Baggin' It

Last Wednesday, the Sew-Op open hours support team of Martha McDaniel and Sonja Hakala had the supreme pleasure of welcoming two brand-new-to-sewing sisters, Meredith and Natalie Morhun, to our sunny spot.

The girls, ages 6 and 8, had come to either knit or sew. But as soon as they saw our sewing machines, we were off to fabric land.

Martha and Sonja introduced the girls to measuring out fabric to make two drawstring bags. The girls selected their fabrics from our donations, and two hours later, they were the very-obviously-proud owners of their own bags. Mom Susan reports that the bags are already in use, and have made appearances at show and tell as well as in the halls of the Ray School in Hanover.

We all had a great time. We may be moving along to quilting next!

More Quilts!

Sew Mama Sew isn't the only site to be thinking about Quilts. Care over at Obsessively Stitching is starting a "First Quilt Ever" series.

I've been thinking of making a quilt for some time now. I figured something like the Easy Lap Quilt from Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Carol (Angry Chicken) would be a good start and my daughter would be the beneficiary. I've been slowly collecting fabrics and may be ready to lay them out and see where I'm at.

What projects have you been dreaming about since the Sew-Op opened? Stop on by and get started.

All sewing projects are welcome at the SewOp Open Sewing hours Tuesdays 11-2 and 5-8 and Wednesdays 5-8.

Prettying Up the Place

Have you seen the air conditioning cover being made at the SewOp? It's a lovely work of cooperative quilting art between Sonja and Helen and will hide a sad, built-in air conditioner in the sewing room. Pictures coming soon. The project is like a Round Robin letter, Helen got it started, Sonja added some, Helen added some more, and so on. Each has worked on it during her time at Open Sewing. That's actually a great idea for some other projects. What other things can we work on Round Robin style? Stop in and see the cover and let it inspire a Round Robin or Pretty-up project of your own.

All sewing projects are welcome at the SewOp Open Sewing hours Tuesdays 11-2 and 5-8 and Wednesdays 5-8.

How'd you do?

Darling Petunia completed her pledge to refashion 5 skirts from her pile in a week. Four of them stayed skirts and one was turned into a cute purse.

Elsewhere, Quilting Month II is in progress over at Sew Mama Sew. A month of tutorials and lots of lovely quilts. Plus a weekly contest you can enter simply by commenting on one of the week's posts.

Did you know two of our staff sewists here at the SewOp are quilters? Helen Dicke (Tuesdays 12-2) and Sonja Hakala (Wednesdays 6-8) would be happy to help you get started or solve a problem. We even have plans for a hanging quilt board at the SewOp so you can easily play with patterns and colors. The rest of us may not have quilting expertise but are happy to offer an opinion.

All sewing projects are welcome at the SewOp Open Sewing hours Tuesdays 11-2 and 5-8 and Wednesdays 5-8.