This past weekend was the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association bi-annual quilt show. As a member, I was able to enter three quilts myself and my son was able to enter his quilt as well. I showed Candy Shoppe, Antioxidant Delight and Stellar Wind. And just in the nick of time, his quilt was ready to go as well.
If you haven't been following along, our journey began in January. In my last post he had his quilt top pinned and ready to go. We discussed quilting options and decided he'd try echo quilting 1/4" on either side of the seams. As he started the first line it became clear that he was having trouble keeping the quilt straight, so we took a break from his quilting and sketched some possibilities on paper. He decided to go with just sewing the lines in "whatever direction."
My son had done all the piecing work sitting on my lap at my sewing table. I worked the pedal as he steered the fabric, with some guidance from me. For the quilting we set my machine up (with the walking foot) at the kids table and he was able to work the pedal as he fed the quilt. After each line we discussed where to start and aim to finish the next line. As we got to the end, I made some recommendations about what areas had less quilting. He did about 3 lines of quilting each evening, supervised by me or Auntie Jenn. From a comment by Bo (on the Part 2 post) we decided to stitch in the outline of his hand. I think this will be a lovely reminder of how small he was when he made the quilt. For reference, the quilt blocks are 6-inch finished squares. I made and attached the binding for him to finish the quilt.
An Interview with the New Quilter
Tell me the process of making a quilt.
I made a quilt by like laying out the quilt, I was sewing it and I finally came to quilting and I finished quilting it and I put it in the quilt show and it was at the Santa Clara Convention Center, so yeah.
How did you decide on the name “Jungle of Animals”?
Because it has lots of animals in it.
How was it to be taught by your mom?
Pretty good. I really liked it because that it kind of made my life better because I never made a quilt before.
What did you like best about making a quilt?
That I got to do it almost all by myself.
What is your favorite part of quilting?
Quilting it cause I put pins in it and I sewed it whatever direction. So it kind of made my life start better.
What was the hardest part?
The hardest part was my mom said to stitch one line on one side of the stitching we already did and one on the other but I just sewed where I wanted. (This is in reference to quilting the quilt, described above.)
What’s the most important thing to know to make a quilt?
To not sew on yourself. And to keep the quilt flat while you’re sewing.
What would you tell a new quilter?
Good job for making a quilt.
Your quilt hung in the SCVQA quilt show this weekend. Can you tell me more about that?
So again, I sewed it almost all by myself. The quilt show it was pretty fun. We had to look for quilts so yeah. (He really enjoyed the kids "I Spy" game at the show.)
What are your plans for "Jungle of Animals" now that it is done?
I will put it in my mom and dad’s room and I’m going to make my own special pillow and it's gonna be small so I can cuddle in my mom and dad’s room.
What are you planning for your next quilt project?
A rainbow doll quilt for my sister’s babies for her birthday. She is 2 ½ and she has some dolls. I’m 4 ½ and yeah.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I think they would like to know how I sewed it. I sewed it by laying it flat on the ground and my dad looked at it and he said “beautiful. Nice work.” Then we started sewing the squares into twos, then fours. Then we put it together. Then we quilted it. Then we put the binding on and we were done. So it only took a couple steps.
Photos by Jennifer McNeil Photography. Thanks Auntie Jenn!
Helping him make his quilt is one of my finishes from my Q1 Finish Along Goal List. Linking up to the Q1 Finishes party at On the Windy Side.
Check out the rest of the series:
This is the throw size. With my single 4" border it measures 45" by 58". I'm calling the quilt Prince Charming, made from Charm squares in the royal color of purple. (No, I'm not getting better at naming my quilts. I had help. Thanks, Amber.) I was able to use purple fabrics from my stash for the backing and binding. Woo! #sewmystash2015
