Churn Dash Quilt Progress--Post 2

Learning to stop before sewing over a pin

Granddaughter, Miss J was over and spent some time working on her "Down On the Farm" quilt. I won the blocks that Clark County Quilters guild members stitched for the Spring retreat last February. I was excited when I won the blocks because I thought that Miss J would like to sew the blocks into a quilt. We had a discussion in May about her making her own quilt. She was definitely on board!

She arranged the blocks and labeled them. She picked out fabric for sashing, cornerstones and a border. In May, I posted about her project here. In August, she decided that she wanted to make progress on the project so that she could enter it a couple county fairs the following Spring and Summer.

I'm all for stepping in to provide the muscle for cutting, pinning, pressing and ripping. My hope in providing this kind of assistance is so that the sewing project remains fun and interesting. Breaks are important. If the sewing time is in five and ten minute increments, I'm on board. I, however, draw the line at providing the muscle to sew the project. As I explained to my granddaughter, I'll help you; but, I won't sew it for you!

Carefully avoiding the pin and preserving 
as much of the points as possible

We talked about the importance of not cutting off points; we also talked about the importance of having a block the right size to sew the sashing. She decided she would do the best she could. I told her that was my plan too! She thought it was funny that I would do the best I could!

After an hour. she had stitched the sashing on one row of blocks. She had stitched one row of sashing and cornerstones. She pressed all the seams that she sewed. She understands the concept of pressing; but, finds "ironing" a quicker end to the process. We continue to practice the pressing concept! The concept of a quarter inch seam is not of importance yet. She does grasp the concept that sewing over pins can be dangerous to her with a pin piece flying into her face or eye. 

She also understands that the machine might not sew well after hitting a pin. While she found servicing the machine an interesting activity, she decided that it wasn't an activity she wanted to do again anytime soon because she needed to spend time sewing on her project! At seven years old, she has good critical thinking abilities.

Our next session was after a school dat. It was about a 20 minute session. She stitched the first row of blocks together and a row of sashing and corner stones. She even started piecing the second row. We will continue to stitch on this project as she has time after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (Those are the days they spend a little time with me and my husband.) This was goal number seven on my September list.

On a side note, an Australian quilter, Karin, who blogs at The Quilt Yarn noted in a comment that she was following me! I was humbled and honored. I've been following Karin on her quilting journey for some time now. I enjoy reading her posts. I hope you will check out her blog and follow her too!