Friends are fabulous. And when your friends actually like each other, it's ten times better. Do you all have any friends with whom you can spend an afternoon sewing, gabbing, snacking and just enjoying one another with sewing machine and irons in the room?
For the most part I have yet to break out of my shell among the quilters I've gotten to know out here. There are certainly a few I call friends at this stage, but the people I socialize with most frequently are not part of the quilting community.
In time I've learned that most of my close girl friends DO, however, sew. But not as often as they'd like. In comes Linda with a centrally-located sewing studio space, multiple sewing machines, a mini-fridge (courtesy of last year's birthday present from my awesome boyfriend), and a desire to share it all (except awesome boyfriend). So 4 of us coordinated a sewing day weeks in advance, with one member traveling close to 150 miles and 2 pre-toddlers expected. And they are all people I met at various stages in time, through various venues, who happen to really like one another. Lucky me.
BUT... it was not meant to be as planned. Flu, school projects, doctor's appointments stepped in so we postponed.
Instead, Lady J and I had a mini-sew day. And we both got some s&%# done! I should have taken a pic of her wearing her brand new skirt which she stitched up from each individual piece to finished hem this afternoon. Dang! But I did get photos of the pillow covers I finished up. Something I've been wanting to branch out into and finally am making that move.
The pillow forms are the wrong size, but hopefully you get the idea.
Envelope back may get a button or two on it, just to make sure...
I also had a brainstorm about what to do with "scraps" from the Insul-Bright batting roll I have. When I cut pieces for pot holders, I end up with bits that are about 5" wide at the end of each row. And of course I've kept them hanging around even though I didn't know if I'd ever actually find a use for them. But being in my sewing room with Lady J it hit me. She was with me when I found my 10" cast iron pan at an antique mall in Sellwood and we've discussed the usefulness of a handle cozy for such pans, but I never got around to trying to make one. That is now changed.
Not having the measurements I wasn't sure if it would fit. Turns out, I could probably get two cozies from one 9" length if I'm aiming for the cast iron pans. But if we work with my Calphalon...
... looks like an almost perfect fit. Crazy. Glad to have the inspiration of my girl friend to lead me in this direction! And also felt good to get some things done in the company of another. No streaming TV, not too much spacing out staring at the design wall daunted by the number of impending projects, just DOING. And chatting. Hopefully next time we'll have the full guest list in attendance, though.
But until then, my studio welcomes the curious, the motivated, any company that wishes to drop by.