Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Sewing lessons

This past week we started making a king-sized quilt for our new bed. I say "we", because Will and Mary are helping me piece the blocks. It is a split 9 patch design in blues and creams with over 180 blocks so I need all the help I can get.
Previously the kids liked to contribute to my quilting by going into my scrap basket and tying bits together to make giant spider webs all around the room. Uggg! The thought of having to untie all those knots still raises my blood pressure. On occasion they like to lay scraps across the floor to make a design and we talk about color, contrast, and shapes. They also like to look through my quilting books and pick out ones they would like me to make.

Will and Mary have proven to be very good at pressing and while it frees me up to cut and sew, ironing tends to get boring. "Can I please sew? Pleeeeease, Mommy?" Their piecing leaves a lot to be desired with wobbily lines and bits that mysteriously get sucked into the machine. I am spending a great deal of time on this project so far ripping out seams and redoing. While the blocks are not as well done as I would like, I am finding that it is worth it when I hear Mary exclaim, "Daddy, I am learning to sew! Mommy says I'm a big help!"

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