You Sew, Girl!

Mom has been sewing all of my life, and as a kid, I always wanted to learn. We never seemed to get around to it, though.

These days, Mom quilts up a storm and is involved in the Needle Arts Group in her neighborhood. On a recent retreat in Asilomar, she started collecting scraps of fabric from other peoples' projects and sewing the strips together to make a strip quilt. It's very random and colorful.

Last night, she got out one of her three sewing machines for me, and showed me how to use it without stitching my thumb to the fabric. I had been laying various scrap strips out in an order I liked, and Mom thought it might be fun for me to sew them together. I agreed.

Here's what I did:



I was plugging along very well, enjoying myself, when I got a brilliant idea. I dashed into Mom's craft room (we'd set up in the living room so we could see the TV and talk to Dad) and dug out a container filled with various Snoopy fabrics Mom has bought me over the years--always with the intention of showing me how to do something with them.

If not now, when, right?

I grabbed one of Mom's square patterns and a cutter and started going to town. Here's what that yielded (pardon my nightgown):



It's not perfect--my corners don't match too well--but I did it all by myself, without any help from Mom!

Inspired, I started cutting more, planning colors, and now, today, I've got a plan. I will make 12 blocks--three with red, three with yellow, three with green, three with white, then piece them together with blue binding. It will be a simple quilt, with many beginnier's errors, but it will be MY quilt. I'm already super-proud of it.




I've done all the cutting for my blocks, and I've sewn half of them. I'll continue next time I'm at Mom and Dad's house. I'm confident I can get the other six blocks sewn in an hour or so. The borders and the rest of it will be harder, but I look forward to the challenge. When I'm done, I'll have an adorable Snoopy quilt. : )