A Grandchild’s Quilt and Grandma’s Ribbons

Hanna, Will, Sommer, and my grandniece Lily have all learned to stitch a small quilt when they were around five years old. When Trey was five I asked him if he wanted to make a quilt and he responded “no thanks”. So, a few weeks ago Mike picked up Trey after school and brought him home alone because Sommer had an after school activity. He wanted to see the quilt I was working on in my studio, and as we talked about it I mentioned that the others had made quilts, but when he was younger he didn’t want to. His response: “Can I make one now?” 😀

Grandma was thrilled. He had a blast picking fabrics from my charm squares box, and arranging them just right.

Since he’s almost 9 (his birthday is this Tuesday) we decided he could use my Bernina, I just needed to raise the foot pedal a few inches off the floor and he was ready to sew. He loved “going fast”, but then I needed to slow down the motor speed and teach him about control ~ and a 1/4″ seam allowance. He focused well!

Sommer took a picture of him when he got the top done:

He chose a Spiderman flannel for the back, and the next week he layered everything and stitched all the way around, leaving an opening to turn. This past Wednesday it was time to turn everything right-side-out and quilt it.

He sewed every stitch himself, and learned about pinning and ironing too. I think he was pleased, and his favorite “squishy” was going to be wrapped up warm that night.

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Also, this past Saturday was the Winter Quilt Show, hosted by the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. I was supposed to be at a retreat this past week also, but I ended up snuggled on the couch with a head cold and missed it all. I did however enter two quilts in the show, and I was thrilled to discover they both won second place in their categories: Citrus Splash in the Modern Category

and A Walk in the Paper-y Woods in the Art/Improv category.

Praise the Lord! Thanks to Blue Bar Quilts in Madison for sponsoring these awards. And thanks to the museum for hosting this lovely show ~ and for the pretty ribbons.

As I began writing this post I was really wishing I’d been able to see all the quilts. A day later I received an email from the Quilt Museum with a link to photos of the winners of this year’s show! WooHoo! I couldn’t see all the quilts, but I really enjoyed this glimpse at some of them. You can click here to see them too!

And… if you have the opportunity to visit the museum soon, I know you’ll enjoy their current exhibit which is in it’s last week: Conversations in Cloth / Kapad ni Vatchit / કાપડ ની વાતચીત. There is also an exhibit of art quilts from the group “Women Who Run With Scissors” in the stairwell mini-gallery. Don’t miss it! Mike and I found it all fascinating!