A weekend with sewing friends

 On Saturday it was our first Quilting get together for 2026. Unfortunately it was 43C at mine and the house (with air con) was 29C for the day.

My day started at 6:30 with a zoom invitation from Chooky's group. So even before Karen and Elaine arrived I'd had a few hours working mainly on my latest quilt.

This is a typical view of the screen during our all day zooms - people are often not looking at the screen because they are in another part of the room stitching, or out watering lawns or whatever. However there is always a lot of background chatter.

Karen and Elaine arrived for our session together but Elaine had to go back home because she was suffering from the heat even when sitting right in front of the air con.

So Karen and I gate crashed Chooky's group again and chattered away while we discussed options for our next group quilt and also options for easy projects for my grand girls to sew.

One such option was suggested by Stephanie in our own little group zoom and before we rejoined Chooky's group I had one made. It is a really easy drawstring bag.

Jeanette sent through some photos of her latest projects completed for Christmas.

I really like the bonbon gift bags. They could be quite handy and such fun.

By the time my day ended I was exhausted with the heat and gave up on zoom by about 5:30 but I did get all my quilt blocks completed.

Today I was on zoom again at 6:30 and was able to spend the time trimming the blocks then sewing them together. Such a lot of work done by so many people in such hot weather.

Seeing in the New Year

On New Year's Eve at 6:30 am I joined Chooky's zoom sew-in. I eventually left the zoom at about 4pm on New Year's Day and was utterly exhausted after 2 days of sewing and chatting. We did take our own breaks for refreshments and sleep. It is not like a typical Zoom meeting in which you sit and talk to heads on a screen. We all work while on zoom and I was getting up and down from my sewing machine to collect or trim more pieces or to arrange finished blocks on my board which I positioned so others could see my progress. 

We had people from Australia, NZ, USA, Canada, UK, Norway and Germany. At any one time there were at least 9 on the screen but people would come and go as their time zones, stomachs and visitors allowed. That is why we start at around 6am our time. At one stage there were over 12 on the screen. 

We help each other with the next sewing problem or even computer problem but sometimes it is just small talk or complete silence. It is so funny to look up from whatever you are doing to find no other faces and complete silence. We all get a cuppa or meal when we need it and leave for our visitors or to tend the chooks or garden for a bit.

The day before New Year's Eve Stephanie and her grand daughter Lexie came to choose fabrics for my new quilt and then helped basting a few quilt sandwiches that I will need to get on to soon.

So Happy New Year to all my quilting friends. Welcome to our new year of quilting.