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Sunday 9 February 2014

Mother-Daughter Quilting


My daughter's heart was broken for the first time this week. Fortunately, it was not because of a boy, but it was because her best friend, Cora,  moved halfway across the world. For the past year, the two girls were inseparable and got in all kinds of trouble together:) 

Here is a crazy example...my 14-year-old son discovered that some of his money was missing. I asked my daughter and Cora what happened to the money, and innocently they told me they "had no idea". Then we discovered their to-do list...look at #5 and #6!!!



Crazy right?!! I didn't even know what to do!

But anyway, I have wanted to get my daughter back to the sewing machine with me for awhile (you can read a little bit about another time here)--normally she never "has time" and is always busy, but this week seemed like a good opportunity--all she's done this week has been just sitting in front of the TV trying to Skype Cora 15,000 times. So I asked her if she wanted to sew with me. She was reluctant to move off the couch, but I showed her some patterns and let her pick any fabric she wanted from my stash. 

We decided to each make identical quilts, but using the fabrics of our choice. She decided she wanted the quilts to be made from Camille Roskelley's "25 Half Square Triangle Blocks". She chose Lecien's Flower Sugar and I used mostly Pam Kitty Picnic, but I really wanted some aqua so I went a little out of my comfort zone and added a few other fabrics into the bundle.  

I thought making 16 HSTs for one block was a little ambitious, but I was surprised to find that she stayed focused the whole time and didn't quit until her block was done. I helped with the cutting, some ironing, and squaring-up the blocks, but she did all the rest. 



Isn't her block the sweetest?




When I was squaring up her HSTs they were a little wonky (but for some reason that always happens with Flower Sugar!!) so I made them each 4". I squared mine to 4 1/2". You can't tell from these photos, but my block is 16 1/2" and hers is 14". 




And just a tip for sewing with kids...if you stick a stack of post-it notes on the machine at the 1/4" mark they can easily keep a 1/4" seam!!!




 When they blocks were done, I think my daughter had snapped out of her depression. She said, "Can I go play outside now?". 

7 comments:

  1. That To Do list is hilarious ... not just the sneaking and stealing of money (which, well, it kind of goes both ways, bit of a bad thing... it kills me that they wrote it on a list instead of, you know, keeping it totally secret!), but also the "eat a lot" entry... haha :D

    The blocks do look great!

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  2. Brilliant idea, that post it stack. I'll have to remember that. I keep meaning to get my daughter into the sewing room. Today! She's always creating in a billion other ways. Might as well get her started in the fabric madness early, right?

    Both blocks are the sweetest. I love that we have a lot of fabric loves in common!

    That list is killing me! So funny that they wrote it all down.

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  3. Love both your blocks! The story is funny, kids will be kids lol. Sorry her friend had to go away, those childhood memories are ones I treasure most!

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  4. Awww, poor girl it is hard enough for an adult to say goodbye to a friend much less a child to say goodbye:( She has really good piecing/sewing skill!!

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  5. Love this Cristina! Your daughter did such a great job on her block!!! And she has great taste in fabric :) I went through moving away from friends when I was young and it can be tough. We wrote letters (the old fashioned way :) but how great that there are skype and email now for them to keep in touch! Hope she is doing ok...

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  6. That is just the sweetest! Your daughter's block is fabulous! :o)

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  7. Your such a good Momma! I remember sewing with mine.

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XOXO Cristina