Kid Stuff

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My daughter is 5 1/2 and has been quilting for a year and a half. R has just finished her third quilt. Her first quilt was made entirely from my stash and her brother's stash, but soon after she started building her fabric stash. Whenever she visited a quilt shop with me I let her pick 1 or 2 fat quarters or fat eighths. I think her stash building began on our trip to Portland, OR. (There are some great quilt shops there!) I share my stash with my kids. They have free choice of most of my fabric and just have to ask first, but I think it's also nice that they have a bit of fabric that is their own.

I've mentioned her stash on the blog and on IG and people have been curious about it, so I thought it would be fun to give you a little tour. This might not be 100% of it, but it's close and it's everything she had put away in her box.

Probably the biggest difference in our stashes is cat fabric. I'm pretty sure I have none. Oh wait, there's one piece in a Patchwork City BOM kit. I digress. She is drawn to cat fabric. My favorite is the sushi cat fabric. Cause it's hilarious! That was an acquisition from Hip Stitch in Albuquerque, NM when we went out for Balloon Fiesta in October 2016. Unfortunately the sushi cats haven't made it into a project yet. I should point that out to her. Many of her cat prints went onto the back of her most recent quilt. She also used her whole piece of bunny fabric in that backing.

She also likes purple and pink. The one on the top was a print we each picked up in a shop in Portland, OR. Many of these made it into Striped Quilt, a doll quilt R made from her friend Ellie.

What's not to love about a rainbow print? Or a stripe? 'Nuf said. She used the second one from the bottom to make a pillow last summer.

And the rest of her fabric is this little random assortment. She played a year of t-ball so she digs the baseball prints. The top print is my remnant from the dress I made for her and the shirt I made for her brother. The hot air balloon print is also from Hip Stitch, and she used it to hand sew this sweet little doll dress. The two in the top right were a gift from a couple of the kids in the round robin she participated in. And the two in the bottom right are small bits from my stash.

I look forward to seeing what she makes next!

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My son started quilting just about a year ago and finished his third quilt this month in time to gift to his dad. His first two quilts were squares and rectangles, making this one the first time he's sewn half square triangles. He picked his fabrics from his Finish Along winnings from my post about his first quilt, some fabrics he's picked up at the SCVQA guild sale table, and from my stash. His chose his block design, House on the Hill, from Big Book of Quilting, by Michele Morrow Harer.

I cut out all of his pieces. I'm not sure what age I'll feel comfortable letting him use the rotary cutter, but 5 1/2 is not it. ;-)

At this point he pieces independently, sewing at the kids' art table. I press his seams open for him and help him stay organized while he chain pieces.

I love that he chose the turtles for the door and that he wanted to fussy cut the woman to be looking out the window. He decided to rework the pattern a bit to have only one chimney (instead of two).

He had used the walking foot for quilting his first two quilts, but once he had pieced this quilt he decided that he wanted to free motion quilt it. He really wanted loops. Okay, kid. I set up the machine for him to free motion quilt and he practiced a bit on a practice quilt sandwich. Then he went work on his mini. I supervised and assisted as needed.

He started by quilting the ground area, then wanted the lines on the window. I'm most impressed with his loops on the house and his clouds (in variegated thread). He chose blue binding from my leftover binding box and he assisted and supervised me in attaching the binding. Since he chose a (different) variegated thread to attach the binding, I recommended the three-step zigzag for the top stitching. I figured it would be less exact for him than trying to attach it with a straight stitch. The quilt finished at 12 1/2" x 12 1/2".

He's looking forward to showing this one and Rainbow Swift at the January SCVQA meeting.

I'm linking unto Needle & Thread Thursday and Adrienne's 2015 Q4 Finish Along post. See all my Q4 goals here.

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I managed to finish one of the two bowling shirts for my son in time for it to be a Hanukkah gift. It matches his sister's new dress. This is the kids Bowling Shirt pattern by Scientific Seamstress that I've made a couple times before. This time I actually bothered to make button holes and put on buttons instead of my usual snaps. I figure he's a mature, nearly 5 1/2 year old now, so it was time for buttons. ;-)

One thing I love about this pattern is the number of variations to choose from. If you clicked through on my links above to the other two that I've made, you'll see that fabric placement has been different on all three. The next one I'll finish will be all one fabric (a 4th variation for me).

I opted for the size 5/6. I think this is a 19" length. I feel like he's swimming in it a little, but I like to err on the side of clothes being a little big at the start so there's room to grow. Especially for handmade clothing. I don't want them to outgrow something quickly that has taken me many hours to make.

Here's a shot of the kiddos together as we were out the door to celebrate Hanukkah at our synagogue.

I had meant to share a picture from Hanukkah in yesterday's post. Here's a glimpse of the hanukkiahs from our community. We had 972 candles total.

Thanks for visiting!

I'm linking up to Adrienne's 2015 Q4 Finish Along post. See all my Q4 goals here.