Open Sew

I really enjoy going to open sew at the Adel library once a month.  I like everything about it, but mostly I like being with other people that understand how I feel about quilting.  Now I will admit that there is as much show n tell going on as there is sewing...but even that fuels my inspiration.

This year I am taking advantage of the space that is available at Open Sew to do some of the bigger projects for Iowa Comfort.

Yesterday I took a throw, twin and full size quilt and applied the binding to each of the  tops.  So much easier to do it there.  My sewing table at home butts up to two walls, so at home there is a lot of stuffing and fluffing.  At open sew there are no obstructions and as I feed the quilt through the sewing machine, it just fall off the edge of the table and gravity helps feed the quilt. 

AND LUCKY me, after I got the binding applied to the first top... the quilting fairy came to visit.  Celia took the top and machine stitched down the binding for me!  Can I get an OOHH AAHH! (oops wrong group) but suffice it to say that I was one happy camper.  She even volunteered to do the other two...but I just plain felt guilty about that.  I do need hand work to keep me busy at night or I fall asleep at 8:00 and then I am up at 3:00 am.  Fonzie is just a little noisy at that time in the morning. :-)  

The rest of the day was spent piecing backings together for future Iowa Comfort quilts.

Over the last year I have saved the left over pieces from previous backings.   I spent the afternoon squaring those pieces up, marrying them to a similar fabric and creating a backing that I can use on those Hope Quilts that we kitted back in September.  I managed to piece together the first 10 backings.  We have about 25 of those little tops ready to put together and I want to make sure that I am ready to quilt them once they are put together.

It was a productive day and more important is was a fun day!  I needed to be around the hum of other productive people.  

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!