Thursday, March 11, 2010

Teaching an 8 Year Old to Sew -- Part 2

It has come to my attention (Thanks, Faye!) that I haven't been blogging about quilting lately.  After looking back over the last, well - ummmm, quite a few posts, I can see that life has definitely gotten in the way of my quilting.  Yes, it has a way of doing that.   And so I have decided that I MUST create or I shall die!  Well, that may be a little dramatic, but I definitely do need some quilty therapy!   It will be a few days before I can create something worthy of public display, so I decided to show you the very last thing I did before the holidays struck. 

You may remember that I started teaching my grandson to sew back in October.  If not, here is a link to that post:   http://sewthisismyblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/teaching-8-year-old-to-sew.html 

Gavin has had a birthday since then so now the post should be Teaching a 9 Year Old to Sew,  but that is beside the point.  When Gavin found out that his best friend, Kaitlyn, had had a birthday he was disappointed that he hadn't received advance notice of such a momentous occasion.  He wanted to give her something special.  And, I ask you, what is more special than a quilt?  Since I was coming for a weekend visit (that day!) he asked me to bring my sewing machine and some fabric so he could make her a quilt.  Of course, I jumped right to it!  Because I only had a few hours to prepare something, I cut thirty 9 1/2" squares of brights and novelty prints so he could just sew blocks together.
He had fun laying out the squares. He played with them until he was pleased with the arrangement, and then we hit the sewing room.  AKA the dining room table.













He did a really good job keeping the stitching straight.  I had him do 3/8" seams this time instead of 1/4" and that made it a lot easier for him.  He got a lot of blocks put together and had several rows ready before he lost interest.  He agreed that I could take it home with me and finish it up. 

And so I did!  I emailed photos of several pink fabrics so he could choose a border.  Then I added a dark green inner border before I quilted it.  I did a simple stipple in the center and some meandering with flowers in the border.  It finished at 54 x 63.  (I talked him out of making one big enough for her bed!  LOL)






Then I found the cutest pink floral print for the backing.  It's from the Nicey Jane line by Heather Bailey.
I liked this fabric so much that I emptied the bolt just in case I want some for the next pink quilt I make!

3 comments:

Mimi said...

Are we thinking "pink" for any particular reason? I think it is so special that Gavin wanted to sew something for a friend AND sew with you. You have such a great relationshipo with him. Sorry to have shamed you into blogging though, but it is good to see you here. :D

Sandy Panagos said...

That was just a little tongue in cheek since I am definitely NOT a pink person! But we do have a great niece on the way - due in April, so I will probably use it for that.

And, I don't know what I would without you! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Sandy, Your Gavin/Gramma quilt is really cute. I like that pink backing too. I was wondering where you had disappear too on blogland AND in person. We will miss you at the Tuesday meeting, but I know you will be enjoying your grandkids. Any sewing done on the Featherweight yet??? Maybe I can shame you into getting started on it!!! I may have to call Faye up and have her nudge you. You must be more afraid of her than me!! tee hee. Glad to see you are well. Dar