Friday "Sew and Share"

Finally, I am getting to the posting of the pics from last weekend's "Sew and Share" event. Sorry to be so slow but I really had to catch up on some laundry, cleaning and just stuff! We had a fabulous weekend and really got a lot of things done!

I tried something a little different this time, two days of sewing instead of one and one day starting in the afternoon and the next in the morning. This worked well as it allowed stitchers who could come at different times/day be able to participate. I think I'll do that when we meet again next Spring to stitch up a Spring storm of quilts, bags and such!!

Spring is a long way off, though, and fall arrived this past week so the quilts that were finished and the scarves that were made or donated will certainly be welcome to those affected by losses from the Iowa flooding. And then there were Christmas stockings to stitch as no one wants a child to miss the wonder of seeing what is in his or her stocking on Christmas morn.

Here are a few photos from last Friday. I'll post the photos from last Saturday this Saturday. I do hope that makes sense. :-)

Jane, Carol and Adella were the first to arrive just before 1:00 p.m. I was unloading bags full of fabric, fleece, sewing machine, etc. Takes a lot of stuff to sew for a village. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
It didn't take us long to settle in and get going on projects. I set up a table with lots of fabric for quilts, fleece for scarves and hats, and a pile of pre-cut knit Christmas stockings. We were ready to go..............

Here is Jane putting the binding on a quilt top that Kate made at our meeting in July. Another one done!

Adella brought two giant, I mean GIANT, bags of tied quilts made by her neighbor. She's preparing to bind one of the smaller ones. Another one done. She also brought three finished tied quilts that she had made.

Carol is trimming the batting from one of the tied quilts and getting it ready to bind. Another one done.

I brought three plastic bags filled with fleece remnants that I picked up on clearance at JoAnn's and spread them on the table. Here's Darlene choosing colors to coordinate into warm scarves for winter.

While Darlene selected colors, Nancy would measure, mark, and cut two coordinating pieces that could be stitched and tied into cute scarves for kids or adults. They got 14 scarves cut and ready to stitch before they had to leave later Friday afternoon!!

Gretchen was "zipping" (yes that's a pun) right along as she sewed up lots of little humbug (or teepee) bags that will hold personal care items. She picked cheery Mary Englebreit fabrics for the bags and bought colorful zippers to match. Her machine was really humming! Gretchen also knitted several scarves that were added to our collection of items to share.

We took a break for a quick supper of sloppy joes (provided by the Women's Tourist Club-GFW-of Henderson), plus chips, sodas and pumpkin bars. Adella and Carol had to leave to get home to the farms but Gretchen, Joyce and I just kept sewing.

I had started a scarf set from some of the fleece fabrics piled on the table and Gretchen snapped this picture when I finally finished it. I hope someone else looks better in this ensemble than I do! I was pretending to shiver with cold but I think I look more like I am wringing my hands with worry. That's not the case for we were having too much fun talking and laughing while we sewed.

Joyce was also stitching scarves and making her machine hum, too! By the time we "closed up shop" at 8:00 p.m. over a dozen scarves had been stitched and another half a dozen quilts had been finished!! Not bad for a day's work!!

Thanks to all of you who sewed and for the items you brought with you that were finished at home!! I'll post more photos on Saturday and then next week, I'll go out and hang the quilts on the line for individual pictures. Plus, I'll share how the quilts we make here will be part of 2000 quilts that are being collected for the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City flood victims.