Children's Quilting Class was a success!

The Children's Quilting Class at our local library came to an end last night when all five young ladies completed their pillow projects and brought them home to show off to friends and family. It is my hope that they will treasure their handmade projects for years to come, and perhaps even take on other quilting projects in the future.

Would you like to see their handiwork? Take a look...


Lauren did a wonderful job of handpiecing her squares into the 9-patch pillow cover. Then she quilted a flower into the center white square, a big X in each middle edge square, and her initials into two of the corner squares.



She did a pretty good job of closing the last seam after stuffing the pillow form into the pocket. Blind stitch is a hard stitch to master, but I thought Lauren did well for her first time.


Alondra was very creative in her quilting. A flower in the center, her initials in the yellow square, other initials in the green square, and various designs on the rest of the squares.


I like this flower design that she put on the dark purple square.


Flavia fancied a teddy bear for her pillow, so she traced the teddy bear stencil diagonally onto the white square and did a nice job stitching it. You may just barely be able to make out that the bear is holding a heart.


Megan drew a music note freehand onto her white square and was very neat in her stitching. Then she added other designs on the outer squares too.


And Brittany traced a flower in her white square, then freehanded other designs onto the outer squares that she said reflected her feelings.


On the purple square she stitched a heart. Look how consistent her stitches are...very nice!


And on the pink square she stitched rows of wavy lines. Very creative!

I think all five of the girls enjoyed learning and creating in this class. I know I enjoyed sharing with them the knowledge that others have so generously shared with me. I hope that this will be just the beginning of a lifelong love affair with fabrics and creativity for each of them.

Happy Stitching!

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Children's Quilting Class has begun!

The 9 patch pillow Children's Quilting Class for which I prepared earlier in the summer began last night at our local public library. Once registration for this class opened up two weeks ago, the class filled up within only a couple of hours and then the wait list filled up too! So there are lots of young girls out there wanting to learn needlearts.

As it turned out, one girl did not show up, so we ended up with 5 girls in the class and they all did a great job with their first handpiecing projects. Some picked it up more quickly than others, and they all had homework to complete before the next class on Thursday evening, but they all did a good job and should be able to have all nine squares pieced before the next class. I'll show pictures of their finished projects after the class ends next week.

For now, let me show you what each of the girls received on their first night of class...


This is the program room in our children's library. Isn't it fabulous? On the wall behind where I was standing to take this picture, there are two huge closets for storage and a little area with a sink and counter top and cabinets. Through the generosity of the Friends of the Library, programs like this and so many others are able to be enjoyed at no charge to the community. We are really very blessed to have such opportunities here in Leominster.

Anyway...


...for the first class, each girl received her own little sewing box with pin cushion, pins, scissors, a large spool of quilting thread, and a little plastic case with several quilting needles in it. Each of the girls also received nine squares of fabric.

In the first class, I taught them how to hand piece their 9 patch block together using this method which I shared here previously. A few of the girls got their first row pieced and part of their second row, and a few didn't get past the first row during the class time. But after explaining to them how to continue so that all 9 squares are connected by Thursday evening, they all said they understood and would get it done. So it will be interesting to see how their blocks come out. I'll keep you updated on their progress as the class continues later this week and into next week.

In other news, summer weather has finally arrived here in New England and I noticed that my 400th post is coming up soon. Can you guess what that means? Stay tuned for more information on a 400th post summer giveaway! Yippee! I love giveaways!

Happy Stitching!

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9 Patch Pillow Top Ready to Quilt

After I hand pieced the 9 squares together for the Children's Quilting Class at the library, I cut a piece of muslin about 4 inches larger on each side than the block, and a piece of batting just a little larger than the block.


Each of the children in the quilting class will receive, among other necessary items, a similar piece of muslin and batting for the blocks that they piece.


Then I basted the three layers together using a contrasting color of regular sewing thread. I started in the middle and worked toward each corner first. Then I basted each side about an inch away from the edge. This should be enough to hold the layers together while I quilt them.

I have purchased almost all of the supplies I will need for this class. The only big thing left for me to get is a wooden hoop for each of the participants. I am hoping to get six 12 inch wooden hoops, but my local Michael's store has been out of stock for several weeks now. I'll be making some calls to my not-so-local A.C. Moore and Joann Fabrics to see what I can find.

I love preparing for classes like this and thinking about how this kind of experience might influence the future of these kids. Did you ever take a crafty class at your local library or somewhere similar when you were a child? How did it influence your future?

Happy Stitching!

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Handpiecing 9 Patch Squares for Children's Quilting Class

I started handpiecing the pillow top for the children's quilting class I'll be doing at the library this summer. Since it is only 9 squares, it didn't take too long. Here's how I did it...


After deciding on the arrangement of the squares and marking the 1/4 inch seam line on all sides of each square, I chose the two I would start piecing and placed them right sides together. Using my long straight pins, I pushed a pin through both squares so that it was directly on the marked line of both squares. I used one pin about every inch. At the corners, I made sure that the pin went directly through the intersection of the lines at the corners on each square.


Here is the wrong side of the other square showing the pointed ends of the pins poking through.


Then I took another pin and put it into the seam allowance near the first pin and then back out again so that it was flat with the fabric. The pin sticking straight up through both fabrics ensures that neither fabric will slip during this pinning. Then I removed the first pin that was sticking straight up and used it to pin the fabric near the next pin. I continued this until each of the pins that were sticking straight up out of the fabric was removed and replaced by a pin that was flat on the fabric.


Then I took my favorite quilting needle and hand quilting thread and began to stitch the seam. Using knots in hand piecing will tend to produce unnecessary bulk in the seams, so it is not recommended. Instead, start stitching about 1/2 inch away from a corner along the seamline and stitch towards the corner, making sure that your needle is going into the marked line on both squares. After every few stitches, work a little back stitch by putting your needle into the fabric about a half stitch back from where you ended your last stitch. This will lock your stitches in place. Once you have stitched that little 1/2 inch and have reached the corner, turn your stitching around and stitch the entire seam line to the opposite corner, working a little back stitch as before each time you come to a pin, or about every inch or so. When you reach the corner, turn your work around and stitch about 1/2 inch back along the seam line, taking one more little back stitch in that 1/2 inch. Then clip your thread.


I stitched all three rows of squares in this manner, and then...


...I pinned the rows together and stitched them in the same way, making sure that my needle was going directly through the marked line with every stitch and through the intersections of the lines at each corner...


...until all nine squares were connected to each other.


And there is the 9 patch pillow top, ready for layering and quilting.

I really enjoy hand piecing because of it's slow pace and relaxing rhythm. It produces just about perfectly accurate seams and corners too. Do you have any tips for hand piecing that you would like to share? Please leave a comment and let everyone know!

Happy Stitching!

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Progress on 9 Patch Pillow Children's Quilting Class Sample

I've made a little progress on the 9 patch block which will be the sample for the children's beginner quilting class I am doing at our local library later this summer. After choosing my fabrics and cutting them into 5 1/4 inch squares, I arranged them in what I thought was a pleasing way. It took me a while to get to this, but I like how it ended up. Good thing there were only 9 squares or I still wouldn't be at this point yet!


The squares are showing their wrong sides here, and you can see all my supplies gathered together. I love using my quilter's quarter for marking the seam line. No guess work involved!

I decided to put the white muslin square in the middle so I can quilt a pretty design or initial into it. I like for the children taking the class to be able to personalize their piece and I think initials are a nice way to do that.


And here you can see the very fine pencil lines on each side of the squares. For the dark purple square, I used my white pencil which I first sharpened to a very fine point.

Next up, I'll be showing some of the details of how I hand piece my squares, so if this is something you have not done before, you might find it interesting.

Happy Stitching!

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Fun Fabric for Children's Quilting Class

Last summer I held a 4 session embroidery class at our local library and the children who attended really seemed to enjoy learning a new skill and putting it to good use.

I have been invited back again this summer and the project I have chosen to teach this time is a 9 patch quilted pillow.

Wanna see the fun fabric I picked out for this project?

The four print fabrics in the lower part of the picture were part of my fun purchase recently when I was looking for black and whites for my sister's pin cushion bag. The other five fabrics are from my stash. I cut 5 1/4 inch squares of each fabric, so after hand stitching them into a 9 patch, the finished block will be 14 3/4 inches. After quilting and stitching to the pillow back, this should be just perfect for covering a 14 inch pillow form.

Now the only question is ... can 6 children, ages 10 to 12, get all this done in four 1.5 hour sessions? We'll see!

More pictures of the sample in progress to come!

Happy Stitching!

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