It's Quilting Bee Day!

My sewing room is in tornado mode as I get ready for my quilting bee tonight.

I meet once a month with a fun group of ladies, most of whom I knew from guild years ago. I had quit the guild when our 7 year old was born, for a variety of reasons, and just after our youngest was born I ran into one of the bee ladies in JoAnn's. She invited me to this bee and told me all about a retreat they do once a year. I was so excited!

Some months I bring handwork along, which is much easier than transpoting everything to machine sew. In fact, until I got my machine case recently, I rarely took my machine anywhere as it was too difficult to safely transport.

Last month, my time was limited at the bee as my kids had somewhere they wanted to go, so I just brought handwork along. The month before, I brought my machine, even got there a little early to set up (we meet in a church) and was so excited...until I realized I'd left my power cord at home. ugh. One lady's daughter had come and was going to run out and get her food at a place near my house, she offered to pick it up which was great! But it took 45 minutes :( During that time I got a chance to visit though, so my spirits were still high. My plan for that day was to sew the final seam on a bunch of blocks, then assemble the top. It was set on point with an interesting layout. I sewed my seam, pressed my blocks and got ready to lay it all out (there's a nice big, open are just outside the room we sew) only to realize I'd also left the pattern at home. ugh again.

Thankfully I had brought along a second batch of blocks that were nearly finished, on the outside chance that I finished that top, so I was still able to sew until it was time to leave!

When I bring my machine along, I try to have a bunch of work ready to go. Either the cutting all finished or pinning, if that's next. Both current piecing projects are paper pieced, so I'll spend my day pinning on the next piece so I can set up and dive in. The projects combined have over 300 blocks, so it will take quite a while (perhaps even more time than I'll have) to sew those up, cut them apart, take out the pins and press them. Being my usual overly optimistic self, I'll have my iron and portable ironing surface along with the boxes of pieces and my pins just in case I get to the next piece.

In addition to getting ready for my bee today, I'll be babysitting a friend's kids for the afternoon. It will likely mostly be my daughters job to watch them as she's babysitting to earn money this summer, but if she has other plans, I'll be doing it. This can work for or against me, sometimes it helps to keep my own little ones busy allowing me lots of working time, sometimes it just means chaos and it will be hard to finish my planned tasks.

In any case, I'll have 3 hours, out of the house, with grownups, to sew. I have 5 1/2 hours to ready my blocks, get myself ready, pack up, and make dinner so I'd better skedaddle.

I know I'll be having a happy quilty day, I hope the same for you :)