Basting the Churn Dash--Post 3

Beginning the layering process

Goal number eight on my June list was to spend time with Miss J and to baste her quilt. I won these blocks at the Spring virtual retreat I attended in 2021. The theme of the retreat was down on the farm. The churn dash blocks have some sort of farm motif as the center fabric. Miss J loved the blocks so I asked her if she would like to make them into a quilt. She did. We spent some time figuring out the layout. 

We auditioned a variety of fabrics for the sashing and borders. January 2022, she had completed the top and pieced the back. Our plan was to longarm it; but, life happens and we weren't able to longarm it together. 

In process

Several times between March 2022 (the original date to longarm) and now, I asked if she wanted to quilt it on the domestic machine, or if she wanted me to send it out to be long armed. If we quilted it on the domestic machine, we needed to pin baste it. The answer she gave me was, "let me think about it." When I would approach the subject again, she would say, "I'm still thinking about it."

So when she was over for a sleepover last month, I
thought working on this project would be the perfect activity. Well. . .I thought she would arrive early in the day; but, her arrival was delayed because of activities she was doing with either family or friends. She is nine and her social calendar is filling!

Finished

She arrived after four in the afternoon and by the time we had cooked dinner. . .we were having gnocchi one of her favorite dishes. . .there wouldn't have been time for basting.  I did bring up the subject. She again gave me the think about it answer. I decided that the interest in quilting had definitely waned.

Instead, we did a little drawing and visiting. It was a good visit. We both agreed that it was more fun for her to come without her sister. .  .sharing is hard and waiting your turn can be difficult at times.  

So this week, I pulled out the top, backing and batting. My husband helped me put a couple leaves in the table. In a couple of hours, I basted the quilt. I plan to quilt it. I plan to gift it to her. I'm not planning to bring up the quilt subject again.

I do plan to invite her to help me select fabrics, design tops and to layout blocks because those are activities that she finds fun. Perhaps with selective exposure, I still will be able to infect her with the quilting bug after all.

I'm linking to Cynthia and Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework because the backing is from scraps!