Still Catching Up - Veterans' Day Sewing

eems like I have spent the whole of November trying to catch up with various sewing and quilting activities in which I've participated. Clear back on Veterans' Day, dear Frienzie Sherrie hosted us for about the 10th or 15th year (we never have determined exactly when we began this tradition). Originally, it was an all-night sew-in. We did this for 3 or 4 years; when too many of us were wimping out and going home at midnight or 3 am, Sherrie changed to an all-day event. She puts the coffee pot on at a given time - 6am, 8am or whatever - and we can stay as long as we want. I arrived at 8am and worked until 8pm. A good day of sewing, for sure. It felt good to get back into a project that I really want to finish.

First, I'll say a bit about the food. Susan brought this breakfast casserole, which looks like it went over well, doesn't it? I know I had seconds! Yum-o!

Some of the other goodies: fresh pineapple and mango and a rather addictive bean dip.

Here are some muffins and a plate of cookies. Looks like we have a bottle of Best Press sitting there in the midst of the foodstuffs - NOT on the menu!!

We had several other delicacies to feast on, but I guess I was too focused on sewing and visiting to grab pics of the rest. I remember Sherrie's potato soup and turkey sandwiches; I took a jello dessert, recipe courtesy of Pinterest. We celebrated Kay's birthday, and there was some cake for that, as well.

Enough with the food!! Let's get to the sewing and projects!!

Kay and Sherrie had recently picked up a couple of quilts from the local long-arm quilter. This is Sherrie's  - a king size quilt called Match Stick (I think). It is to be a wedding gift for her nephew and his bride-to-be. Sherrie bought these fabrics last May when the 3 of us (Sherrie, Kay and I) went to Berlin and surrounding Amish country quilt shops for the day. These were purchased at Mrs. Miller's Dry Goods in Berlin.

Two years ago at quilt camp, Kay began this Trip-Around-The-World style quilt with luscious Amy Butler fabrics. She finished the top this past June at quilt camp, and used 2 pink Amy Butler's for her backing. Get a look at this -

The pic doesn't exactly show the coolness of the fabrics, but believe me, the back of this quilt is just as gorgeous as the front! These 2 backing fabrics were also purchased at Mrs. Miller's on the same shopping trip. That's Kay in red on the left, and Sherrie, our hostess, in the center.

You wanna hear a fabulous story?? This is so awesome...

Hettie, above at her sewing machine, comes regularly to the Veterans' Day event. Hettie, bless her heart, is not generally known for sewing at our get-togethers. She is a visitor!! But this year, she determined that she would actually work on a project with us! As she dug around her house for a project, and came across 2 stacks of flannel 6.5" squares. She offered one of them to anyone who wanted it because she was sure she would be doing well to get one completed. She couldn't fathom a guess as to how long ago she'd bought these squares, but many of us recognized some of the fabrics from the 90s.

Well, just about the same time Hettie was making her offer, Sharon realized that she'd forgotten to bring the project she'd been planning to work on! She'd inadvertently left the bag at home!! She jumped on Hettie's offer, and commenced working on this totally spontaneous flannel quilt.

 Here's the result of Sharon's work:

How about that?? She had a piece of flannel at home that she knew she could use as a border, and actually finished this off just this week at my house. Here's the quilt with the border:

Well, let me correct that statement; 3 of the 4 borders are on; I really did not get that great of a shot of this with the borders showing.

Back to Veterans' Day activities... Kay worked on a new project with lots of triangles.

I wish I could tell you more about her project, but too many days have passed, and I forget...alas, do we all have this problem?

Linda had this vibrant batik quilt going. The curved pieces and the contrasting colors make it a real beauty. Hope to be able to show you the finished quilt top one day soon.

Susan worked on this baby boy quilt for a friend of her daughter's. So soft and cuddly. She was planning to attend a shower in about 2 days, so was hopeful that she could get the entire top finished to wrap for the new mother. I think she made pretty good progress.

Sherrie, our dear hostess, set her embroidery machine on auto pilot and got quite a bit of work done on this year-long project she's doing in conjunction with our local quilt shop. She is going to have an absolutely gorgeous quilt when it's all done, that's for certain. I just love the look of this! And all the other blocks that are already done are just as beautiful, believe me!!

I worked on my French General Stars blocks. I need 30 total. I began the day with only 2 done, but all the pieces and parts were ready for constructing all the rest - or so I thought. I got 23 done and discovered that I had not cut enough pieces for the remaining 7 blocks. To date, I am still trying to finish - I'm think I have about 27 done now...update forthcoming...

Well, that very nearly gets me all caught up with group sewing days. I still have one or two smallish things to share in an upcoming post, and I have a new haul from Grandma's house to tell you about. My sewing room is bursting at the seams.

Happy Quilting, Friends!