lemon cake, which was delicious.  

Charlotte brought me gifts picked up from the Festival of Quilts - a glorious brown batik, my love for which is well known (not!) with the challenge to make something beautiful from it, and a more lovely gift of tape measures and spotty fabrics.  I can't wait till the other half actually puts the ironing board up for me, like I've been asking for 2 days, so I can get on with some sewing.  I have an idea of what to do with that batik......