Great day even having "Cabin Fever"!

Well, I must say the "Cabin Fever" was a success!

We had some things worked on at home before the event ( 19 Pillowcases by Marilyn alone), but all in all, it was very productive. Here are some of the pillowcases that were done by the end of the day.

We had 13 women show up, and while some had to leave at noon (party animals!- one being my mom at the age of 82!!) and Cricket and Ginny (and son Steve, who I kept calling Scott!- hey, Steve, that's a compliment, since I have two sons in the family named Scott) got delayed by the tractor trailer accident on I-91 in Enfield, they still got a couple of hours in. I even extended it until 4pm. It was even nice to see an old friend, Linda H from my old guild chapter. Thanks for inviting her, Marilyn! Here Linda is showing Donna how to make her first pillowcase.

We had lots of goodies that people brought to share and thanks to Jane P who knew how to set up the coffee machines, we had great coffee. Everyone kind of had their lunches when and wherever they were.

We had some strips already cut before we started. Some donated and some we cut up there. Marilyn's shoulder wasn't doing well after surgery, so she was kind enough to come just to cut 'pillowcase kits' to be ready when we switched over to making them.

After getting some brief instructions on Mary's Strips and Strings Log Cabin pattern, everyone kind of dug in to the strips and started spitting them out. Janet found a lovely bunch of purples and put them together with the cream strips. They came out nice. I think she ended up making 11 blocks (I'm sure we can add one or more to that and put a border on it. I personally have TONS of purple to add.) Cricket and Ginny still had some work to do on their's (12) , although they got 14 done between them that were finished. They will add the 12 to the pile by the NH sew-in  at the end of the month.

Here's Anna getting started.

 Once they started, they found they had to keep track of which color strip to add next. We did take Mary's advise and just 'cut' off the mistaken strip vs. seam ripping it off. Much faster. I did find each table having a sample was beneficial and I even printed off a few copies of the instructions. That helped, too.

Ginny and Cricket gave some great advice to the group regarding the care of our sewing machines which I know I for one, found VERY beneficial!! (I'm a bad woman, I don't think I've ever oiled mine-- the saleswoman said I never had to !!) After the NH Sew-in, I'm sending mine to be serviced!!Jane and her friend Peg had fun, but,... Peg, don't I see you seam ripping??... NIX on that! LOL

I found putting the irons at the ends of the table groups worked out much better than at the far end of the hall.

Janet finally got to the measuring stage... how much more will she need for those last sides? I LOVED her jacket!! Those colors are my favorite.

 

Here is my mom heading off for a birthday party for her 90th yr old 'beau'. ( I heard she had another party on Sunday!! She's more of a party animal than I EVER was !!!!)

Linda's pillowcases were hanging off everywhere, while Peg and Jane diligently worked on log cabin blocks.

I think we ended up with 35 blocks done and trimmed, but Janet had a little more to do for her 11, and Cricket, the same with her and Ginny's 12, I had a little more to do on my 8, so I think we may have ended up with enough for 3 log cabin quilts (24-30 blocks each, if we put borders on them). Hopefully, we'll get them tuned in at the Feb. mtg.

By the end of the day, this is what was left for making pillows. I scooped them all up and may make the rest of them by the weekend, depending on the babysitting schedule. If I can't get them made, I'll have them cut up into kits, so we can sew them at the Feb mtg.