Whirlwind Weekend

Saturday was another all-day sewing retreat. My guild is trying to do them monthly, held in my church, as a good way to gather, socialize, and get stuff done on a smaller scale than at a full weekend retreat. I was blown away with how many people showed up on Saturday! At least 13!! Our previous high attendance was maybe 5, and average is about 3. So you can see why I was totally amazed.

In addition to the 13, we had about 6 people from church show up to help make school bags for worldwide school kit distribution. That fellowship room was humming with activity, fabric, talk, laughs, and productivity. What a happy day!

Nancy from church, using the serger on the school kit bags. She also brought that great antique Singer machine with the rounded wooden carrying case (see on the floor, under the table). Her husband is great at finding treasures at garage and antique sales.

Our youngest helper from church (age 11) and her mom, helping us with the ironing. Thanks for helping the children!!

Bea is a member of my church AND a member of my guild.. a double dipper, like me. She worked diligently on bags and even took some home to finish.


Here's the school bag crew. Thanks, everyone!

Six of us stayed there sewing until 11:00 p.m. - for me that was a 15-hour day. Uffda! It was so much fun that I didn't really get tired until I hit the wall at about 10:30 p.m. Boom! I needed to call it quits. We were all getting a lot done. Here are some samples:

Today, Sunday, I nearly slept through the big events of the morning. Thank goodness Charles woke me up at 9:37 a.m. I had to be at church in 23 minutes. (This is my caveat for why I don't look completely presentable in the pictures.) It's a miracle that I made it in time!

First, I delivered Quilt #22 for Quilts for Leukemia. A three-year old boy has been battling leukemia. A family at my church knows the family and will deliver the quilt to him this week. Oh the little sweetie - I hope he does OK. So young to be fighting such a battle! Please pray for him. His name is Dakota.

Next, it was confirmation Sunday. I have been a mentor to one of the confirmands for the last three years. It has been fun to see how she has grown up so much in that time. I made her a quilt, and it was fun to present that to her today. Her mother gasped, "you made her a quilt?!" I'll admit, I lovelovelove this quilt, and a tiny part of me didn't want to part with it. But it was meant as a gift, and I was happy to give it.. my mentee and her extended family all seemed to love it immediately. They started pointing out the fabrics they liked best, part of what I love about giving away quilts. I think it will be a well-loved quilt.

Here is it in all its glory.

I curled up in it to imbue it with more love before giving it away.

the quilt and its new family

This is the youngest member of our church.

I got to hold her; she was kind of spooked by all the noise and the people.

After church I crashed into bed. I was sooooo tired! I slept for two hours.

Now I'm awake, I think. It's a gorgeous day, and I think I'll take a walk. Haven't done that in ages, because I've had a bum foot that hurts after walking just a few feet, but it seems to be getting better. It's time to get a little more active again.