July 16, 2011

The Birth Of A Quilter!


I have my granddaughter Allie here with me for a month long summer visit!  We still have 10 days before she goes home so we took this Saturday to teach her to make a quilt.  She really surprised me!  But then again, not really because she is very smart for her age of 7! She will be 8 in October but you better not tell her that because she will tell you right quick that she is only 7! ha!

My friend Marie and I took Allie on a quilt shopping spree about a week ago and bought her a beginners quilt pattern.  This pumpkin wallhanging caught her eye and she said that she wanted to make it for her mommy.  So, we put it in the cart and she smiled all the way to the check out!
 She has been after me hot and heavy about sewing it together ever since we brought it in the house.  Butch took today off and needed to relax so I thought it was a perfect day to give him the downstairs all to himself.  So up the stairs Allie went to learn to quilt!
 We opened up her pattern and put all of the fabrics in order of how we would have to cut them out!

 Then Allie got busy ironing!  Yes, she had to iron her own fabric.. (with close supervision).... She actually can handle an iron quite well and did not burn herself at all during the entire class.  She told me while ironing the fabric that "If you do it too much you might burn it"... uh huh... smarter than her mawmaw already!


Once she got all of the fabrics ironed we had to cut out the pieces.  I let her use the rotary cutter under extreme close supervision, but she did not have enough strength to cut all the way through, so after her first pass, mawmaw had to cut it a 2nd time to get it apart...but that was ok she said... hmmm....Here she is with her rectangles all cut for the background of her wallhanging.. she was tickled pink to get this far and actually be so hands on...





 Next we went over to the machine to sew the rectangles together... I showed her about having the right side up on the bottom rectangle and right side down on the top one.  I tried to confuse her twice but she caught it before beginning to sew... She said " Mawmaw, now you know that is not right!"... ha!! She knows her stuff!

 She sewed kind of slow and when I told her she could speed up a little she informed me that she was sewing slow so that she didn't sew her hand to it. lol.. You have GOT to love this child!

We finally got all of the rectangles sewed together and then we had to press the seams open.  I showed her how to do it on one seam and then she took over with the iron.  I was really proud of her for not being afraid of the iron!

We started over to the rotary cutter when Allie spied a mistake!  OH NO!  One of the white fabrics had gotten turned the wrong way during sewing.  I promise I did not turn it upside down to see if she would catch it.  I really didn't.  But neither of us saw it so you know what that means... YEP!!  Miss Allie was introduced to one of my friends... Mr. Seam Ripper!! ha!

I really didn't make her take that out... I did it for her and resewed it back... :)

We then returned to the rotary cutter to cut the rectangle strips into 3 inch sections. As before, she made the first pass, followed up by mawmaw for the 2nd.  She then had to pin all of the seams together so we could sew the strip pieces together to create the background. I showed her how to butt her seams together and she pinned every last seam herself!  I explained how easy it would make it to keep her seam intersections so sharp and precise.  She asked me what the word precise meant!  ok..ok.. yea... I know... That was  a big word.. :)



I filmed her actually doing the sewing so you wouldn't think I felt sorry for her and did it myself.. ha!  I did help her guide the fabric but she was hands on with both hands and she was the one who worked the presser foot.  She actually did a fantastic job!  She stopped just short of each pin and removed it before sewing on.  If she were a little older, I would have shown her how to sew slowly over the pin so the intersections would be even sharper!

She took her background to the ironing board and proceeded to iron the seams as I showed her before.  But look at this... Even removing the pins instead of sewing over them, she did a fantastic job for her first try!  Remember, she pinned them herself and with just a little guidance from my hands, she did her own sewing!!  Isn't this fantastic!!


 Now it is time to prepare the pumpkin pieces with fusible so we can build our pumpkin man!  She ironed the fusible to the fabric by herself and then allowed me to cut the pieces out.  She helped to pull off the paper backing from the fabric.


 We managed to get all of our pieces laid down like we wanted them and then she proceeded to iron her pumpkin man down.  She was tickled pink that she had made a quilt mostly by herself!!  She said she is going to give it to her mommy and that she will like it, really like it.  She also said we would have to tell her mommy that even though it can be used like a flag, it can't get wet.  She informed me that it takes certain kinds of fabric to use outside when it is raining.
She proceeded to tell me that if you bake the seeds from a pumpkin that they tasted really good.  Boy, is this kid smart as a whip or what! :)

She wanted to quilt it today but I told her it would have to wait a few days because I had customer work on the frame.  She took a deep breath and informed me that she did not see why we couldn't quilt it, with it being so small and all!!  Alright Miss Allie! :)

By the way... She and Butch went to get pizza while I wrote this story... She came in here from the kitchen and informed me that she had eaten 6 pieces of pizza!!  We bought her a cheese pizza to herself... I had to go in to the kitchen just to see if she was pulling my leg!! NOPE!!!  She had 2 small pieces left!!  She is a little oinker!!!  Making quilts sure worked up an appetite on her! ha! :)

So, what do you think about this happy little quilter and her very first quilt! Didn't she do a terrific job!!  BTW: Notice her pigtails since lunch??? Very fitting for my blog wouldn't you say?? :)

15 comments:

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

She is a Quilter at Seven !~! YAY Allie YAY !~! You have accomplished a fun and educational day with Mawmaw. One that you will remember for a very long time.

SewCalGal said...

Congratulations to Allie for making her first quilt. Absolutely lovely quilt too. Love it!

I hope you enter Allie in the Wantobe a Quilter Challenge (hosted by Madame Samm of Stash Manicure). She definitely needs to win supplies to help her become a quilter!

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Needled Mom said...

What a great experience and she did a fabulous job too. Bet you were as thrilled as she was.

Chris said...

YAAAAAAAA Allie!!! You did a great job...I'm so proud of you! Wasn't it more fun to sew instead of taping the fabric? What's you next quilt going to be? Make sure you show us...Luv you!

Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts said...

Oh what a sweetie! And she looks just like a pro pressing and sewing! Way to go Allie!!

Anonymous said...

OHHHH WAY to go Allie! I am speechless!

Carol said...

Great job your dgd did on her first quilt! She'll be a fantastic quilter just like her mawmaw! ;-)

Carol (NJ)

Dee said...

How very sweet! And it looks like she did a great job!

Anonymous said...

GREAT JOB Alie!!! Aunt Charlie is very proud of you. You will always remember this. Your mawmaw and I made our first quilt using 2 inch squares of fabric of different colors, needle, thread and a thimble. While Gramma taught us to do block quilts, Granny Ida taught us to do applique quilts. She also taught us to crochet. While your mawmaw took to the quilting, I took to the crocheting and later on knitting. I don't have the patience for quilting. I love having a project done in a few days instead of a few weeks. When you get ready to learn to crochet I'd like to have the privilege of teaching you. One day you will realize that teaching you to quilt is not all your mawmaw taught you. You are learning valuable lessons that you will take with you throught your life. One day Aunt Charlie will ask you just what you DID learn. I think the answer will amaze you. Love you, Aunt Charlie

Lisa P said...

Well it only makes sense she's a great quilter- look who her Mawmaw is! Love it :)
Lisa :)

Jackie said...

She will have such a treasure as her first quilt! I can't wait to see if my grandbabies will be like their grandmother.

Jane said...

I enjoyed reading your story and looking at the video. She has more patience than I do. It turned out beautifully.

Downsouth said...

Allie, you did a great job! I'm sure I'm not the first one to tell you how much you look like Grandma!

Devonne

Brenda said...

Since Halloween is one of my favorite fabric types and find that I really enjoy Halloween themed things (don't ask why!! I just do!!) I think Allie's first project is perfect in alot of ways!!!!
That is one cute hanging and it's a fantastic job!!! Very Nicely Done!!! Give yourself a high five and a hug!! (and you deserved all that pizza after all that work!!!)

Susan Brubaker Knapp said...

Good for Allie! It looks great. And hooray for you, teaching her something she just might love to do her whole life. Looks like you had a lot of fun together. :-)