Sewing Night - Feb 20 2013

We had another big crowd at sewing night!  We're starting to get more organized now.  At least we're not letting the food take over the cutting table!  Took us about a month to figure that out!  LOL

We had a lovely variety of snacks, including some delicious leftover Valentine's Day treats, and some healthy stuff like fruit and veggies and rice cakes.  Later on, Benita brought Spinach Dip in a bread bowl, and fresh bread to dip it in!  Yummy!

I cleaned the table off shortly after this photo was taken, and I'm happy to stay it's still clean!  And finally being used for productive purposes!

I finally decided to give away my baby pink fleece sweater that I made years ago.  I came to the conclusion that it is never going to fit me just right, so I gave it to Allee, who was thrilled with it, and still has room to grow into it.  Her favourite colour is pink!  And isn't Emma looking absolutely adorable?  She's such a sucker for attention.

Sue fixed the bobbin case on my gifted Singer in a cabinet.  None of us could figure it out!  Thanks, Sue!

Nadine brought a pair of her son's pants to repair.  She's getting better!  All this practice is making a difference.  I'm happy to see her progress.  Great job, Nadine!

Some of the girls just come to visit.  That's okay, too!  Sometimes we need a break and just want to hang out.

Every week, there are some kind of shenanigans going on.  This week Avril was the instigator.  She decided to arm wrestle some of the girls.  Round 1: Avril vs. Benita.  

Round 2: Nadine vs. Benita.  Holy Cow, this girl is strong!  Poor Benita has been working out a ton, but she's still no match for Nadine.

Round 3: Nadine vs. Avril.  This was a close race, folks.  They both gave it their best shot and held on for a long while, but at the very last second, Avril came out as the champion.

And believe it or not, these two even started Indian leg wrestling!  I won't embarass them by posting the photos, but let me tell you, it was hilarious!  We have so much fun.  Who cares if we get any sewing done?!

Sewing Night - Feb 13, 2013

This week at sewing night we continued with the epic numbers.  With the addition of Dad, who joined us for a while last week, and Benita's mom, Irene, we had 8 people!

Dad has over 40 years of upholstery experience, so most of this sewing stuff makes perfect sense to him.  He was helping coach for most of the night.  I was disappointed that I didn't manage to get a picture of him holding up this ruffly red satin skirt he was helping Nadine with.  It was too cute.  :P

Dad, Benita (photo bombing, again!), and Nadine

Mother and Daughter, Irene and Benita

Corrin watching Irene fastidiously hand-sewing

 Emily and her mom made some stuffed hearts to give to her teachers for Valentine's Day.

 Dad was coaxed into breaking out his guitar and playing the songs he learned for his recent role as Pecos Bill in a local play.

Notice on the table: Nail polish, Sewing junk, Snacks.  We know how to have a good time!

 The camaraderie and mentoring and sharing and learning continued.  Benita sewed her very first elastic waist!

 I love these busy nights.  They are so much fun!  Sometimes we don't get a lot of sewing done, but I'm starting to notice that that's not the most important part of Sewing Night!

Sewing Nights - Jan 30 & Feb 6

These last two weeks of Sewing Nights have been absolutely epic!  

January 30

 February 6

Sewing Night & Quilting Bee at Church

Sewing Night this week was rather quiet.  There were only 2 of us.  Mom came down to visit, too, but I was the only one sewing.  Since I brought home several projects to do on weekends, I had to pick something else to do.  I saw my Dr. Seuss squares sitting in a pile, and noticed there was a big empty spot on the quilt board, so I starting putting them up.  I had the expertise of 2 pro quilters to help me with the arrangement (Mom and Avril).  This is the result.  I've got all the squares sewn together in rows.  It won't be long now!  I'm excited!  I bought this fabric way back in October 2011.  If you're interested, you can read the original post here.

 Saturday, I went to a quilting bee at church.  It was so much fun!  There were a record number of us there, so everything went very quickly.  We prepped 8 quilts!  I brought 4 home to sew the edges down, then they're ready to be shipped to Mexico!

Since we've almost used up all the quilt tops that we had, Jane spent the day sewing squares together to make more.

 These girls laid out new squares to be sewn into quilt tops.

 I was thrilled to see Ken today (center).  He's hasn't been well, so he didn't join us for choir this season. He usually sits next to me, and he is such a sweetheart!  I missed him terribly!  It was great to hang out with him today.  I miss his corny jokes.  "I see, said the blind man as he stepped off the pier."  :D

 Here I am diligently folding the edges to make our "binding".  

 Oh what fun we had!  I had to get a picture of this.  I looked over and cracked right up.  How many ladies does it take to detangle a ball of yarn?  Apparently, four!

I am so blessed to be able to do fun stuff with such great people.  What a great week!