SMP Volunteer Sewing Day in Madison, and My Own Market Bag

Friday, my friends Leslie and Margaret traveled with me to Madison, Wisconsin to participate in a Saturday volunteer sewing day for a fundraiser for the Sewing Machine Project. Leslie’s son lives in Sun Prairie, so she and Margaret spent some time, and stayed overnight with him and his wife. Louie and I stayed at the Fairfield Marriot hotel in East Madison. We ate at Uno’s, which was just behind our hotel, for supper, then went to see Identity Theft in the theater which was right across the street from Uno’s so we didn’t have to go far to have a great evening. But Baby, it was COLD outside!!! Brrr…!

Louie and I arrived just shortly after 8AM to help our friend Margaret Jankowski set up for our volunteer sewing day. Soon, the volunteers arrived and the sewing began. This is my friend Leslie working on a Market Bag. She is a part of our quilt group, and she and Margaret had to teach me how to sew the bag, as I was totally LOST! Thanks girls!

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Here’s my friend Margaret B. She is a part of our quilt group as well, and she works at the same place I do. We have been there 34 years together!

Here I am working on a Market Bag. ‘Someone’ thought their bag would look great around my neck, and Deb got a big kick out of it. Deb is a new Madison friend, and oh, so sweet!

These are the Market Bags Margaret B, Leslie and I made. The last bag in the second row was made by Margaret Jankowski prior to our sewing day, but the rest were made by us.

I did not get everyone’s name, nor did I meet each person, but we had lots of volunteers. We had ladies cutting…

…and men cutting too!

We had ladies serging…..

…and Bird cutting and ironing.

Deb was ironing too…she really was! Earlier in the day, she was our greeter and hostess.

One table was making Dopp kits, and one table was making little zipper bags.

Here are the zipper bags…

…and the Dopp kits.

Someone thought it would be cute to ‘set’ some ‘ears’ on the bags to make them look like puppies. The ‘ears’ were corners cut off the boxed corners everyone was making on their projects.

The sewing time soon came to an end, and we cleaned up and put everything away. Louie helped us set up in the morning, then left to ‘play’ (junkin’ and pool), then he came back, helped clean up and put everything away.

We made it home by 9pm, and it didn’t take long for us to go to sleep. It was a great day!

This morning, I made my own Market Bag. I used fabric I found at Goodwill.

I added a divided outside pocket to mine, which was not on the pattern, but I wanted to make mine a little different. I put the glasses and scissors in the pocket so you could actually see it.

I also used the outer fabric for the inside pocket, which too, was different from the original design. The lining fabric actually used to be a fabric shower curtain.

I like it, and it probably won’t be the last Market Bag I will make!