Family Sewing Day 2015

Jessie and Phylicia cutting!

 One of our  family holiday traditions the last few years is the annual Family Sew-in in my hometown, Earling, Ia. We usually sew at my parent's house, but this year we met at my sister, Sharon's. We set up tables, machines and got started!

Dad stopped by for lunch.

 This past year, two of my nieces and a friend (almost a niece!)  have joined us. Jessie (right) started her T-shirt quilt last year. She's a beginner and got all of her shirts prepped with interfacing, cut out and learned how to make some pieced blocks out of smaller pieces. She is ready to cut her sashings.

 Phylicia (left) made some burp cloths for a friend who is expecting. She is the type of sewer that jumps right in with no worries and figures it out.

Ashley is also working on a T-shirt quilt...she spent most of the day pressing interfacing and squaring the blocks. I somehow missed taking a picture of her working...but I did get her blocks and will show you later.

 My sister, Deb, finished her first quilt last February, so our plan for #2 was for her to make the Jelly Roll Race quilt. Sharon, another sister who loves to sew, decided to make one too. Jessie's mom-in-law, Lori, and grandma-in-law, Leona, joined us for the first time. Lori didn't sew, but helped her mom, Leona, keep her strips straight on her Jelly Roll Race quilt.

Lori had her own jelly roll, so I wouldn't be surprised to see her sewing her quilt soon!

They got their strips sewn together before lunch. Deb and Leona sewed theirs together with a straight seam, Sharon put a square in between hers. Here they are at the beginning of the race, sewing the two ends of their 1600" of strips together.

More menfolk joining us for our soup lunch.

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 Nancy got about half of her quilt sewn together with sashings last year, so got right to work on her remaining blocks. She was the only one to wear her Quilt! shirt.

 Still working on the Jelly Roll Race quilts. They weren't really racing, as each one started at a different time, but since they were working on the same quilt, it was fun to have them sitting by each other to watch their progress.

 The sewn piles are growing!

 Nancy is busy piecing her last blocks.

Burp cloths all sewn, right sides together.

 Now they are making some headway.

 Jessie started laying out her blocks, very excited to be to this stage!

 Lori made a great assistant, helping her mom keep the strips straight.

 Mom was supervising! She has many years of sewing experience.

 Leona got her JRQ finished first. Gorgeous reproduction fabrics.

 Once her mom was finished, Lori jumped in and became Deb's assistant. She was really good at it!

 Phylcia's finished burp cloths. So cute and ready for her friend's baby.

 Jessie and her blocks. The picture below shows her blocks on her sashing fabric. Fun choice!

 Sharon's JRQ....soft teals, greens and gold.

 This was the only thing I made as I was helping all day, but they wanted to see how I made these bags so I did a little demo. I use the free pattern on Craftsy, Quilted Boxy Corner Pouch by Lindsey Sews. It's fun, quick and easy.

 Deb's second quilt. She loves purple and her jelly roll was gorgeous with purples, teals and greens.

 The Jelly Roll Race gals!

Ashley is happy to be finished with the ironing...and ready to find a sashing fabric! She has a few pieced blocks she wants to make and then will be ready to sash. Love all of her colorful shirts.

It was nice to watch Jessie and Ashley helping each other remember what to do. We might have some more quilters yet!

I am heading to Earling tomorrow for our annual New Year's Day dinner, so I'll see if Nancy has those blocks together... hmmmm, what do you think? She says she is a social sewer and only sews with us.

I've been working on the patterns for the new sampler, Larkspur, this week. I hope to finish them before I go back to work  on Monday. Wish me luck!

Classes and holidays...

 I had two sampler clubs meet last week. The newest one, Simply Posies met on Monday night...Laura's quilt is almost finished. She is adding one large border yet. She didn't end up using the last pieced border on the quilt, so I have a feeling it will end up somewhere...maybe on the back? The border she is adding is a wide asian print that coordinates with the Posies black fabric in the center.

 Karen is working on her first pieced border...she hasn't had much time to quilt lately. Several people had to miss that night, plus the camera fairy forgot to take pictures of the others that were there. Bad fairy.

My Simply Posies Sampler 21 quilt

Larkspur Sampler 22

 I've been working on my new sampler design, Larkspur, so I showed them a preview...it's getting finished in the next few days I hope.  It's in rows in this picture. I designed most of the blocks in this quilt as well as the layout, so I'm really excited about it.

Marta

 I also met with the My Little Pretties Sampler Club on Wednesday. They are making great progress! They worked on the Grandmother's Quilt block. Marta finished hers, it's the upper right block. The others were close to finished. I love how these quilts are turning out. We went over the directions for the alternate block, so I expect to see some almost finished layouts when next we meet for their last class on this quilt next month.

Billie Jo

 I spent some time shopping with my sister, Nancy and her husband, Dale yesterday. They are here for a holiday visit from Canada. They are heading up to my hometown later today to stay with my folks, so I will see them again on Christmas. We are also planning our annual sewing day for next Sunday. Lots of family time coming up and no work for 2 weeks.

Sheryl

Are you ready for the holidays?

 These quilters were sewing furiously to finish projects at last week's UFO Saturday class. Some were Christmas projects, some were projects they wanted to make progress on.

Dianne and shy Jane worked on Synchronize...they are so different from each other and both so pretty.

It was like Santa's Workshop, the machines humming, the snippers snipping, fabric swishing...we even had some gingerbread cookies to munch on.

Some of the projects can't be named as they are gifts, but Barb was working on her Serenity. She did hers with fewer fabrics and that red pop in the center. We all loved it. She got it on the wall and all of the diagonal blocks sewn into rows, so it will be a snap to finish.

Dianne's Synchronize top finished!

Do you have any sewing left to finish for the holidays? I do, but hope to finish soon.

Holiday Runner Club

One of the Sampler Clubs decided they wanted to do smaller projects for awhile, so they just completed the Christmas Ornament Runner Tuesday night. They met three times instead of six and managed to finish the runner so they could work on quilting it on the last night. They did great, even though there were some set backs. I assured them that learning to quilt on their home machine takes practice!

They all turned out so pretty! Deb M. had this cute border print and fussy cut flowers for the centers.

Debbie Mc. wanted to try quilting in diagonal rows. She used a seam guide to keep her diagonal rows straight.

Shirley used stitch in the ditch quilting on hers. We all discussed matching thread or contrasting? What would you choose?

Nancy B was trying stitch in the ditch, had problems, then we realized her machine was on the wrong setting. So frustrating!

Martha turned her center block the other way, which we all thought added interest. 

Nancy P had a busy month and has to finish putting her runner together, but she will and hopefully will bring it next time. They are going to try making a braided runner or small quilt next.

I have all of the pieced blocks finished for the newest sampler, Larkspur. I'm anxious to get it sewn together. I will share here soon, but if you follow me on Facebook, I posted the blocks there this morning.