Monroe Sews

Six-year old great-nephew, Monroe, visited the cottage with his family in mid-August. Two summers ago he was intrigued with my sewing machines. Back then I had let him push the button to cut the threads and lift the needle at the end of seams and had told him he could sew something the next time he came.  Over a period of several days  this summer I had the fun of guiding Monroe in a sewing adventure that took place during afternoon quiet times. We began with this box of fabrics reserved for kid projects.

Monroe spent the first afternoon sorting through them to pick out his favorites to make a quilt for his teddy bear. He only needed twelve, but couldn't let go of a thirteenth piece.

I cut his choices into squares while he went to the beach. The next day he arranged them for the quilt top and we decided a pillow could be made from the extra one.

In the picture above Monroe is getting two blocks ready to sew together. I set up my 50 year old Pfaff ... a good solid machine with basic features that are easy to comprehend, plus a slow speed that is easier to control than my newer machines. He quickly learned how to operate it. Over the next couple of afternoons he stitched all the squares together as well as the quilting lines across the the squares. He also sewed and stuffed the pillow.

Monroe asked if his creation could be a sleeping bag rather than a quilt. Here's the front ... complete with the stuffed pillow that stays in place with velcro ...

 and the back ...

Of course we had to see how the bear liked his sleeping bag outside.

Tessa's Birds

My 10-year old granddaughter, Tessa, has a new cousin who had a number of surgeries at the beginning of her life.

There was a bird mobile that had captured her attention during her hospital stays. So Tessa and I made her a quilt this summer featuring birds.

 

To begin, Tessa drew a bird. The first one was more realistic. Her second drawing of a happy and perky one is the style we chose for Ellie's quilt.

 

We did a bit of sketching to determine how many birds should be on the quilt ...

 ... and should they be sitting on a wire? or on a hill?

After making that design decision, Tessa helped to figure out the math for the dimension of the quilt. Part of that process was deciding how big each of the 3 birds should be. She drew out the size for each one. Her drawings became the patterns.

Tessa selected fabric for each of the parts ... birds, ground, and sky ... from this drawer full.

Tessa is sewing the birds bodies ...

Her pattern was traced onto a lining fabric which was placed right sides together with the bird fabric. The lining fabric was slashed open to turn the sewn bird's body right side out to make a nice finished edge to applique to the quilt.

Tessa is positioning the birds on the quilt.  Earlier she had drawn the placement of their legs with chalk for me to couch chenille yarn. I had constructed and quilted the background while she had a little beach time. 

She and I are very pleased with the bird's eyes. They're beetles that were fussy cut from fabric with lots of them all over it.

Tessa is most pleased with this delightful, happy little quilt.

We both enjoyed working together to make it for Ellie.  I like to think these happy little birds will cheer and comfort her for many years to come.

Here's a photo of the other side with our label. Tessa had chosen all these fabrics, too.

 note: My method for writing with machine sewing is described here.

Here's a recent photo of Ellie. This happy little girl has got a thing for birds!

An even more recent picture of these two girl cousins sharing a "belly laugh" ... I love this picture.

Lillian's Purse

This summer I had the pleasure of helping three children in the Durand family create projects in my studio. The first was my 6-year old great-niece, Lillian, who made this ...

 

 "Lillian's Purse" - 11"x 12"

When her family visited the cottage in June I was still engrossed in making the small purse quilts. Lillian helped me to make several design decisions for this one ...

...which I ended up calling "Lillian's Purple Purse" ... which is also the title of a book she had recently read.

There was no hesitation when I asked if she'd like make a purse quilt. Lillian keeps a journal that she draws and/or writes in daily. She drew a picture of what she had in mind to make ...

Using her drawing as reference, I sorted through the huge pile of fabric samples that I've been working from to give her a selection of about dozen different pieces to choose from for the body, the flap, and the background.

The purses are constructed by sewing a lining and purse fabric right sides together, then turning them right side out so there is a finished smooth edge to applique onto the background. Lillian sewed those seams following the drawn lines on the lining layer with a bit of verbal guidance from me sitting right behind her at the sewing machine. Later I machine appliqued them in place as well as stitching the edge of the flap so the dark lining showed a bit.

In the meantime, Lillian quilted the background all on her own ...

There was no problem selecting the trimmings for the handle and "closure". However, when it came to choosing the yarns for finishing the outside edge, none that I thought would be good were what she had in mind. I got a "that's IT" when I came up with that variegated chenille one.

Lillian and I both signed the back ...

Lillian is no stranger to Studio North. At about 18-months she was helping her mom, Diane, with the pins for this piece created by Diane during that summer vacation in my studio.

 

The next two posts will feature each of the other Durand kids projects.

Voodoo Dolls and a Spirit Doll

Over the July 4th weekend one of my grandsons announced he had a sewing project. He has designed and sewn enough that he knew what to do when I gave him a sheet of paper. He drew an outline of what he had in mind which became his pattern. I got out the drawer of fabrics put together especially for my grandchildren to create from. He chose his fabric and got busy cutting and sewing while I continued quilting one of the Prairie Flower panels.
When his brother came up from the beach he too wanted to make a voodoo doll. They play a computer game that involves these plus magical staffs. Earlier that day they had each found bleached sticks on the beach and decorated them with feathers, and braided beach grass.
Walla! Here are their completed voodoo dolls.
This seems to be a good post to include a photo of one the spirit dolls that is part of our SMQ Thursday Bee round robin.
After adding my touches I couldn't resist posing her on a Prairie Flower panel. My contributions are her breasts made from silk leaves (yo yo style) and small silk flowers encased between the two layers of her organza skirt. I couched the bottom edges of those two layers together with an angora yarn then made a belt with angora streamers and beads. Of course, I really had no time to be doing this, but I needed to play!

Sewing with Grandsons

His brother, Jackson, had created a sleeping bag for one of his stuffed animals so Jennings had to have a sewing project, too. He had lain claim to his uncle's childhood "Gizmo" (it's difficult for me to throw anything away) and decided to make a quilt for him.
One side is pieced 8" blocks and the other represents a German flag. It was up to him to figure out how many blocks were needed and then to choose twelve fabrics for the quilt. I cut them out and he designed the quilt and pinned ...
and sewed them all together on the Pfaff 360. This machine is set up on a low side table in my studio exclusively for children to operate.
The quilting was done on the much newer Pfaff Creative 7530. Jennings found it easier to control the quilt by standing rather than sitting at this machine.
His cousin, Winston, didn't have a project in mind but he really wanted to sew and was most willing to help me out on another project. I have a stack of blocks that need binding for Caron's "and still counting" project.
Winston bound several blocks including one he had stitched Colonial knots onto last summer.
I sure wish he, or someone else, would stick around long enough to bind them all so they could be mailed off to Caron. I like the stitching knots in a spiral pattern on the blocks, but not the binding part.

Fun Sewing With Tessa

Tessa's 7th birthday present from me was an antique doll bed AND the fun of our "dressing it" together. Five days later it was finished.
The mattress and pillows were made before it was given to her. She and I took a trip to the fabric store to select the fabrics and trims. All the choices were made by Tessa with a bit of input in the the form of questions from me. She had not realized there were so many different pinks and that the one she liked best has a bit of orange in it.
She chose coordinating flannel prints for the sheets and pillow cases. They were made first so she could put her doll to bed the first night. It was too warm for a top sheet and quilt anyway. In the photo above Tessa is arranging the 5" cut blocks for the quilt.
Tessa sewed most of the seams on all the bedding while I stitched a few complex ones. However, most of the long seams and quilting lines were stitched by both of us. The chair was deep enough for the two of us to sit in while I guided the fabric and she operated the levers and foot pedal.
The backing of the quilt is "Minki" fabric. Because it is thick and has a bit of loft there is no batting inside the quilt.

Needles to say, Tessa is pleased with the resulting present and her accomplishments ... especially that she got to operate the sewing machine all by herself (even threading the machine with no help). I'm pleased that she was willing and capable and persisted to the conclusion of this beautifully dressed bed. It's fun sewing with Tessa.

2 Years of Sharing

Two years ago today my nephew, Peter, set up this weblog for me to share my art and techniques. It has, and is, serving my philosophy to pass on my knowledge and enthusiasm for "making stuff". It is most appropriate that this is the day four young friends could come over to play with me.Georgia decided to make a tree. She's working upside down so as not to disturb the pieces placed at the bottom. It's not a bad idea to work upside down at any time. It gives a different perspective to your work making it easier to spot weaknesses. Audrey decided to make a patchwork-like background.
Chewy was totally "into it" as you can tell by her body language.
Her mother, Katrina, was intrigued with the process. She's an artist and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to play with my "Ortwork" technique.
Here are their pieces pinned to the design wall.
Tomorrow they'll come back to quilt their creations. All three machines are set to go.

More Lake Pieces

Jackson, my 8-year old grandson, made a lake piece.
A couple of weeks ago he had collected "found stuff" throughout the day and had made an art piece "like his Granellie" does. He related this to me and displayed the piece in an iChat. I showed him the lake piece I had just completed that day and promised the next time he came to the cottage he could make one with me.Jackson very much liked digging through the bags of scraps. Every scrap appealed to him, but the blues and purples won out. I'm showing him that small skinny scraps and pieces of yarn make good waves.He was most pleased to finally get to sew on my best machine. The first few rows of quilting were done with my sitting right behind him at the machine. He did so well that I got up and did other things in the studio while he quilted.

While Jackson was making his lake piece I was making mine.

Lake #29 construction

Lake #29

Here are Jackson's and my pieces hanging together on the design wall.

Both are 13" wide, but vary in height.