Pieceful Saturday

It's been a long time since I worked on a quilt top. But Saturday Sondra and I got together to sew matching quilts for our friend Anne (STOP READING RIGHT NOW, ANNE!) who is having twin boys in October. Sondra had a baby last October and it was the first time she'd done any sewing, as well. She has a fabulous studio space in the upstairs of her house, with a view of the fields beyond and back-to-back desks where we set up our machines, spread out our fabric, and sewed, chatted, and ate the wonderful caprese pizza (with homegrown tomatoes) and brownies she'd made.

We used Carolina Patchworks Mod Pod pattern, which turned out to be speedy and satisfying. We modified it slightly to make it more appropriately baby-sized. The center blocks are Andover fat quarters in truly adorable nautical designs—bubbles, starfish and squid, life rings, and schools of fish (Snorkel by Cosmo Cricket). Sondra's were in a green colorway and mine were blue, so we choose a Valori Wells print in green and blue to go with them. We each used the same orange for the second set of vertical "frames" (originally it was going to be red, but we decided to save the red for the binding) and are very happy with the outcome.

The weather was gorgeous, so the drive up was lovely—fields starting to turn golden, monarch butterflies flitting along the highway, blue skies with puffy, white clouds—and it was great to hang out with Sondra. Since I left work I haven't seen her much and we had lots to catch up on. It's always so funny when I stop and think that Sondra is just a wee bit older than my eldest daughter, because when we're together I never notice that age difference.

Sewing was fun, but at the end of the day her adorable daughter Emily came home and happily let me hold her. Such a sweet thing. I couldn't help crawling around on the floor with her a bit before I got back in my car and headed for home.

Sewing with friends is the best!