Seven Day Sewing Report

I spent last Sunday sewing with my quilting buddies the Brown Baggers. We hired Carl Schaffer, aka the Sewing Machine Guy to come for the day and clean some of our sewing machines. Our annual sewing week in the Berkshires is coming up and I wanted my machine to be clean and ready. Carl is a traveling sewing machine repairman. I've used him before and he does a really nice job. So check out his website: http://www.fixitcarl.com if you live in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Connecticut.

This is what my Bernina 1260 looks like on the inside.

Marion won the prize for the dirtiest sewing machine, but after all, that's why we hired Carl!

Sally showed us a new use for foam earplugs. I didn't know that you could buy them by the jar!

She is using straight pins to pin baste her quilt top and she is sticking a foam earplug on each tip
so she doesn't get nicked by a pin. Double click on the photo for a larger view.

Best of all, Marion and I finished the top of our enormous, commissioned t-shirt quilt!
Our friend Kim P. is going to machine quilt it for us.

Kim P. made these cute little bags for her Mom as a Mother's Day gift. It is a Terry Atkinson pattern
called Brigid's Bagettes. They have a clear vinyl front so you can see what is inside. They are super cute.

Joannie came over to sew on Monday night. She put the finishing touches on a tote bag that is a donation for Sadie's Dream for a Cure. I will be posting more about this organization soon.

I was working on some pink place mats for my friend Dianne at work. The pattern is called Fine Dining and it is from Pieced Tree Patterns. Dianne and I are exchanging services--she is painting some cool stuff for my quilt studio and I am making her some quilted items.

Dianne has a pink dining room, so she requested pink place mats.
I think they are very pretty!

On Tuesday night I was itching to get into my quilt studio and work on some little zipper bags as a birthday gift for my friend Linda. Unfortunately, I was thwarted by the evil quilting fairy who hid my pattern from me. I spent almost two hours looking for it and although I did find it (along with many other bag patterns that I had forgotten about), by then it was too late to start working on it. I was quite annoyed, to say the least. I have put the pattern in a very safe place so that it is hidden from the evil quilting fairy.

On Wednesday, Mike and I usually have a date night. This past week, I made an appointment so that we could meet with our insurance agent to review our homeowners coverage. Sorry Mike, it was not an especially exciting date night. Sometimes being a responsible grownup is so boring. We did get to enjoy a late dinner at our favorite local Greek restaurant in Dedham Square.

On Thursday night, I met up with the Thursday Girls. I am working on a quilt for my friend Eleanor that I hope to finish in time for Christmas. I don't have any photos of the quilt in progress but it is a Trip Around the World design made out of hand dyed fabrics in shades of blue, green, and purple. I promise to show you a photo soon.

Judi made this very cool comic book quilt as a high
school graduation gift for her granddaughter.

She made the quilt back with all of her left over fabric.

I didn't do any sewing on Friday, but I did get another piece of camera fabric in the mail for my Dad's quilt. My Dad loves to take pictures, so I've decided to make him a camera quilt. I'm having a lot of fun collecting the different fabrics. I have nine different ones so far. Let me know if you see one that I don't have!

On Saturday I spent a couple of hours doing some cleaning and organizing in my quilt studio. I am proud to report that you can see the top of the cabinet again. I purposely did NOT take any photos. Joannie came over for a few hours in the afternoon and hemmed some curtains for her Mom. I worked some more on Dianne's place mats.

We had a home-made dinner with Mike's sister and her family for Mother's Day. Hope that all of my friends had a Happy Mother's Day.

Mom--you are the best Mother in the whole world!

Pugs and kisses,
Nan