A day of sewing with friends
 

Yesterday had a day of sewing with friends...we had 9 of us all gathered in one living room...5 of us with machines...the rest doing hand work...had delicious soup and chili and lots of to go withs and a delicious cake for dessert. It was the first sewing day for us of the year. Always so much fun to gather and sew, laugh, eat....it really helped me as I have been in a slump and am really hoping this well have helped me get out of it.

Many months we rent out a nearby facility for a Friday evening and all day Saturday sewing session...eating, etc. We hadn't had a sewing day since October and were really bummed when we found out that where we usually go was booked for the day we wanted. We have February through May booked, as well as September through November. I love having those days to look forward to.

We also gather every Friday evening for a few hours of friendship and sewing and of course a dessert.

Does anyone else have a group of friends that you get together with on a regular basis to sew with?

wow, that sounds like fun. wish we could do that at least once a week around here.

Been trying to find a group in my area to do this. Last month another quilter and I got together to gossip and sew. So much fun!!

Sounds as if you had a wonderful time with great friends!!

I was so glad when I found a group of quilters at my local library. We meet every Friday from 1pm to 3pm.

Yes having sewing buddies is absolutely the best! We have about 15 in our group. Actually we are outcasts from the quilt guild in our area. We have a blast when we get together. We schedule our sew days once a month. 6 of the gals have enough room to accomodate a large group. Usually on sew days not all of us are together but the group is usually 6 to 8 of us. We also have birthday celebrations for all of us. We all belong to different types of BOM clubs. We go on shop hops together, quilting retreats, classes and just about anything else imaginable.
We make lots of quilts and give them away to people in the community that need them. We actually look forward to our quilt stash getting used so that we can "have a good reason" for buying more fabric and sewing. But there is something so much more important.
If one in our group has a personal problem, WE ALL have this problem. One of our members daughter was suddenly hospitalized. But that mother was never alone. We figured a schedule among us all that at least one of us were with her at all times. That was OUR daughter.
My father in law passed away Dec. 23 2012. All 15 of "my girls" were with me at the visitation and the next day for the services. Their support got me thru that terrible time.
Right now, one of us is in the process of trying to get her niece out of the foster system. (long horrible story) But she and her husband had a court hearing for their character. We all showed up at court. It was quite the sight to see all these women show up with husband's and children in tow. It must have made an impression with the court because we have temporary custody pending home studies. In fact, one of those home studies happened when our sew day was at her house. The case worker came in and was totally shocked! We had a group of 10 that day, and in the middle of us all was this child setting at a machine sewing, giggling and having a blast. The girl is 13. The case worker asked the girl "So how's your home life?" Not missing a beat the girl responds with "I am a member of 15 families! They all love me. How can a kid go wrong with that!"
Sorry to have gotten so windy in this reply but I wanted everyone to know just what a blessing a "sewing group" can be.

We have a group of about 12 and meet once a month. We rotate hosting duties among the ladies who have homes large enough to accommodate a large group. I'm pretty much the newbie in our group and I always appreciate the helpful suggestions and advice of the more experienced quilters. They have been a God-send to me!

:) I belong to a small bee of 10 quilters that meets twice a month, once on a Saturday mid-month to eat/sew/visit and once later in the month to eat out and visit -- summers are a bit different as the teachers in the group are out of school and we meet more often-- the group has been meeting for many years with newbies joining from time to time -- it's fun and inspirational, a great group!!

Yes, we met through QB and are actually getting together on January 31st for our first of this year gathering. We will have soup, bread and dessert as we sew on whichever project we choose. This year we are making row robins with a beach theme having the first row due in February. It will be a wonderful day sharing and sewing.

that sounds like a great day.I wish we had enough sewers/quilters here in the boonies to do that.usually it is my daughter,grand daughter and myself.a few more would make it awesome

Your group sounds so special! I too belong to a group of quilters. There's about fifteen of us. One of the woman has a big addition off her kitchen where we gather to quilt. We have coffee and snacks and just quilt away! I don't know what I would do without my quilting sisters.

I also belong to a group, there is 7 of us ,6 all live in the same town our 7th member moved 6 hours away, but joins us when she can.
Over the summer months, we take our hand sewing to the beach every Wednesday, lounge around talk,laugh, and do a little sewihg.
We each put $10 in and the birthday girl gets $60 to spend how ever she likes, in return,she supplies the birthday cake.
We also put in $1 each per week for a lotto ticket, we all dream of winning millions and the fabric we would be able to purchase
( dreams are free
We help each other if it is a sewing problem,health,family or anything else, of course we swap receipes, recently one of our girls had her daughter, SIL and twins returning from UK, and she didn't have any cot/crib quilts, we made two in a day and theses were not panels, all quilted and delivered, she cried when we presented her with two matching quilts for her twins.
I love to sew, I love sewing with my friends

I do but much smaller. Over the last 8 years of so I have been meeting with people at my home on thursday nights. We have also gone over night or just for the day to quilt conventions together, shop hop, quilt exhibition, quilt run (aka fabric shopping) or other activities. I have hosted quilt retreats with sleep overs or just for the day as have some of the participants. Right now there are just 5 of us.

That sounds like sooooo much fun!!! Thanks for sharing.

I sew with friends every Wednesday afternoon and every other Monday evening. We sew, talk, laugh and eat cake. We have helped each other through good times and bad.

We have a group of eight that meets at a quilt shop once a month. We wanted to get together to sew, but no one really had enough room to set up eight machines, so I checked with my favorite quilt shop and we were welomed with open arms. We started out bringing a crockpot of soup, salad and fruit, but after about a year, we decided it would be so much easier to just order out. Sometimes I will pick up a tray of subs from a local grocery store that makes delicious subs, but most of the time we just order out. A few of us travel about 35 minutes to get there, the rest are local gals. We have so much fun just chatting and sewing. Some gals bring hand work, some bring machines. We often have one or another have a "class" to teach us all a new pattern or technique. Such a relaxing day, lots of inspiration, and tons of laughs! I highly recommend it!

We have a stitch and share group that meets every Wednesday afternoon. It's a break off group from our larger guild and any guild member is welcome to attend. We usually have 15-20 out and spend a couple of hours, sharing projects, discussing, stitching, working out quilt dilemmas, and eating a great dessert with tea and coffee. It's a gathering of some great ladies with a lot of life experience and quilt expertise willing to share what they have and know. It's a wonderful group and provides a great deal of support in so many situations.

Sounds like fun!!

I really need to become involved with a group of sewing buddies. That will be my one goal for this year.

I found a small group of ladies who meet every Tuesday at the library to quilt and stitch, knit and crochet. We also are doing some quilts for vets and walker totes for folks that need them. It's so much fun with these ladies, so glad I found them! Everyone is so helpful and the time just flies!

Seven of us meet on Tuesday afternoons at our leaders house. She used to have a crafts store and we all took classes from her and when she retired we decided we still wanted to be with her and do "stuff" we painted, and painted some more, did all sorts fo crafts and we were making stained glass pavers when our leader said lets try quilting? Four of these women had never sewn a stitch in their lives......so off they went and bought sewing machines, inexpenive ones from WalMart cause they did not think they would be doing this long, then some material and we have been steadly quilting for several years now. I would not trade this group of wonder women for anything, they get me through the rest of the week and make my life so rich.

Every week we have snacks and each one takes turns bringing whatever they wish for that. I took cinnamon rolls the last two times, my daughter makes them and they say that's all you need bring. I took some cheese and crackers to go along with them last time and they were not touched. DD surely makes delicious buns and we are all addicted to them.

I hope that each of you will be able to find a few friends to quilt with on a regular basis. We do not have a guild, just friends getting together doing what we love. We do not have dues or contests or rules and regulations. It is such a wonderfully fun thing and I am blessed to have these ladies in my life.

delma from North Central Florida

I belong to a group from my guild that formed because we six all like to fabric shop, buy the new things, try new techniques, go and do as much as possible. We meet once a week for all day sewing and plan trips to check out what's new at the quilt stores that are within a two hour drive. My guild has an open sew day once a week so if I'm not keeping my grandson those days, I go to those. Before I started keeping him, I went to sew days, classes, and workshops two or three times a week. This little boy has cramped my style! LOL He's so worth it.

I have a group of friends that meet once a month. We don't all quilt, but we all have a handicraft that we do. I have taught a 'stack 'n whack' quilt block at one of these meetings. We have also learned beading, knitting, crochet and lots of other crafts. One of the ladies taught us how to make sweat shirt jackets. We also sew for local charities. We have tons of fun then go out to eat.
We have a luncheon at Christmas time & invite our husbands.

I am part of a group who meets at church one afternoon/evening a week. The facilities are wonderful and we are very close to lots of retaurants so we usually stop at 5 and go for supper. Some ladies meet at 3 and continue on till 8 or 8:30. Others come for supper at 5 and then stay till 8. Some just come to sew and don't go to supper but we all have a great time. I think we need "encouragement" from other quilters and the fellowship is so good for all of us.

Sewing with small group of friends is wonderful. I meet with one small group on the first Monday of each Monday and another one on the 2nd Tuesday. We are very honest in our evaluation of each other's work--not critical, but helpful. I have learned a looooottt in these sessions. Makes quilting even more fun!

The blessing of sisters of the heart & art is a treasure beyond compare! How wonderful that you have all found each other and are there for each other! Happy stitching<3!

So true! Our group meets almost every month, sometimes at a local community center for Fri afternoon & evening & all day Sat. Three or 4 times a year we go to a retreat house for 3 or 4 day & sleep in the dorm rooms. We are all at different levels of sewing & differnet project interest but we have so much fun together & it is energizing.

My LQS does a once a month 'open sew', which I try to attend (when life does not get in the way). Also 5 of us sewing buddies get together a few times a year, for the weekend, at one of the gals coast property.

I love the times to share, vent, learn and just visit. Sewing at home is good, but once and awhile one 'need's' that gathering time. ;)

A lady in our church started a once a month group to make quilts for our graduating seniors. It happened to be on the same day as our crocheted group. That was about 1 1/2 yrs ago. We now meet every week in her home and we are called 'Hands to the Spindle'. 1st week is reserved for crochet/ knitting or any kind of handwork, 2nd week is the day we work on the seniors' quilts, 3rd is bring your own project day and the last week is for the BOM we started. We are a small group-6 at the most, but we are all friends and go to the same church. Last fall we had a retreat at one lady's cottage on the lake and had the best time! I would totally recommend getting together with friends! Oh I also should say that only 3 of us had ever made more than 1 quilt and some had never made a quilt. 2 have since gone on to make one mostly by themselves. Last year we made 9 quilts for the seniors and this year we are making 12. Our plan is to do a different pattern every year. Last year was a coin quilt and this year is a Fun and Done style quilt. We cut all the squares of backing, batting and scrap strips into a box and gave one to each member. That way each is making their own. Last year my friend and I ended up quilting all 9 between the 2 of us and didn't want to repeat that! Plus there were issues with different machines and seam allowances that we didn't want repeated either. I love my group and we are sisters- in quilting and in the Lord. I rarely miss this time together- sick or out of town is my only reason. My Dh came home early one Wednesday and my car was in the driveway. I was in bed with a migraine. He said- i knew you must not be feeling well if you missed your quilting day!

I have a group that meets at my church on the 1st and 3rd Friday night of the month to sew, do hand work,crafts
and of course eat. Sometimes we have 10 there and sometimes we have 20 there. We have loads of fun
and fellowship. Occasionally we do manage to get some sewing done, but we do a lot of visiting and eating.
We also have a group that meets every Tuesday to do hand quilting on each others quilts. When one is done, then the next person on the list puts her quilt in the frame and everyone works on it. There are three frames going at a time. If you don't hand quilt, then you can work on whatever you want.

I belong to a group called Quilters & Crafters. We meet every Tuesday from 10:00 to about 2:30. There is usually a quilt in a frame for hand-quilting, a group tying quilts for children whose families are homeless, some working on a project they brought from home, others learning a new craft and some just visiting. The first Tuesday is a covered dish luncheon and we let the husbands come, the second and fourth Tuesdays are bring your own lunch unless someone announces they are bringing a pot of something :-), and the third Tuesday is salad bar day when everyone signs up to bring something for salad. We have about 30 members with an average attendance of 15-17. We meet in our church fellowship hall, with ladies from five churches represented. The ladies are all like my sisters...we laugh and hug and sometimes cry together.

I have 3 sisters and we call them craft days.It use to be just us 4 sisters we would call it sisters day then our children would get upset so they wanted us to teach them crafts so we did.now a few friends come and we help each other.I'm the youngest and loss my husband 5 yrs ago so this has been a really comfort to me. we are a very close family and enjoy each others company..

We did that yesterday (6 of us) got together and made the sweetheart mystery quilt from quilts from seattle. Oh man did we have fun. Started at 9:00 am and everyone left at around 7:00 pm with a completed 42x42 quilt top. Instructions were the greatest and we did not go on to the next step until everyone had completed the instructions we had been sent. Sew much fun, sew much food, sew much laughter. Thank god for friends and family who like to get together.

I recently moved 3 hours away and was a member of a group quite like yours. I sure miss them. My daughter in law lives in Lebanon MO. She belongs to a quilt group. I hope she is a member of your group. If not, what is the name of your group or contact info so I can let her know? She works and has 2 small children, not alot of time to sew now.

I, too, lost my quilting buddies when I moved south 2 years ago and really miss the sisterhood and chat times. I haven't found anyone in my area and don't really want to join a guild. I keep looking on this board, but so many of you don't list your location. Anyone in South Carolina, not far out of Charlotte, NC?

Sewing with Friends
 

We moved from Texas to WA State in 2009, so I left behind my guild and my BFF. When I lived in Texas, I spent a lot of time sewing with my BFF. We worked on projects, sewed, ate, and had a great time. Before we knew it, it would be 2 or 3 am, and we were still sewing!

A couple of years ago when I was in Texas, I spent a few nights at my BFF's house. She had recently purchased a new house and set up a huge sewing room, so she bought a LA. I took a quilt that I made for my DGD, and my BFF quilted it for me. What a wonderful friend! While I was there, we sewed into the wee hours of the morning, just like in the old days. I loved it!!

I'm headed South next week, so my BFF told me it was okay to bring a UFO Lone Star project that I've probably had for ten years! Wow, I can hardly wait to see her!! She's absolutely the best friend that I could ever hope to have.

Ladydukes

This is a perfect example of not having "at least" your STATE in the "location" box! Schoolteacher may have a quilter just around the corner from her (or next town) who also belongs to QB. How fun would THAT be?? I KNOW we all have reasons for not posting locations and that is fine. I am not trying to start anything here. But I would NEVER have found the woman in the next sub-division from me had I not had my town and state posted.... When we travel I always post a "anybody live near blah blah-want to get together" type post. I have met some of the nicest ladies that way. There is a small group in Phoenix area who pre-arranged to meet @ the PHX Quilt Show about 3 years ago. None of us even knew what the others looked like. We had a designated time and spot to meet. We were supposed to wear a small name badge to identify ourselves. I didn't see anybody else looking puzzled like me, so, I pulled out my cell phone and called one of the #'s I had been given.... Ring Ring! Guess who was standing right NEXT to me with her back turned so I couldn't see her badge. How we laughed about THAT !! We had a blast along with 4 others. And the cool part is, some of them formed a group and are still meeting once a month. Can't wait to catch up with them for the PHX Quilt Show this coming weekend.... Ya just never know when/where you may meet your NEW BF. Happy Quilting everybody!!

Our guild has access to the Senior Center, where we hold our monthly meetings, every third Saturday. The guild provides salad greens, and each sewer brings something for the salad. We can sew from 9:00 to 4:00. I've gone a couple of times and it's always great fun!! The experienced quilters are always happy to help out us Newbies!