Remember way back when I showed the fabric squares for Bubba's and Peeps' quilts? Well, with the end of summer upon us, I finally brought the sewing machine out and have gotten the girls going on the sewing.The brevity of this summer has astounded me. My original goal was to have the girls complete their quilts in time to put them in the county fair. Well, the fair has come and gone and we never got around to actually working on the quilt until this week.
These are Rag Time Quilts, which means the seam allowances will be on the front of the quilt and they will be snipped, washed and frayed to create chenille-style frames for each block. In preparation for piecing together the top, each square needs to be marked with diagonal lines and sewn together, wrong side to wrong side, with a layer of batting between them. Naturally, for a decent sized lap quilt, this means quite a bit of pre-quilting.
I've been impressed with how quickly both girls have taken to sewing a straight line. Although Peeps (who is almost 7) took a little longer to figure out how to guide the fabric through the machine without tugging and pulling too hard, she has finally mastered it and is sewing a very nice, straight seam.Bubba (who is 8) mastered the straight seam right away and has also learned how to thread both the top and bottom of the machine. She has also been marking her own blocks, instead of needing me to mark for her.
Right now, I having the girls take turns sewing, trying to complete a small stack of blocks in one sitting. They manage to concentrate for between 30 and 60 minutes at a time but beyond that, this stage is just too boring to hold their attention for long. Hopefully, a little time spent a couple times a day will get them through this stage fairly quickly. Then they'll be ready to move on to choosing their layout and piecing the blocks together. This will be a great exercise in practicing patience and diligence, if we can all survive it.
Guess this might be a great time to share the story about the tortoise and the hare, right?
6 comments:
The girls look like they are having fun! I remember making clothes for my stuffed animals and Barbies at that age. I'm sure they be ready for their lay-outs soon!
Wow - those girls have a better attention span than I do!
The girls have shown more patience and skill than I did when I fiddled with the quilting last summer! Very, very impressive...
I saw those kind of quilts at the big MN Quilt show at the Excel Center a couple of years ago.
Very nice work so far - my youngest daughter had a tussle/disagreement with her machine and now it's got to go for repairs. Listening to books on tape on a cd player was very helpful getting my kids to concentrate. How about "Redwall?"
Go, Bubba and Peeps, you quilty kids! A couple of years ago, Leah made a fleece throw from a kit, similar style to what you're doing. It's far from perfect because the fringe was pre-cut and therefore a nightmare during sewing (my mom hadn't thought of that when she bought the kit as a gift), but Leah loves it anyway and says that blanket just *feels* better because she made it herself.
AWESOME! What a great project for the kids. They will be so proud of those blankets when they're done. Can't wait to see them finished . . . or even just to see the progress they make!!
When will you begin schooling?
Post a Comment