Sunday, April 21, 2013

A Good Time Was Had by All

"A good time was had by all"--a familiar phrase of a bygone era,   though still within living memory.  But an appropriate phrase never the less, when applied to our quilt club outing yesterday.

In my last post I asked, "Does it always have to snow on Saturdays?"  And apparently the answer is "yes" because yesterday, again, we had snow.  The forecast for the day was ominous, snow all day, especially to the north of us, just where we planned to go for our outing.

And sure enough, when we came out of the quilt shop in Delburne, our first stop, the flakes were falling thick and fast.  That continued as we drove into Red Deer for our second stop of the day at Al's Sewing Machine and Repair shop.

Al gave us time to look around, and especially to admire a $4,800. quilting machine.  Very portable, very "Ooooh!"  I think most of us started thinking about ways to afford this extremely attractive and useful sewing machine.  Then he gave us a very informative lecture on sewing machine needles and thread.  What a lot we learned!

The good news when we came back out to the bus was that the snowfall had ceased.  That was the last of it for the day, in spite of the dire forecast.

Our next stop was in Blackfalds at very good quilt store.  I found an irresistible pattern, and also bought the ruler needed for that pattern.  We were having lots of fun.

There was another shop to visit in Lacombe and then on to Ponoka for two more shops and an excellent dinner at the Wildflower Café.  My only complaint there was that the coffee I wished for didn't arrive until we'd been there about an hour.  The prime rib and sweet potato fries were wonderful.

Back onto the bus, a tired and subdued group of 22 women headed home.  Our excellent driver Chris Mains, whom we had specifically requested, got us back home at exactly 8 p.m., the target time.  The Seniors Outreach Bus, which we had chartered for the day, was needed at 8 p.m. for another assignment.

Our last quilt club meeting of the year is coming up this Tuesday evening, a "Show and Tell" to which we invite lots of friends, and at which we display our work done this past season.  At least the work we still have access to, since most of what we make is immediately given away.

Knowing this Show and Tell was coming up, spurred me to finish the hand quilting on this panel, a project which I started a year ago last January!  The aqua blue strip on the right is a proposed binding, but I think, really, I should go to the local quilt shop and purchase some pale yellow to bind the quilt.  That would look better, I think, as the yellow extension of the panel's sides show.

I don't know for whom this baby blanket is destined.  It took many, many house of hand quilting to finish the panel.  There are a few places that need quilting yet, but I wanted to get it to a "bindable" stage so it could be included in the Show and Tell on Tuesday.

1 comment:

  1. sounds like you guys had a FABULOUS trip and got to go to lots of different shops!! I bet last night was a very interesting SHOW & TELL evening - are you coming to Swalwell this weekend - ?

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