Thursday, January 29, 2009

Sewing Day

Its a beautiful day outside on Kauai today, but then again, most days look like this. Even in mid-winter. We don't have snow day excuses to stay inside and sew all day--we just have to do it anyway, in spite of the weather. Tough life, eh?

Here's Anne, hard at work on her project:

Here's Mary at her Featherweight, and Roberta's blurry hand:

We made Pink Penguin's fabulous baskets! My friends really liked the one I made from this tutorial, and they wanted to make some, too. I love how different they all came out.

Mr. Bigglesworth supervised from his spot in front of the slider:


After Paige made her basket, she worked on her UFO--a half-square log cabin project that I taught at Kapaia Stitchery...what...a couple years, ago, Paige? But we're not keeping track. Ahem.



Besides...why would you want to rush this?:



Neat, huh? I love the colors...the turquoise really "pops" this one. Jo and Paige played with layouts on the design wall. I think they decided on this layout (I have NO idea what the layout "rule" was on this one...), so Paige needed to make more blocks.

A group basket shot. Say "cheese"!:

They're all so happy! These are so adorable--you just HAVE to make one. Baskets by me, Roberta, Paige, Mary and Anne.

Jo had a different basket plan:

She embiggened her basic basket plan and put handles and a flap on. Nice, huh? Her fabric selections are always so elegant.

Since I had already made two baskets the previous week, I worked on something else, too:

I didn't know I could doodle/quilt daisies! These aren't too bad. Funny what you can accomplish when you just dive in and do it. It's not perfect, but that's how I like things (as you know). I got this much done:

Is is a basket? A tote? A trash can? A feed bag? A pillow? I'll show you the finished project in my next post.

We all decided that we need to do more sewing this year. We let other activities get in the way of getting together--and that isn't good. Our next sewing day will be in a couple of weeks...right, ladies? 2009 is the Year of Sewing, right? We promised. Sounds great to me.


15 comments:

MichelleB said...

A lovely day! We were in Kauai in April, and your shot makes me want to back! Wonderful and fun sewing fabrics. And sewing with friends - even better.

Browndirtcottage said...

wow....what a 'wonderful' day you gals had......great projects and I'm sure lots of fun!!

Salem Stitcher said...

Looks like a great day with great company. My bee is leaving tomorrow for a weekend quilting retreat and I can't wait. I plan on machine quilting about 400 quilts.

Cathi said...

The first picture in this post is just glorious -- and I'm typing this after looking out on our roof garden that is absolutely covered in close to a foot of snow!! Do you need a northern sister or anything? LOL

Looks like you had a fabulous day. It must be heavenly to create in such a gorgeous atmosphere!

Anonymous said...

Wow, Wow and wow! You are so talented ladies there! I would like to come to sew with you!!! Not to talk about seeing those lovely sceneries... You have made very beautiful baskets and quilts!!! I can hardly wait to see your project finished!!!

Paige Talvi said...

Okay, the log cabin quilt is more like six years old...I just got tired of looking at it so I put it away and did something else. The great thing about setting aside a project is that now it feels new and the bonus is that I have a lot less work to complete it. And, I've learned how to chain stitch so I complete about 10 blocks in an hour instead of one block at a time! Thanks, Lisa for all the great projects and inspiration to finish them!

Dionne said...

embiggened?! LOL Is that a word? I am going to have to make sure to use it at least once a week!! It looks like you had such a wonderful time! I'll be on the big island in the next couple of weeks and I hope there is a quilt shop around. I love those bags and one of these days I'll have to start one of my own.
Cheers,
Dionne
PS - By the way, Mr. Bigglesworth looks completely cozy! and I love the log cabin, it's looking great.

Anonymous said...

I plan to make some of those little baskets too. They're too cute to resist.
You poor girl with all that Kauai weather. ;D

ladydi said...

Love the baskets! Looks like a fun sewing day with friends. I especially like the embiggened one. :>}

Rhonda said...

Hi Lisa,
Welcome back to blogland!
What a wonderful day.... love those baskets.
Love that first photo too.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful sewing day with friends! There is absolutely nothing better!

Dawn said...

Hang on. I've got plane tickets all lined up so I can join your wonderful sewing day! Can you just keep everyone there until I get there??? *grin*

Your projects are so lovely and rats! why can't I quilt such pretty daisies like yours?

Sooooo glad to hear you loved the crochet thread!

susan said...

love the doodled daisies, on your bernina or quilting machine? i dont recognise the green railing, where in your house is that. i miss sewing in your living room, sewing room, whatever. looks like everyone had a grand time. that monster bag is scarry and your new bag for mailings is great! so glad you are back.

Anonymous said...

Okay...it's Jo Anne here...the one with the "embiggened" bag...I am "redoing" the handles on the bag...and may just take apart certain parts of the bag. I love big bags...enough to hold my rotary cutting mats, my UFO's, my Bernina case that carries all my sewing supplies, my knitting, my lunch, my water bottle, snacks.......and whatever else I take when I go to quilt at Lisa's. We see each other rarely...and I always feel the urge to bring Lisa "up to date" with everything in my whirlwind of a life. It's always so much fun at Lisa's....one could not even imagine the things we talk about...

Red Geranium Cottage said...

What a fun day!! I wish I could have been there. Sewing in Hawaii what could be better?? Hmmmm I see a red bag in the background. :-)