Tip Tuesday! Sewing with Friends

"Tip Tuesday!" - Sewing with Friends

I love learning new things and then sharing that knowledge with my quilting friends. So, every Tuesday I'll provide some tips, hints, tricks, tutorials, shortcuts, etc. that I've learned over the years and share them here on the blog. 

"Tip Tuesday" will be a collection of information about a wide variety of subjects garnered from a large variety of sources.  I am not an expert by any means and do not take credit for being the great wizard behind all of these hints and tips. I will gladly give due credit whenever possible.

These tips will be archived and accessible to you just by clicking on the "Tip Tuesday" tab above. 

Read, enjoy, and be inspired! 

If you ever find yourself in a sewing rut, consider spending a few hours or even an entire day sewing with friends. Saturday, I had the pleasure to host another Old Bags' Day for 32 people; and as usual, I had a wonderful time. The group consisted of novice and experienced quilters alike; but EVERYONE was a quilter, so how could it have been anything but wonderful? 

Even if I'm not feeling particularly productive, spending the day with a group of fun and talented quilters is always inspiring. There's such a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by people who share my passion for quilting and I NEVER leave one of these events without feeling refreshed and excited about sitting at my sewing machine again.

Here is your warning. 

The rest of this post is loaded with pictures. 

I love Chris' fabric choices for this log cabin quilt!

Debbie was productive and this quilt is proof of that.

This pinwheel quilt is simply adorable!

Doris was working on embellishing her FABULOUS quilt. There is a story behind every piece of embellishing she was doing.

The snowwoman has a little secret under her apron. Cute panties!

Doris' daughter Lana has gotten the quilting bug and here's her version of the winter quilt.

I can already see the wonderful applique and embellishing that will soon make its way onto this pieced background.

Fran D. made a cute self-binding blanket for some lucky little girl.

I love the back side of this quilt. Cute fabric!

I really like the decorative stitches!

Sis made the same quilt, just in different fabrics. Adorable!

Jerry needs a quick gift and pieced a dessert roll into this.

 

After taking out a few rows, rearranging some rows and adding borders, this top is ready for quilting.

And that's exactly what he did before heading home on Sunday.

It's done and simply wonderful. I'm really liking the over-sized binding!

I love the backing too!

Janet was a busy lady. This is just one quarter of her quilt.

She's was definitely in a sewing mood.

Isn't it wonderful? She did a nice job and this quilt was done very quickly.

Jeanette is busy laying out her quilt. I love these fabrics!

Karen's block is ADORABLE!

Of course when I first saw it, it looked like this and I wondered why she was sewing an oddly-shaped faucet.  DUHHHHH

This is such a cute block. And it definitely is NOT a faucet!  :-)

Kathy was busy on her snowman rag quilt.

Mary C.'s pumpkin rag quilt is going to be so darn cute. I can't wait to see it done.

Mary T. is always so busy and working with such beautiful fabrics!

Pat R.'s minkee quilt is just so darn cute, and heavy. I love these fabrics together and they will surely make one little girl happy this Christmas!

Pat S. was busy working on her big block quilt with these gorgeous fabrics.

And she was helping her daughter Jill too.

Pat sure was a multi-tasker! She was cutting, pressing and sewing her blocks and helping Jill press and trim hers too. I love it when multi-generations of quilters work together. (Karen is Janet's daughter and Mary T.'s niece.)

Jill's blocks are just beautiful and fun. This wonky log cabin quilt is going to be fabulous and I can't wait to see it. I may have to settle for a picture though, as Pat and Jill are from Michigan.

Roberta made this monkey quilt a little while ago and needs to make a companion quilt.

I think she's done a great job! 

Aren't the bananas and monkey just perfect?

Roberta was busy and made this snuggler also.

Sheryll was busy cutting large nine patch block so she could begin piecing her version of a disappearing nine patch.

This is going to be one big quilt, and it's going to be BEAUTIFUL!

This view from the kitchen is proof that there was a little bit more than just sewing going on here. Yummy cookies, snacks and a taco bar kept our tummies full so we had plenty of energy to sew well into the night.

Fran had some beautiful fruit and veggie fabric that she was cutting up for her pot holders.

She said she was a little tired of all the paparazzi following her around clicking photos.  :-)  She is so funny!!

I think Jerry learned this trick from Connie a while back. His rotary cutter is always within reach.

Personally, I would have it handle up, but this seems to work for him.

And then Fran's mishap while borrowing Ann's quick change rotary cutter was caught on camera. Instead of pushing the lever to open the blade, she pushed the lever to change the blade. She thought she broke it! I guess that her hope to push the paparazzi away didn't work too well. 

I know I didn't get pictures of everyone's projects and I apologize to those who aren't pictured here. There was a bunch of hand work going on (binding by Carolyn, hand quilting by Deb and Eileen, and tacking down ends on fabric boxes by Ann). I know Pam was working on a flannel quilt and Terrie, Martha, Fran H., Judy, Joan, and April were working hard on their projects too. 

There was a quick trip made to get some fabric and Joan ran home after lunch to bring her mom over for a little while. I enjoyed watching her check out the projects and I think she enjoyed seeing them all. Perhaps we can get her back into quilting soon.  :-)

At the end of the day, the quilters have all gone home and the tables are returned to their proper places. Even though I'm always tired after hosting one of these events, it's always kind of bittersweet when they are over. 

I am very fortunate to have such a wonderful group of friends with whom I can sew. Do you? I sure hope so!