Churn Dash is a Top AND There is a Pieced Back!--post 3

Making breakfast cocoa

 Miss J and Miss K spent an overnight with us recently. I picked them up at seven in the morning and returned them at five in the afternoon the following day! They thought that I was there to join them for a ten mile walk. One was not happy about walking in the dark and the other was concerned that there weren't enough snacks packed!

After we had traveled to our house by car and had taken a 20 minute "wamu-up" walk, they figured out that their parents had surprised them with an overnight with us, their grandparents. They were excited that we had begun our time together with an early start! They said getting up early on a Saturday was worth it after all! LOL!!

Frying pancakes

We had a blast! Spending time with the granddaughters is absolutely WONDERFUL! We started the day making pancakes and hot chocolate for breakfast. They are old enough and skilled enough to help with meal preparation.

After years of making special shaped pancakes like cats, dogs and Mickey Mouse, it was great to have special shaped pancakes made for me!  Miss J learned how to wait to turn the pancakes until the top was set. (There is less opportunity for a messy flip if the top is set.) She delighted in learning it was easier to flip the pancake if she lifted it higher.

Sewing the last border to the quilt

I learned how to bake bacon. Baking bacon is how they prepare it at home. My granddaughters are good teachers! (They thought it was funny that I hadn't baked bacon!) Baked bacon was easy and I likely will do it again. (They thought me baking it again was cool too!)

Finished top

Miss J, my eight year old granddaughter, has been spending time each week making progress on her Churn Dash top. She used the time we had together to finish constructing her top. She had two borders left to sew. She was excited to have finished the top. She liked measuring the top so we would know how big to make the quilt back. Our target size for the back was 77 inches by 90 inches.

When I asked her what fabrics she envisioned on the back of the quilt, she replied, "Orange of course!" Orange is not a color a I have much in my stash. I pulled a print of butterflies that has been in my stash for a long time. That fabric became our starting point. 

Auditioning and piecing the back progress

I have loved the butterfly fabric for years and have tried to use it in other projects; but, either there wasn't enough of it or I couldn't figure out how to showcase the print. I did broderie perse a few of the butterflies on a project. We picked a couple fabrics to compliment the butterflies. We started piecing the back.

Although Miss J liked the puzzle part of the process, she felt the seams went on forever! We stitched some seams a second time because our quarter inch in some places was less than a sixteenth of an inch. When we ran out of our selected fabrics, we perused the stash for other chunks of fabric that played well with the butterflies. 

Most of the complimentary fabrics are leftovers from my "Boo" Halloween wallhanging/table runner that I made years ago. We used about four and three quarters yards of scraps in this back. 

Finished back

Miss J was especially pleased to learn that she can independently sew short seams on her own. She, however, feels more comfortable if I continue to monitor the stitching process. At eight years old she is way ahead of my sewing abilities when I was her age!

We would sew a few seams and take a break. During our breaks, we took a walk, painted with water colors, cooked a lunch and a dinner. In short, we were busy! After she finished sewing her back together, we took a photo of her with her finished quilt back. She thinks it is way too big for the top that she made. She is also interested in being able to longarm her quilt. I'll make an appointment to do that with her.

Then, it was time to load up for home. She and her sister are ready to schedule the next overnight. I said there was a day in March that they would be spending the day with us and perhaps that day would work with their parents' schedules. Both replied in unison, "What about February? You can't skip February!" We will be putting our calendars together and finding another weekend in February to play together.

Helping Miss J finish the Churn Dash top and piece the back was goal number 10 in my January list.

Watch for an up coming post about what Miss K did while Miss J was working on her project! Since lots of scraps ended up in the back of this project, I'm linking to Cynthia and Oh Scrap/Quilting is More Fun Than Housework. Check out the link. There is lots of inspiration!