Lovely long day at the Penno Pub.

One of the most beautiful things about our gatherings at the Hotel Pennant Hills and the Blue Gum Hotel are the people who come along.   We have SCQuilters who've been coming forever, we have SCQers who are Grandparents and we have SCQers who come along with new born children, we have friends coming along as well as some who are Quilters but not necessarily SCQuilters, we have some who come regularly, we have some who come occasionally, there are some we haven't seen for a very long time but there are also plenty of Newbies!
Some of us live only 15 minutes away, some travel by train for an hour or two, some drive for the same length of time, we come from North, South and West of Sydney and sometimes Interstate as well.
It's 15 years since I started these gatherings at the Penno Pub, then when they turned our room into a smoking area in 2010 we moved to the Blue Gum in Waitara but after we discovered the Penno Pub had renovated we've been going to both pubs each month.
There are good and bad points of both pubs, the Penno Pub wins for being closer to the Station, easy access, great food and next door to a Patchwork Shop but loses on the room facilities.  The Blue Gum wins on the room when we can get it, there is nothing better than good light and a room to ourselves, most of the time.
Yesterday was a lovely day, the lighting in our area of the Pub wasn't 100% ticketyboo but the company was terrific, there were SCQuilters who I've known for almost 20 years, there were SCQuilters who came for the first time a couple of months ago and there were three Newbies as well.
So much chat, so much laughter, so much sharing but most of all so much friendship!  Wonderful medicine is Friendship... may it live long and strong.
Oh!  and three cheers for the Internet!!    How many of your family or long time friends also have friends they met Online!!

So...  Who was there yesterday.  Photos aren't all that good the lighting was difficult.

 Irene and Joy.

 Heather, Robyn and Maureen.

 Cheryl and Glynis, she's pretending not to be at the pub but she was....

 Brenda and Lissa.

 Pennie and Jill.

 Wendy and Cath.

 Donna and Rita.

Rhonda and Yan.

 Pene and Jean.

 Jill and Lynne.

 Special guest...   didn't stay long though.

Show and Tell.

 A lot of people have asked me if my Susan liked the quilt I gave her for her 50th Birthday, (I showed it last time at the Blue Gum)  she says to tell you all... YES she does, she says it's just stunning goes very well on her bed and is cosy and warm... Susan sent this photo of the quilt on her bed in Melbourne.  Wow what a lovely bed, just perfect for 'Au Provence'.

Angelic Rita has used scraps from some previous quilts and made this little quilt... more information please Rita.
Rita says...   The little pink quilt was made about 30 years ago out of scraps from quilts I made for my 2 oldest girls.  And now Lizzy, my granddaughter has it for her doll's cradle.  I had to do some repairs on it, didn't know much about quilting back then and the batting got messed up when I washed it.  had to take a side seam out, stretch the batting back in place then stitch it down properly.

 We've been wondering how Rita's 'Monet's Garden' has been coming along, it's been a while since we've seen her working on it.

 A stunner made by the very Angelic Yan!

 Another stunner put together and awaiting borders???  We've seen Lissa working on this one over the years, lovely to see it together.

This is Jean's Indigo and white quilt, lovely isn't it.

 Lissa's magnificent quilt all finished Yay!!

 The very Angelic Donna with her little stunner, I love these colours against the black and white, I also love the colours in Donna's bag below.

Busy hands making pretty works but the poster of this Blog has forgotten some of the workers!!

 Now that Lissa has finished, or almost finished making two hand pieced quilts she's on a mission to finish off this little darling.

 Jill onto another lovely bright quilt for a charity.

 Irene appliquing another block.

 Brenda was quilting this lovely little bright quilt for a grand child.

 Dreadful photo, lighting in this area of the Penno Pub is difficult but Joy was managing to get a bit done on her quilt... photographers shadow in photo!!

 What a beaut Pineapple Robyn is appliquing.

 Heather at work on this lovely bright border?

 Irene's chocheting is just beautiful isn't it.

 Mmmmmm...  sorry forgotten.

 Finishing touches to this beaut Black and White quilt were being done by Jean.

 Lovely and interesting Black and White hexagons by Pene.

 Wow!!  Was this yours Rhonda??

 I'm pretty sure this is Yan's... it has her style all over it  :-)

 Cath onto some binding.

 A couple of knitters with Marilyn above and Cheryl below.

 Pretty little quilt being worked by Wendy.

 Rita has finished a little Reindeer.

 Donna was working on a new block above, below is a finished block and at the bottom is one of  the Block of he Month patterns she's working from.

Food Glorious Food - lots of delicious food was consumed but I only took a few photos before I dug into my favourite Duck Pancakes, then my favourite Salted Caramel Ice Cream!!

 Smoked Pulled Pork Slider Trio - Pickled fennel, red onion, apple slaw, roquette and seeded mustard mayonnaise on mini brioche buns, served with waffle fries.

Salmon Penne with capers in a creamy sauce.

 Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Pizza - Crispy bacon, pineapple, red onion and fresh basil.

 Roast Pumpkin and Tomato Bruschetta, with sage and goats cheese.

 Garlic Prawn and Crispy Bacon Pizza - Semi dried tomato, broccolini, chilli jam and fresh basil.

Pumpkin, Fetta & Caramelised Onion Pizza - roasted capsican, fresh roquette with truffle mayonnaise.