Quilting with two Granddaughters

Swim suit fabric choice

Miss K and Miss J came over for a sleepover last week. We had originally planned to take a field trip to longarm Miss J's quilt; but, my friend is no longer renting her longarm machine for that purpose. Since we had planned the sleepover, we decided to do a little drawing and sewing instead.

Miss J and I talked about options for her quilt. She can quilt it on my domestic machine. We talked about pin basting; but, that will have to wait until I get the ditch quilting finished on my Lone Star quilt because I've used all the basting pins! While she was disappointed about the field trip, she was open to giving the quilting a try on my machine.

Rebecca from Rebecca Grace Quilting suggested that she do some free motion (FM) quilting. She can give free motion quilting a whirl. At eight years old, however, her attention span and fine motor skills don't always sync. Then again, she might like FM quilting. Rebecca is correct when she says kids don't know that FM quilting is a challenge so they don't hunch their shoulders or hold their breath. 

Sewing a row together

What we did do was pick fabric for a swim suit. A swim suit was what Miss J wanted to make next. She chose a pattern. I measured her so we will know the correct size of pattern to draft. She has grown since we had a measuring session! Miss K also chose a fabric for a swim suit and a pattern. I'll draw the patterns onto a tracing fabric. The next time we are together, we will do some sewing! 

It will be interesting to see if the girls can stretch the elastic, keep the edges of the fabric even and sew at the same time. It may be easier for me to make the suits; but, we will see!

Miss K worked on her string quilt. She has sewn half of the rows together. She finds it challenging to keep the edges of the two fabrics when she sews long seams together. Pinning closer helps; but, it isn't the fix all. Does anyone have tips on how to make sewing long seams easier for her?

Miss K  and half of her quilt top

She told me that she wanted a rainbow fabric for the back of her project. Let's see what she finds in the stash that makes her think of a rainbow! She was excited to have "half a quilt." I told her that she could make two quilts; but, she plans to stay with making one large quilt.

The tags on the blocks are numbers so that she knows which block is stitched next in the pattern. She also has a color photo of the blocks in the order she picked as a reference. 

I've put the blocks together incorrectly. So before she sews, she checks my work. . .often, I get to re-pin because I get the blocks turned around! She thinks it is funny that I would make that sort of mistake.

I started making these blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge last year. She saw them and asked if she could sew them. After she sewed a couple months worth of blocks, she asked if she could make a quilt out of the blocks. I was and still am tickled pink she took on this project!

We had a good day. We played a few games and we drew some mini pictures together. Spending time together was extra special. I hope we can schedule another overnight experience next month. Spending time together quilting was goal number five on my July list.

Since the string quilt is scraps, I'm linking to Cynthia and Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework.