Lily and Lex' build a barn (out of fabric, of course)

You may remember

(though - you may not, since it's been ages....)

that the girls and I are reading the Little House books 

and they are sewing up quilt blocks to go along with them.

(thank you, Amy!!)

They started out gung ho,

but lost steam after just a few weeks.

I wouldn't go any further in the books

until they got caught up on the blocks,

so we were sort of at a stand still for several months.

There's no 'sort of' about it - we were at a standstill...
Smack in the middle of Farmer Boy.

I'd ask them periodically about the quilt

(if they didn't want to make one -

then we could proceed with the books)

and they always said they still wanted to make the quilt,

but they never felt like working on it.

Then one day,

a few weeks ago,

out of the blue,

Lexi said she wanted to sew.

I said, "You going to finish your cat block?"

(she only had 2 seams to go...)

and she said she guessed she would.

And she proceeded to finish it,

and then made another block,

then both girls chose fabrics for their barn blocks

(and their maple leaf, and sheep blocks, too

but let's not get ahead of ourselves...)

Because I am a little bit template challenged

(though it's not nearly as bad as my paper piecing challenged!)

I changed up how we did the barn block

so that it could be made with just rectangles and squares

and I removed seams where I could.

As a reminder,

I cut, and sometimes pin for them,

(they are 10 and 8)

but they sew and press.

Lexi starches;
Lily does not.

With this barn block,

the girls learned what a flying geese block is

and how to make one.

They also learned about adding corners to create diagonal seams

without using half square triangles.

Lexi wanted to frame out her door, 

so she learned one way to do that.

They are both so different in their approach to sewing.

When I was cutting Lily's silo,

I asked which way she wanted the fabric to run,

and she said, "I really don't care".

And she meant it.

Lexi not only cares,

she knows which element in the fabric she wants centered...

Lily likes making the blocks okay,

but what she really loves,

is making tiny things.

So while Lexi was taking her turn at the machine,

Lily was working on another Little House quilt.

Now that they are all caught up on their blocks, 

we can get back to reading

😀

linking up with backpack-makin' Amanda Jean

Lex's DrEAMi project

A few weeks ago,

Lexi (8) had a wild hair to make a 4-patch quilt.

I reminder her that she already had a project to work on;

her cat block was cut and laid out,

ready to sew.

She wasn't interested in sewing her cat;

she only wanted to Drop Everything And Make her quilt.

So 

I taught her about leader/ender projects,

and we compromised.

She worked on her cat block 

and this mini quilt,

at the same time.

When she had both 4 patches

(front and back)

all sewn together,

she stopped working on her cat block,

and focused on finishing the quilt.

(she still hasn't finished her cat block,

and all it needs is 2 borders attached!

I'm trying not to be pushy about it...)

She chose wool batting

(but then, is that a surprise?)

and red thread

and we spray basted the layers together

(and used up the very last of our spray)

She drew out some quilting,

then practiced a bit 

on an already quilted on practice sandwich,

then went to town on the real deal.

We'd forgotten to check the bobbin,

and darn it if she didn't run out mid-quilting.

I apologized for the oversight,

and turned it into another lesson

(well, 2, really,

the first being - make sure you have plenty of bobbin thread...)

and she learned how to go back

and lock those last stitches made before the bobbin emptied.

She did all of the sewing and pressing,

though I did accidentally take over for a few minutes

pressing the binding to the back,

before she fussed at me

and I turned the iron back over to her.

She did want me to make the label for her

and I opted for the speed of the machine,

rather than stitching by hand.

We tucked it into the binding

and I helped glue baste it down,

then she sewed the binding down by herself

(she also attached it to the front totally by herself,

after I helped with the first corner to refresh her memory)

She didn't make this for any particular reason,

other than

she just really really wanted to.

Which I can totally understand :-)

Lily's blocks

As you know,

the girls and I are reading the Little House books,

and they are sewing along with Amy's girls (sorta)

As with Lexi,

the first block Lily made was the log cabin.

(she has a fabulous 1/4 in seam!)

It was quickly joined 

by a block of our own design,

Calico Dress.

I simply drew a dress 

and enlarged it,

then traced it onto the back of fabric that we'd 

adhered lightweight interfacing too.

(No more applique without stabilizers for us!)

After cutting out the dress,

we glue basted it onto Lily's background fabric of choice,

and she sewed it on with invisible thread.

Then she added some stitching,

to define the waistband,

and give the appearance of gathers and folds in the skirt.

That was when she learned about pulling your top thread

to the bottom

for knotting,

instead of locking stitches with the sewing machine.

Black Susan was a super fun block to make,

and in making it,

Lily learned (one way) to make half square triangles.

When cutting the fabric, 

I realized I could eliminate 2 seams,

which made it even easier to put together.

The girls wanted a black fabric that wasn't entirely solid,

and when we couldn't find anything locally that was suitable,

I ordered  'black dress' Basic Grey Grunge

 from the only shop I could find it in

because we all agreed it was perfect.

Lil' started working on her next block,

(another one that we've added)

by sewing it as leaders/enders,

and she's already pieced a good chunk of it.

Lexi's sewed her dress block also,

and most of Black Susan.

We'll share them when she's finished.

We're having a great time 

reading and sewing

together,

and I admit to considering

more than once,

catching up with them,

and making a Little House quilt

right along with them.

A sweet friend gave us a hard cover copy of 

On the Banks of Plum Creek,

and we've decided we'd like to own matching hardbacks

of all of the Little House books,

so if you happen to have some that you no longer want,
we'd be happy to take them off your hands :-)

Little House in the Big Woods, first 3 blocks

Little House in the Big Woods (in fabric)

A few weeks ago, 

I stumbled upon

something I'd been looking for

for several months.

Ever since Lexi finished her first quilt,

she's wanted to make another one.

Since I have a gift for complicating things,

I thought it would be amazing if I could find 

a block of the month type of quilt-a-long for her.

Something that she could work on 

here and there, over the course of  month,

mostly on her own,

and increase her skills.

Problem was,

everything I found

even for beginners,

was too advanced for an 8 year old.

She'd ask every few weeks

if I'd found one for her yet,

so this wasn't just a passing thought.....

Bloglovin adds posts to my feed

that bloggers I follow

 have 'liked'.

I forget who liked it,

but when I saw a picture of a little girl,

holding a big (simple!) quilt block 

of a black cat,

well, I clicked on the link real quick.

And I was delighted to find

a Little House on the Prarie Sew Along!

Two years ago,

in an effort to get her (then 8 yr old) daughter 

to read the Little House books,

Amy bribed her 

by telling her she could make a quilt block or two 

for each book in the series.

And then she graciously shared the blocks with the world.

Now, she has another 8 yr old daughter,

so they are sewing along again,

and Lily and Lex will be reading and sewing along, too!

They've been chomping at the bit to start sewing just as soon as we started reading.

(the three of us are reading the books together.

Sometimes we snuggle on the bed,

and sometimes, 

I sit on the couch and read,

while they lay on the floor.

Yesterday, while they listened,

Lexi played with our new patchwork design tiles

(a generous gift from a super thoughtful quilt-blogging friend :-)

and Lily built a bunkbed for Titus and Amanda

(who have yet to be photographed)

out of cardboard, skewers, and masking tape.

Other times one of them reads,

and I practice my knitting.)

I was a little slow to get started with the sewing bit,

because I still haven't got my fabric mess put away from Jordan's quilt,

and the whole fabric choosing overwhelmed me.

But,

we finished the first book,

Little House in the Big Woods,

yesterday,

so I had to bite the bullet.

Lily was starting to get sick yesterday,

so after picking out about 5 fabrics,

she was done.

Lex', on the other hand,

chose 18, 

which we then whittled down to 13,

and she determined what would go where in the block.

I cut the fabric for her last night

(no way are my babies using a rotary cutter yet!)

and she got started

- and finished -

today,

though she had to take a break part way through

cuz she was getting worn. out.

(so was Momma.

There is really no such thing as 'on her own'

when the sew-er is only 8...)

She did all of the sewing and pressing and thread snipping,

but I pinned for her.

She was quite purposeful with most of her fabric choices:

the dark blue with dots is a starry sky,

and the light blue with white is a summer sky with clouds.

Obviously, the bottom grassy green - is grass,

and the red above it is for leaves in the fall.

The fabric with deer on it was a charm square 

that I got as a sample with a fabric order

(though sadly I can't remember from where)

so there were only a few spots it would work.

(Deer came up multiple times in the book)

The Heather Ross fabric had to be in the block,

because it had Laura, Mary, and Black Susan

and of course a tree (tree /  big woods...)

(never mind that Mary would never climb a tree ;-)

The gold above the 'hearth' square is for the wheat and oats

that Pa and his helpers harvest,

and the fabric on the right is just because she loves it ;-)

 

I'm so glad to have found a quilt a long that is perfect for Lexi,

and the fact that Lily wants to join in, 

and we can all read the series together,

is a fantastic bonus.

Speaking of houses - 

when we were walking back to the house after taking pictures,

we (of course) walked by the new house.

I said, "Just think, Lex'!

Soon, when we're going back in the house 

after taking pictures,

we'll walk right up those steps,

and in that door." 

💙

linking up with AmandaJean,
because a single block is a big finish when you're just 8!