Family Sewing Day...

I spent a Sunday in Earling recently sewing with family. My sister Deb finished her Jelly Roll Race quilt. This is her second quilt, and it's a beauty! She wants to try making a bag next.

My two nieces worked on their T-shirt quilts. They are both novice quilters and anxious to get these first quilts finished.

Not sure what my daughter was doing on the sewing machine, she worked on jewelry all day. My sis Sharon helped her daugher with pinning the T-shirt quilt.

Jessie's quilt, all laid out and ready to sew together.

Phylicia worked on a puff quilt. All ready to stuff!

Ashley's almost finished quilt. She has since finished the top and bottom borders and it's ready to layer. I didn't do much sewing, opting instead to help them and visit. That's important too!

 Phylicia is bottle feeding a baby kitten so she brought it along. My dad was the official cat whisperer! Mom worked on getting some backings ready for 3 quilts to be quilted. I will get pictures of her and her quilts once she gets them back!

Family sew-in and a celebration!

 We had a great family sewing day on Saturday. We even had some non sewers drop in to catch up and give advice!

 Deb worked on her quilt....she started it a long time ago. She's not a sewer, but wanted to try it. She worked really hard for this.....TA- DA!

Her daughter, Ashley, learned how to make a pillow case for her son.  She started a Tshirt quilt on our last sewing day and worked on it for awhile Saturday too.

 Phylicia made these cute soft cubes for little hands. Some of them had ribbon handles.

 Sharon satin stitched this fact on her boating bag.

 She also finished a couple of small bags with vinyl fronts to keep things dry on the boat.

 I worked on another Reversible Box Tote. I've been eyeing this fabric for awhile...love it!

 I also sewed the backing fabric together for the new quilt. It's an orange, pink, yellow and purple batik with swirls. I might use the same fabric for the binding, but first things first. Quilting it.

 We gathered for a family celebration in the evening...my parents' 65th anniversary. We had a houseful. I didn't get a pic of the happy couple together, but here is dad with some grandchildren...

 Mom with some grandchildren...

 and Dad again with 2 granddaughters and a great grandson.

 We had a great dinner and a great time.

After chasing each other around in circles for awhile, the great grandsons had a little chat on the phone. We were surprised they even knew what to do with it, as they were toy dial phones! 

 I spent some time Sunday prepping for a kids pillow class I'm doing for a 4-H group next weekend. I also partially loaded the new quilt on to the frame. I have classes the next two nights, so I'm not sure when I will get back to it, but it's a start in the right direction.  It still needs a name.

New quilt....Abacus?

Family sewing day!

 I had a great time sewing with my sisters and Mom yesterday. We all worked on our own projects. Sharon started a new Twister quilt on Thursday,  so continued to work on it. She made the oh-so-cute pillow top using some of her leftover squares and then decided to make a border for the bottom of the quilt using them as well.

Nancy started her quilt a couple of years ago and only sews when she comes for visits about once a year. She has 1/2 of her blocks finished now, so it is coming along nicely. I am going up there tomorrow for NY dinner, so I hope to see some more progress tomorrow.

This is her first quilt. Nancy has been here since Thanksgiving, so my folks are enjoying her nice long visit. Her husband came last week, so we visited with him as well....didn't get a pic of him though....hmm...he must've been hiding from my camera!

 My sister Deb isn't a quilter either, but sure seems to love it when we are all together. She finished her lap size layout yesterday and is ready to put on some borders. This is her first quilt as well.

She chose some borders from my Mom's stash of vintage fabrics, so hopefully will have my Mom and Sharon help her get it finished now.

Mom worked on her layout, but didn't sew...she is recuperating well after finishing her chemo in Nov. but still gets tired more easily. I think all the holiday hoopla is wearing her out, though she doesn't complain.

We always need our supervisor on sewing days! Dad helps us with layouts and visits while we sew.  My niece, several nephews and brother-in-law came and ate lunch with us and stayed to visit a while too.

 These two kept us entertained as well...a year really makes a difference! They are becoming buddies!

I cut the borders for my daughter Wendy's Circle and Spin Plus quilt and got the first border sewn on. It's going to be large enough to come down past the box springs on her queen size bed.

 I want to finish quilting the Lotus Quilt today and maybe get the last border on Wendy's quilt. We'll see how much ambition I have!

Family and the Good Wishes quilt

 We all gathered at my sister Sharon's house on Saturday night. Nancy is still here from Canada and Kathy and her husband came from Missouri, so my brother and sisters were all there. We see both of them when they are back, but they don't always get to see much of each other as their visits don't always coincide. My other 2 sisters and brother live in my hometown, and I live about 50 miles away. It was a good chance to give Mom her Good Wishes quilt.

 She loved it. I filled the pockets with the wishes I had, and the rest of the family will add them as they get them.

 It was a great night and I took lots of pictures. Here I am with my 4 sisters, brother and parents.  My sister has a great deck and gardens out in back of her house, and the weather was perfect to sit outside and visit.

Kathy went back yesterday and Nancy is leaving tomorrow to go back home. We have all enjoyed her visit a lot and I know it has helped Mom and Dad to have her here.

I worked on some more  Funky Rock Stars yesterday. I finished 8 more and have another 7 partially finished. They are so much fun to make! I will post some pix tomorrow.

I'm going to sew with the ladies today, then I have a class tonight. Should be a great day! I love sewing with others! Usually I am teaching and so am watching the sewing, not participating!

Family Camping

 Just so you know up front...I don't really camp. Two of my sisters and their families are avid campers, so a few years ago the rest of the family decided to go camping with them. Some of the Iowa parks have cabins, so we have tried out several different parks. They are all nice and cabins wonderful, but usually the camping is at a distance from the cabins.

  This year we went to Yellow Smoke Park by Denison. There are 2 cabins, with a camping spot adjacent to each cabin. So those of us without campers had nice cabins with bathrooms, and my sisters could camp right beside us.

 You might remember those two babies that were born 6 weeks apart last winter....they both went camping with us. They were both really good and loved all the attention they were getting as well.

I'm tired today, and not too ambitious. Hopefully I will pep up here soon. I did get most of the camping laundry done last night, finishing it up this morning.  I finished quilting my mom's quilt on Thursday and have some handwork to do before I put the binding on, so it might be a good day to kick back and do that with a movie. 

Family sewing time and other fun stuff

 I went to Earling to spend some quality sewing time with my sister while she is here from Canada. She started her first quilt last year and wanted to make some progress on it. It looks like she is burning the midnight oil...not quite, but she did get lots done. She is making 15 blue blocks and there will be 15 purple blocks. She had 10 blue blocks finished when I left yesterday, and the rest of the pieces ready and squared for the other 5, just  needs to put them together. I think it will be really pretty when she is finished!

 Mom enjoyed playing with her blocks. She isn't quite up to sewing yet, but she kept us company while we sewed and enjoyed some quilt magazines I brought with me.

Here are her blocks on my faux design wall at her house.

Sharon came and sewed yesterday afternoon. She made and attached bindings to 3 quilts. I forgot to take a picture while she was sewing, or holding a quilt, but here is her basket of goodies. 

A family friend, Jeanine, came a did some knitting and browsing through quilt magazines.

I finished sewing the flat trapezoids on the rest of the Hollow Cube, Too triangles, then started a new Potato Chip quilt. When I made this quilt originally, I made it for someone, so eventually gave it to them. I wanted a new one so I could teach the class again and have my own model. 

On my way to Earling on Wed. I stopped at Stitchin' Tree Quilts in Harlan. She is having some good sales in conjunction with the All Iowa Shop Hop, so I managed to find some goodies there. Then yesterday,  a local craft business was having a good sale, and I scooped up some gorgeous fabrics at a good price. That sale is going on in Earling the next few days, so if you are going to be in the area, email me and I can give you the info. They didn't have lots of fabrics, but what they had are gorgeous. She also has tshirts, purses, jeans, pillow forms, and lots of other goodies. I will take some pix of my fabric purchases later and post tomorrow.

Today I need to figure out which quilts I am taking for the Bluffs Arts Council Quilt show and get them ready to take. We are setting up tomorrow and the show is Sunday. Can't wait to see all the great quilts!