Progress on Hailey’s Quilt

School started on Tuesday where I live, and on Monday my niece Hailey came over to work on her quilt. Next up was adding the borders, preparing the back, sandwiching the pieces and then tying the quilt. Here she is tying the quilt. She said she liked the tying part, as it’s easier than handling the whole top on the sewing machine. She has to finish tying and then bind the quilt before she can enjoy using it. I think she’s doing a fabulous job!

Nicole’s Sewing Adventure

Tuesday evening my eight-year-old niece, Nicole, came to spend the night. After she helped cook dinner she wanted to sew, so we looked through The Best of Sewing Machine Fun for Kids by Nancy Smith and Linda Milligan with Possibilities. Nicole decided she would make scrunchies and a cloth lunch bag for school, which starts next week. She headed off to my fabric stash to select what I thought would be a couple of pieces for the scrunchies. Well, she came back with enough for ten. And that’s what she made. Here she is at the sewing machine.

Her skills have improved since she made her first skirt this spring. She’s more careful about the seam allowance and pays more attention to the project. And, while I cut the fabric, she followed the directions and worked without my guidance after the first few. She made two scrunchies that evening. The next morning shortly after breakfast she said, “I’m bored. Can we sew now?” Do you think she’s after my heart?! So she continued and made eight more. We took a break in the afternoon, went to the movies, out for ice cream and to visit the alpacas at the end of my street. After we got back, she wanted to make the lunch bag. She had picked out fabric for two bags, but we only had time for one. When her mom arrived about 6:15 to pick her up, she had just the top edge to turn and sew to finish the bag. She’s so excited that when people will ask about her bag or scrunchies, she can say, “I made it.” Here she is with the array of scrunchies.

Winter in August

The morning after my lecture at Burke QU, I went to the quarterly meeting of the Mason-Dixon Quilt Professionals Network. It is a terrific group of area quilt professionals who share experiences and suggestions for business growth. We met at Artistic Artifacts Annex in Alexandria, the Annex being the physical location for Judy Gula’s online business that carries “creative finds for the creative mind.” I got home just in time to miss a heavy thunderstorm and to take some photos of the activity. The hail lasted about half and hour, and when it was done, it looked like winter in my yard. The first photo is looking at the back deck and yard. The second photo is looking out the door that leads into my studio from the front yard.

Studio Tour Lecture

On Wednesday evening I gave my lecture “Open House Studio Tour” to the Burke chapter of Quilters Unlimited. It was a great group, and I had a fun time sharing my love of snooping in quilter’s studios. Prior to the lecture I had dinner at the Austin Grille with three friends who were members of the guild, Cyndi Souder, Mary Kerr and Kathy Lincoln. It was extra nice, as we usually see each other at meetings that have set agendas and rarely get to sit and enjoy each other’s company. Here is a shot from the lecture that Cyndi took.