StixChix Connected: Give a Warm Welcome to…The A- Team! (Lauren)

Our dear President has been on my case for a while now to write up my latest sewing adventures and it’s only now, two months later, that I’m actually getting to it. Procrastination is clearly my middle name. But what, you ask, happened two months ago that was so newsworthy? A special limited edition of Stix featuring the newly minted A- Team.

It all started with my birthday. In early November my darling sister Maria came to spend a long weekend with me to sew. She came with project plans in hand and told me that this was my birthday weekend – a magical three-day sewing extravaganza for just the two of us. And it did, indeed turn out to be magical.

The plan was this: Maria would arrive in Portland on Friday night, giving us the evening to hang out, chat and have fun. Then, we would get up early Saturday morning, run around to the various fabric and craft stores to load up on necessary supplies before returning home to sew up a storm on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. It was a decent plan. But oh boy, did she underestimate us.

We met at my house on Friday after I got off work and immediately went out to dinner for some much needed sustenance and spent all evening having fun and laughing together, just the two of us and Chloe (my kitten). It was phenomenal. We went to sleep that night ready and excited for the coming two days. We got up early Saturday and began our journey looking for fabric and supplies. We hit all the necessary stops – Fabric Depot, Craft Warehouse, and JoAnn’s. We bought fabric for our projects and a new quilt Maria is currently working on. The funniest thing about that shopping foray was how often we thought and talked about my mom. Everywhere we went we could each hear her voice in our heads, advising us on quality of fabric, color, values, contrast, etc. And I have to say, it was all very

helpful. For years Mom has been trying to teach us about the importance of fabric choice and I’m happy to report that it’s finally all starting to stick. We took our time at each store and found just what we were looking for (and sometimes a little something extra). With each great find of fabric we would turn to each other and exclaim, “Wouldn’t Mom be proud of us?? We picked this out all by ourselves and she would love it!” I think this is a good barometer to have. When picking out fabric, just ask yourself, “Is this something El Presidente would choose? Is this a combination Joyce would approve?” This system works surprisingly well.

Before we knew it we were back at my house and ready to get started. Our first day, therefore, began with half a day for sewing. But Maria and I didn’t let that stop us. We were off. We started

with a thin snowman wall hanging. The basics of the snowman (one ball for a head and two balls for the body) are pieced and then “the sandwich” is ditch-stitched for quilting. A felt hat and nose are then added at a slight angle for a rakish look plus mismatched buttons for the eyes and body. The final and cutest touch is a scarf. Made out of either felt or flannel (we chose flannel, which turned out to be a bit difficult as turning a 1” flannel tube of fabric is not the easiest thing to
do), the scarf is sewn over the neck of the snowman and then pops out of the hanging to dangle down along the front of the body. It is incredibly cute and was a lot of fun to make. Our first day was a rousing success.

Sunday started bright and early with a quick gym run for the two of us and then back to sewing.

We started our second project first thing – Santa pillows. These are some of the cutest Christmas pillows I’ve ever seen and ridiculously fun to make. All the fabric comprising Santa is first adhered to the background with Wonder-Under and then blanket-stitched. A thin inner border is then stitched on, followed by the outer border and then the back of the pillow. Finally two button eyes and a bell for the end of the hat are hand-sewn and…voila! In just a few hours this wonderful pillow is complete. Maria and I made matching pillows on Sunday and they are too cute for words.

As soon as I was done I knew I wanted to make more. They were the perfect gifts for friends and family. The only problem was that Maria was planning to leave early Monday morning. Well, I knew that couldn’t stand. I had Monday off

and soon convinced Maria (although really she didn’t take much convincing – I think the conversation was “How about you stay through Mon…” “Yes!”) that the only practical solution was for her to stay and sew all day Monday as well and leave Tuesday morning instead. She readily agreed and so, on Monday morning we started the process all over again. A quick visit to the gym followed by another day full of sewing fun. Maria spent most of Monday working on her new quilt while I made two more Santa pillows. It was fantastic. The perfect birthday weekend. After such amazing success Maria and I decided that our quilting team prowess deserved its own name. But what could we call ourselves that would properly convey our level of

awesomeness? And that’s when we decided we were the A- Team. Together we were great, but we weren’t quite as good as one of Joyce, so we’re A-. A team with a little room for improvement, but one that always has a whole lot of fun.