Another fun family sewing day!

I went to Earling yesterday for another family sewing day. We didn't have as many sewers this time as 2 of my nieces had to work, but we still had fun and got lots accomplished. 

 Mom's quilt was started a few years ago. She got the pattern from my sister and the fabric from me for Christmas. She had it sewn into rows when she came yesterday, and got busy pinning them and sewing the rows together. As you can see, it's a quilt center now!

 Hmmm...now to figure out the borders!

My niece, Ashley, has worked on cutting and prepping her T-shirt blocks the past couple of sewing days. After prepping a few last minute additions, she was ready to decide on a layout and cut sashings. Her large Ashley block still needs some fabric added to it lengthwise to make it fit in with the other blocks, but we decided to start sashing to help figure out what color/ type of fabric to use. She has leftover t-shirt backs she could use. Or maybe a cute fabric. So we put that on hold for the time being.

Finally! she was sewing!Once she got started, she couldn't stop! 

Her sashing fabric is a charcoal with black dots.

Unfortunately, she was introduced to our friend, the seam ripper, for the first time. She learned how to use a new tool yesterday, too!

When I left about 4:00, she had many of the sashings sewn in between the blocks. She stayed and sewed with Sharon for a few hours after that and finished sewing the sashings in between the blocks and sewed a sashing row as well. She really seems to enjoy it, especially when she actually got to sew! She is going over during her son's nap today and Sharon will help her add to the Ashley block to make it fit in. I can't wait to see it!

Ashley brought her son along and he played happily all day. So it was sort of a 4 generation sewing day, even though he didn't sew. Maybe next time!

Since Sharon had started her Modern Cathedral Windows Pillow over the weekend, she had one pillow top finished and another one about half finished when I got there. She quickly finished it and decided to put a narrow background border around each one to help the outer ring of circles stand out. 

She made envelope backs for both pillows. (here is one ready to sew together. 

 They both turned out so pretty and match the jelly roll race quilt she made on the last sewing day. It's tied and bound and ready to snuggle with.

 Last time we got together, I showed her how to make the Quilted Boxy Corner Pouch, and she has been making them ever since. Here are a few she has made.

 I forgot to take a picture of all of them. She gave each of us one. She spent the rest of the afternoon making more of them....until....

I had taken my copy of the Cultural Fusion Quilts book to show everyone and Sharon immediately wanted to try out a Peppermint Pinwheels block from the book. She cut one out before I left and later sent me this picture. Yea, she's my sister.

 You might remember Deb's Jelly Roll Race quilt from the last sewing day. Since her previous quilt took about 5 years, this one is moving right along. She chose two fabrics for her borders, cut both, sewed the strips together and got the first one sewn on and pressed.

Deb learning the value of pinning borders! 

 Her teal border is ready to sew on now and it will be a finished top. She told us yesterday that she wants to make pillows next. We all know that you are definitely a quilter when you are planning your next project while working on one.

In between helping them, I got the pockets made and pinned in a working model of the Super Tote I started before I taught the class. I want to get it finished now.

We also celebrated my birthday...Sharon made a yummy Cinnamon cake and Deb and Ashley made a delicious fruit pizza. It was really a fun day. We are going to try to get together again in February. 

Prepping odds and ends

I love it when quilters bring in their finished quilts from my classes....this king size T-shirt quilt is a good example. Plus I get to hear the story behind the finishing. 

I've been doing a little prep cutting and sewing for my Circle and Spin Plus class this weekend. I love this effortless way to make circular patterns. I've taught the Circle and Spin class many times, but this is the first time to teach it with two sizes of circles. I made this version for my daughter several years ago, but had never updated the pattern. 

It will be fun to see what fabrics the students choose to use for this one...wonder if they will choose fabrics so as to make "hot spots" like I did? I love this pattern made using batiks because of the blending possibilities, but it's pretty made out of other fabrics as well. 

I've been working on some plans for my small group's next challenge. We meet tomorrow night so we'll see what they think of it then.

Wendy's Circle and Spin Plus

T-shirt class

 I had a great time yesterday helping people get started on their T-shirt quilts. It's always fun to see the different shirts and figuring out the challenges to using what people have. Sometimes the shirts are smaller, or  they have pockets that the quilters want to leave on. A few holes here and there, since everyone wants their favorite shirts to be included in the quilt!

 I didn't get many pictures, but it was a busy day and the time flew by. We added to shirts that were too small, we pieced smaller emblems together to make one block...we did lots of creative things with t-shirts!

There are lots of ways to incorporate tshirts in a quilt, but I always teach using this design. It's versatile, and I like the way the sashings accentuate the different quilt blocks. 

After class my daughter and  I went to my hometown for a birthday party for a friend...had a great visit with family and friends! 

Finished hexie pillows and tshirt quilt class....

Here are pictures of my finished hexie pillows. They were fun and quick to make. I used the HexNMore ruler which made it simple to cut out the hexies and the triangles.

I want to make a couple more projects using this ruler...she is coming out with some more patterns soon.

I put envelope backs on these pillows. The pattern directions do feature this, but I would've done it anyway. I don't like to wash the pillows, and it's so easy to slip them out and wash the covers this way.

Saturday's T-shirt Quilt class went well. There were some quilting newbies in class, and they did very well! I didn't pictures of all of them but here is a sampling.

The new quilters seemed to enjoy the process, so I think we might be seeing more quilts from them!

My sister Nancy came in last night from BC, Canada for an extra long holiday stay. She normally comes for about 3 weeks before Christmas, but wanted to come early this year to help our parents a bit. Mom has one chemo treatment left, thank goodness, but has been pretty worn out so it will be good to have her here to help them. So we are looking forward to some fun family gatherings ahead!

T-shirt quilt class, panic and the unbelievable

I taught the T-shirt Quilt class yesterday...it went very well. It's always fun to see the different shirts everyone has.

I just about had a panic attack first thing, though,  when 2 of the power outlets didn't work. I had class in there Tuesday, and they worked, so not sure what happened. So I got the manager, she checked the circuit breakers, couldn't find anything wrong. When I went back, another outlet had quit working! (Not sure if that was from her playing with the breakers or what??) So out of 5 outlets in the room, only 2 worked. I had 7 ladies coming, all of them would need irons! They were starting to arrive and I was screaming in my head by now! (Ever had that happen? you are trying to appear calm on the outside, while on the inside you are screaming?) The mgr. found two orange power cords and I have 3 power strips. I have had problems in the past when we have so many irons plugged that we flip the circuit breakers, so I was worried about the others going with so much plugged into them. We found an outlet outside of the room, in close proximity and used it for one of the power cords.  Two of the ladies ended up already having the fusible interfacing ironed on to theirs, so that helped too...only needed 5 irons. By the time anyone was sewing, we just unplugged irons and plugged in machines. So the day ended up going well.

You won't believe this, though...I didn't take one picture! That class is pretty hectic with everyone doing their own thing at their own speed, that I just forgot! All of a sudden it was time for class to end! The above picture is a T-shirt quilt I made my son-in-law.

Show and Tell: T-shirt and other glorious quilts...

 The T-shirt class is always fun...taking old, sometimes pretty worn out favorites and making them into quilts. Tracy had a little bit of all of her favorites in her quilt....not pictured are her concert Tees. You'll notice her shirt to announce her daughter's birth in the center.

 Pat is so nice, she is making a quilt for her friend out of her friend's husband's shirts. Love the Old Dude shirts!

Vicky is making this one out of her husband's shirts for him. Nice to see so many colors in this one!

 Cindy brought her retreat Twister quilt to show the class I taught what you can do with solids! She finished hers off with a special twister border.

 Betty just got her Centrifuge Sampler quilt back from the quilter, so was showing it off!

 Dianne got her St. Marks Quilt finished this week. She used her leftover diamonds in the border.

 Betty also got her St. Marks Quilt finished this week...she cut her leftover diamonds into little slanted pieces and sewed them back together. A lot of work, but it paid off!

Jane made a Mini Twister quilt out of some of the same fabrics she made the Twister out of. She wanted to try cutting, but not on her big quilt. Then she cut out some kids prints and made a child's Twister quilt...

I am lucky to have so many talented students!

T-shirt quilt class & Cottage swap party

Everyone came back to the T-shirt class yesterday ready to put them together, so they got a lot finished.

The party after to show and tell the cottage blocks went well too. It gave them a chance to see what others were doing with theirs and hopefully get some inspiration. One lady had her top finished, and several had been working on getting their rows together.

We had a drawing for a batik jelly roll donated by the store and 3 quilt patterns donated by Darlis, at Quiltinghorizon.com, so some even left with prizes!

Cindy is thinking of having her cottages on a yellow brick road....

Darlene really got creative with her trees. One of her swap partners made a church!

I have too many pictures to post here so will post the rest of the party pictures to my flickr page, the link is in the sidebar.