three on two

It's a bit crowded in the sewing room this summer. Three girls using two machines (and a serger) working on 10+ projects = stuff everywhere!!

Thing 1 is currently apprenticing/interning with a local custom seamstress/tailor while she is home on summer break from college. She works at the woman's home a couple of days a week doing a variety of alterations there and also brings work home with her. Her "home work" these days is constructing five custom fitted men's dress shirts - that's one hanging on the back of the chair. She's got three down, and two to go.

Thing 2 and I are working jointly on two quilts for Project Night-Night, the charity that my quilt guild has chosen to support this year. It's a wonderful organization that distributes comfort packages containing a quilt/security blanket, an age-appropriate book, and a stuffed animal to children ages 0-10 in homeless shelters across the country. You can read more about their program here.

She's working on the layout for our second quilt here. I had three packages of these charm squares in my stash, as well as the two already-pieced blocks. The finished top should measure about 50" x 60", and I'll post photos of our progress as we work toward our finish goal of August 11. She prefers to quilt and I prefer to piece so we make a great team!

If you've been counting, that leaves 3+ projects that I haven't accounted for... Last week Thing 2 finished a new soft cover for her laptop computer (so cute!!), and in June she made a messenger bag for our vacation. I'll get her to pose for photos with those items for another post with pattern details.

That leaves my projects. I'm still working on my Border Challenge quilt - the final border background fabric choice is stumping me, and without a looming deadline, it's slipped downward on the priority list. I've also started sewing a queen-sized bed quilt for my mom - Amish With a Twist (the first version) in the lighter colorway on a cream background. And my Tree of Life is back from the quilter(!) so I'm stitching the binding to the back one or two lengths of thread at a time.

So yes, it's a tad crowded in that little room (and sometimes very hot!), but we are all making progress with our projects and having a grand time being together :) Even though (at least) one of us is usually crabbing about somebody else leaving their "stuff" in our spot!