Our guest speaker at Abbey Quilters last night was the delightful Margaret Boe. I got to know Margaret years ago, when I was a member of the Quilters' Guild ...... we were both Area Reps (I was also the Sales Rep). Back then I was also Chairman of Stirling Castle Quilters, and Margaret came along as guest speaker when Highland Quilters came down to spend a day with us. So I knew we were in for a very entertaining evening. I had just taken this snap of Margaret as she started her talk .......
........ when she changed her jacket! The one she put on was one that she had made as part of her City and Guilds course. She said that she called it her "standing" jacket - why? Because all the layers of fabric and the quilting meant that if she sat down, the jacket would be pushed up round her ears, so she could only wear it when she was standing! I managed to take this photo later in the evening
As well as chatting about her sewing and telling us jokes, Margaret then had us singing two children's songs (The Wheels on the Bus and Michael Finnegan). Obviously we were a bit puzzled as to the connection between quilting and singing, so she explained that for those who are frightened at the thought of free motion quilting, the answer is to sing these songs as you sew, as your quilting will have a good, even rhythm! She had brought along lots of her work to show us, including this wonderful hat
after the talk, I was able to take some photos of Margaret's fabulous work
but Margaret wasn't the only one with wonderful sewing to show off. Sheila is one of our new members, having only recently taken up quilting. She made this stunning quilt top at a workshop taught by Caroline, another member of the group (I missed it, as it was the day we went on holiday!)
we had to over to Coldstream this morning, as Malcolm's car had to go in for its first service (it's hard to believe he has had it for almost a year!). We dropped the car off and picked up a courtesy car, and off we went ...... and that's when the day went downhill. First of all, it started to rain ..... and rain ..... and really rain! We were going to have lunch here, but when we went in, there was nobody serving. I noticed a bell on the counter, and having rung it, a man appeared. He explained that the owners had decided to go off to Edinburgh on business matters for the day, as the weather was so bad, and he was "minding the shop". The most he could offer us was a cup of tea ....... we had intended to have lunch there just about a year ago, but on that occasion, the owner had just fallen and broken her arm and had gone off to hospital. Perhaps if we go next year it will be third time lucky!! So we went here instead (the same as we did last year!). We were entertained by a little boy called Harry, who was perhaps 3 or 4 years old. He very politely asked for an icecream - vanilla please, no flake, thank you. But he was so excited when he got it, catastrophe, he dropped it! However, the waitress rushed to get him another one, before the tears started. Then he saw his parents' coffee being poured from two pots - 0ne of coffee and one of hot milk, and decided that he too wanted coffee. His Mum and Dad said that he couldn't have coffee while eating ice cream ..... but then he saw the waitress pouring coffee for another customer, and very politely called "lady, lady, pour coffee for me". Realising that his parents didn't want him to have any, she replied that the coffee was finished, so he told her to go to the shop to buy more!! It was hard not to laugh, as we tucked into coronation chicken sandwiches (me)
and cheese, pickle and onion toasty (Malcolm)
delicious!!