A First Quilt

Hi Everyone,

A week ago on Monday was a non-school day for my neice.  It was an actual SCHEDULED day off as opposed to a snow day.  Snow days for her are no fun as the school has elearning.  If there is a snow day, the students log onto the computer after 9 am and have school work to do--that way it counts as a day of instruction.  Therefore, she comes to my house and has to do school work.

Having a day off was a treat!  Finally we could do fun things like go out to lunch and shop, bake cookies, whatever.  We had to take my husband to the airport  in the late morning since he was gone for a few days last week.  That was okay, though, because we wanted to go to a restaurant for lunch which is located down by the airport.

First, though, she asked if she could finally learn to use the sewing machine.  With one thing or another, we haven't had a chance to play too much in my sewing room before now, so we went up there.  I decided to have her learn to use the machine and sew a quarter inch seam, so I got out my bin of 1.5" strips, choose two, and had her begin.  She was a bit afraid of speed with the machine, even though I had it on half speed, but she found her comfort zone--which was pretty slow, but that is fine.
I thought I would have her sew on another strip so we could examine how accurate her quarter inch seam is (if you sew a strip set of 3   1 1/2" strips, the middle one should measure exactly one inch) but I decided that since she is 9, we could just have fun for now.  I subcut her stip set into 1.5" strips, and we flipped half of them to make 4 patch blocks.  I showed her how to "nestle" the seams, so that the 4 patches meet perfectly in the center.  She wasn't much of a fan--she doesn't realize how valuable the "nestle" is yet!  She stiched up her little blocks, but she did have some trouble and so learned how to rip. (I did the rotary cutting, but had her sew, rip, and press.)  She actuallly liked ripping, so that was a plus.  When she was finished, she had 6 4-patch blocks that measured 2.5 inches.  I got out my 2.5" strips and let her choose one.  I cut it into 2.5" squares, and we laid out a pattern of alternating 4-patches and squares.  I showed her how to sew them together into rows and then sew the rows together into a piece.

We had to leave then to go to the airport and lunch.   After lunch, we shopped at Target for a bit and then we got back to my house.  She wanted to continue with her quilt.  She was happy with it the way it way, but I suggested a border.  She choose another strip from my bin and I cut the sections and she sewed them on.

Here she is with the finished top.

Once the borders were on, I showed her how to layer it with batting and backing and pin it.  I then did some quick meander quilting.  We went to my bin of leftover binding and she choose one.  I sewed the binding on, but she helped pin it with Wonder clips.

I sewed the binding down with the machine and her quilt was finished!

 I knew she was happy with it, but I didn't realize just how much.  She took it to school on Tuesday and showed her class.  Then she showed the Art teacher, and the Art teacher is going to put it in the display case at school for a while.

  Her are some close-ups.  I choose the fabric for the 4-patches just thinking it would be practise.  She choose the rest.  She loves blue!

I figure there will be plenty of chances for more detailed lessons later, until then she made a quilt!  I think she may be hooked!


I'm set to leave for the airport myself today  I'll be spending the week back in Virginia at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest.  I'm excited to see my friends again!

Have a great day!
JoAnne