Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Kimmi came to visit! Sewing Night - Apr 24 2013

My cousin Kimmi came out this past week from Manitoba to visit our Grandparents.  I did my darndest to wrangle up as many peeps as I could for sewing night this week, and they all came through!  We were only missing 2.  Not bad!
I found a pattern for making stuffed letter pillows, and Emily started working on a couple letters from her name.  Avril is giving her some guidance.
 Benita came tonight!  As always, she is the life of the party, and Kimmi got a "taste" of her craziness.
 Of course, Avril was all up in that.  :D  These two...honestly.  LOL
 Nadine was as industrious as ever, and I helped her hem the armholes of some sweaters to make them sleeveless.  She's full of great ideas!  How she ended up not being in a picture tonight, I don't know!
 Avril recently went shopping at Quiltessential in St Albert, and she brought her new stash and did some brainstorming.  She doesn't use patterns; she lets the fabric tell her what it wants to become, and she creates them into stunning works of art.  Benita is learning "the process".
 Avril is showing the girls the pressing technique she shared with me at the upholstery shop this week.  We don't have an iron at the shop, so when we occasionally have to press something, we get creative.  This is the method of turning your seam nice and flat, and rubbing it against a sharp corner.  Works like a charm!
 Avril's idea is starting to come together!
 And after a long, hard night of sewing, we started doing our nails.  Benita actually got some tools out and glued some nails on.
 I was thrilled to finally be able to paint my nails after many weeks of seeing them bare.
 Aren't we just the cutest?
I'm so glad we got to show Kimmy one of our busy, fun sewing nights!

Quilting Bee at Church - April 13 2013

We had another quilting bee at church to make blankets to send to Mexico.  
 I had Allee for the weekend and brought her along.  Our fingers got a good workout, and she got lots of practice using pins and needles.
 There weren't as many of us as there were in January, but we still had lots of fun, and managed to finish 8 quilts!  I think we're getting faster!
 Allee did great, and everyone loved her.  They told me to bring her back next month!

Sewing Night - March 27 & April 17

 The last few sewing nights have been fairly quiet.  We've had a small handful each week, and we've been plugging away, working on repairs and various small projects.
 The week leading up to Easter, Emily wanted to make some stuffed bunnies.  I remembered there was a bunny pattern in one of my quilting books, so I got Mom to print me a copy of the pattern, and we attempted to make one.
 We sewed up the arms as legs as directed, but it was a bit tricky, because the body/head of the bunny is supposed to be at least twice this size.  It was a tight squeeze, but I managed to sew it all together!  Kinda makes me wish we still had that big old photocopier we had several years ago.  Oh well.  Our disproportioned bunny still looks kinda cute!
Allee has been sewing up a storm!  She decided she wanted to make PJ shorts, and I guided her through the first pair, and since then she's cut out and sewn 2 more!  She's a natural, and she absolutely loves it.  The fun part is, she doesn't like it when I "hover" when she's sitting at the machine.  She shoos me away, then totally gets into the zone.  I can't wait to see how she progresses!  The best part is, she's helping me get my sewing mojo back, because I'm realizing how quick and easy some of these projects are, and it just makes me want to whip out a pattern and make something!