Bazaar quilt sandwiched

Yesterday I had a great day with patchwork friends at Mrs. Furui's house. There is always a lot of teasing and chatting and catching up to be done not to mention sewing.

Our group of 7 or 8 ladies has always gathered at Mrs. Furui's house. She is central to everyone and two other of the ladies live in the same neighborhood. It is on the way back from the city so a couple of the ladies can run their errands or do their jobs in the morning and stop in on their way home. I live too far away. No one ever comes out here. Mrs. Harada moved four hours away last year and we never expected her to continue coming to patchwork but she faithfully makes the trip each month leaving her home at 6:00 in the morning and arriving by 10:00. Yesterday she picked up Mrs. Okutomi, another long time patchwork friend who also had moved away years ago. Actually Mrs. Harada and Mrs. Okutomi only met at our January patchwork gathering but patchwork and quilting people just seem to be able to become friends and so yesterday the two of them drove the distance together to do patchwork with the original group!

The goal for yesterday was to put the bazaar quilt's applique borders together, make it into a flimsy and get it sandwiched for quilting. A few snags (one side of the applique hadn't been finished yet!) and a few additions, ("Let's put piping around the whole quilt!") but I had brought my Feathered Star quilt and a couple of us basted that while others appliqued, ironed, sewed and joined batting for the bazaar quilt. Busy house!

A quick lunch and with many hands both quilts were sandwiched, new projects were considered, and a lot of laughter filled our hearts.

This year's bazaar quilt surpasses our expectations! (I think the addition of that border was a stroke of genius!)

"THIS YEAR I WANT TO WIN THIS!!!!"

"How many raffle tickets should I buy to clinch it?"

"This is our best quilt ever!"

We say that every year.