The 2014 SCQuilters Christmas Party was held at the Blue Gum this weekend. SCQuilters came from Victoria, from the North of Sydney, the South of Sydney, the West of Sydney, the Inner City of Sydney and locally to sit and sew and chat and lunch... and hope against hope that they don't take home 'The Golden Galleon' in the Recycled Gift event of the year... on the other hand several SCQuilters are hoping they get the Pencil sharpening Cat! So who was able to come to our SCQuilters Christmas Party.

 Bernadette from down Victoria way and Eleanor from out Bathurst way.

Michelle from down South and Lissa from up North.
Now let me tell you of my problems of getting a photo of our Michelle!   This one is just scary...

 This one is even scarier...

 ... so I suppose this is the least scariest of the lot, but that's not saying much!  What a patient friend is that Lissapoo!

 Much nicer... Erica and Kate.

 Emma and Cath.

 Irene and Lynne.

 Pennie and Jean.

 Penny and Gillian.

 Gillian's niece Kelly has come all the way from the USA to join us... here she is with Heather.

 Jenn and Selina... now had these two heard about that naughty Michelle... makes one wonder doesn't it.

 Stephanie and Kerry.

 Marilyn and Annie.

 Liz and Jill.

 Glynis and Rita.

Sharon and Maureen.

And David came too. 

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to Work we go, Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Hi Ho!

 Bernadette is knitting a partner for this lovely sock.

 Michelle's knitting pattern is on her phone!  very useful.

 Erica's project looks very interesting.

 Selina bought a great big travel bag full of scraps to cut up.

 Stephanie's fascinating block.

 Annie's finishing off this rug...

 ... just starting this one...

 ... but check out her wash cloths and kitchen cloths!  Fantastic.

 Marilyn's Hexagon's look interesting.

 A new square for Heather, a boy and girl at the beach.

 Maureen was too busy chatting elsewhere when I went around with my camera.

 Gillian's Hexi's and below another knitting project underway.

 Kelly well underway on her second project while visiting Australia.

 Sharon is going to make circles out of these four patches to applique onto these cream squares.

 Jill's Hexie's

 Penny's new blocks look very interesting and in her favourite colours.

 Lissa forgot her glue pen   :-(

 Emma's hexie's.

 Cath's new project.

 Eleanor starting something new, covering coathangers.

 Irene is onto a new block.

 Lynne working away on her beautiful project.

 Liz is going places with this work of art as well.

And Jean is starting with the beards of these three men.

The most awaited for event of the day is of course the 'Recycled Gifts', everybody is holding their breath hoping against hope that they do not get 'The Galleon' and there again there are just as many people hoping against all hope that they do get 'The Cat'.

 Just look at these presents, don't they look beautiful and inviting... but we all know that hidden in these beautifully wrapped gifts is the dreaded 'Galleon' and the dreaded 'Cat' that meows when you put a pencil in it's sharpener.

 Last years recipient of 'The Galleon' was Annie so she gets to choose first this year and she was lucky to get this beautiful table runner made by Emma.

 Emma was next and in the parcel she choose was a mug and saucer from Maureen.

 Maureen chose a very nice Patchwork Notebook from Erica.

 Erica looks pleased with her Hawaiian Quilt Collection bought in by Heather.

 Heather, who has received the 'Galleon' twice before was very very wary eventually choosing this delightful bag which was full of all sorts of goodies bought in by Ruth.

 Ruth was delighted to receive an iPad... of course it wasn't an iPad it was 'The Cat' which has already lived in a couple of SCQuilters homes and was bought in this time by Gillian.  Ruth was over the moon to receive 'The Cat', she knows it's meowing will delight the children at school.

 Next up was Gillian who was thrilled with her loot bought in by Marilyn.  Now I think we've seen a few of these items before.  That's the beauty of recycled gifts, they just keep on giving!

 Marilyn was very happy with her magazines, a DVD and some beauty products, bought in by Sharon.

 Sharon is equally pleased with her two un-pickers and and some hand cream bought in by Lynne.

 Lynne found a beautiful baby's photo album in her chosen parcel, bought in by Eleanor.

 Then Eleanor chose a lovely stocking stacked with all sorts of quilting goodies but... in amongst these very deceptive goodies was a card saying... Congratulations you have received 'The Galleon'... which Annie had hidden away and was waiting to bring out.  This 'Galleon' has had a wonderful facelift, one of Annie's son's has made a beautiful protective case for it and...

... put all the names of the Recipients on the back.    If only we could find the donor of this beautiful golden Galleon, none of us can remember.

Rita up next and she received a Gingerbread cake mould and an Amy Butler book from Jean.  (BTW  Ruth told us that if you turn the Gingerbread cakes up the other way you will have Reindeer cakes!  How clever is that!)

A very useful Misting Fan and some tea towels for Jean bought in by Lissa.

Lissa found a Sleek jug and some other goodies in her chosen parcel which were from Stephanie.

Stephanie was thrilled with her little Jelly Roll and the extra's bought in by Penny.
 

You can see how happy Penny is with her hand wash and Mr Men fan bought in by Bernadette.

Bernadette wasn't too sure about the Balance Assist bar but she's thrilled with the goldfish candle!

Now there was one present left over and the bringer of this gift was the only one who didn't get to choose a gift... something always goes wrong with these things and with so many gifts... but the bringer of the gift wasn't at all worried about taking home some recycled gift so she gifted her gift to my David!

The bringer of this gift thought this gift would be prefect for our Grandchildren but we are still thinking... yes that's all very well but where do we put it when the Grandchildren go home... \

These beautiful, well loved and much sort after gifts will be back for the SCQuilters Christmas Party in December 2015.

 Galleon #1

 Galleon #2

 Galleon #3

The Pencil Sharpening Cat.

And... Molly the Milkshake Maker.

Now this is very strange... not one person out of the 30 SCQuilters at our Christmas Party will own up to giving me this fantastic fabric!  I just love it and would love to make myself something out of it, such as some pants or a skirt... but I need more... do any of you stock it in your shops??

 For some reason the crowd thinks I should wear it as a scarf  LOL!!    I do look the part though don't I!

But wait there's more...  I know this little bag was made for me by Annie...Thank you Annie.

... and Ruth re-gifted this Galleon Brooch to me... Thank you Ruth.

... but with all the excitement going on I've forgotten where these two lovely items come from, Annie I think and ???    So much fun and laughter... I sure had a headache by the end of the day... a good headache though.