Sewing With The Girlfriends

On Friday, dear Terry had a couple of us over for a day of sewing. I tell you, if it weren't for my friends hosting these sewing days, I doubt I'd get very much done! I have been working on a t-shirt quilt that will be for my brother to give to his boss. It has been a bit of a challenge because I had to do some extra math --always a challenge-- but I did finally get the top together. I left it and a prepared backing with Terry and she will quilt it when she can.

The photo above is from a couple of weeks ago. I had the blocks laid out on the guest bed (you can see the blue Irish-chain quilt underneath). I direct your attention to the center of the top row. Because I didn't have enough big blocks to make a true 4x4 quilt, I used the small designs from several t-shirts and made a single panel. This panel gave me so much grief as far as math is concerned. Let's just say I did a fair amount of "un-sewing" on this panel.

The sashing strips are dark teal, and the cornerstones are deep fuchsia -- these are the company colors. I wish I'd taken a picture of the finished top, but I was just in such a hurry. So I promise I will take a shot when I get it back from Terry. I will have to attach and tack down the binding, and then hand it off to little brother, Mark.

Terry, poor dear, worked so hard on her project only to make a rather disheartening mistake. She quit after that. And I mean she quit. Period. Done. She chucked the whole thing.

This is Terry's workspace; she has her system all laid out. Can you tell from the pattern and the blocks that this is a quilt with teeny-tiny little pieces?? It would drive me nuts. She is so good about these sorts of projects though, and she was just zipping right along.

Then she saw her mistake. Can you?

Here. I've zoomed in on one pile. The newly attached strip when folded out, will result in two little black blocks side by side. That's not the way it's supposed to be, unfortunately. Also, unfortunately, she attached this unit to a lot of blocks. Ugh. I can feel her disgust, can't you? It happens, and when it does, it sort of takes the wind right out of a quilter's sails, doesn't it?

 JoAnn was having better luck than Terry. She had two projects and completed them both. First, she was using some FREE fabric that was given away at her quilt guild to make some pillow covers. Here's one; she made two.

JoAnn says these colors will work perfectly for some fall color in her family room. Nice, huh?

She is also getting ready for Christmas by making some mantle scarves for her many fireplaces. The one in her family room is 6-feet long. That seems ginormous to me.

We've stretched it out along our worktables. The fabric is striped with festive red and green stripes along with Santa and snow. She fussy cut two rows and attached them to make the full length. The green is what will lay flat on the mantle and will likely be covered with assorted decorations or garlands.

During the early afternoon we tuned the television to coverage of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination. Services were held in Dallas, with frequent cuts to people gathered at Arlington in Washington D.C. It was chilling to watch, and even though I was very young when he was killed, I do have snippets of memories of it.

Happy Quilting, Friends!