A Quilt for Snuffy

Oh my friends, what a week it's been. Little Mouse came down with what we thought was a stomach bug last Saturday night. Unfortunately it was a more serious virus than we knew, culminating in a long day at the emergency room on Thursday so that she could be treated for dehydration. I'm very grateful to say that she's on the mend, but we're still taking it a day at a time. She's in that delicate place right now where she's getting her strength back but still needs to stay quiet (no easy feat for this little bundle of energy), and it's a challenge to keep her calm so that she doesn't relapse. The hardest part of all is that our church is having it's Christmas children's program and festival tomorrow morning, which she'll have to miss. Breaking the news to her last night was painful, after her long week of hoping against hope that she'd get well in time. After she spent a while sobbing in my arms and then in her Daddy's, I told her that maybe we could sew something special this weekend together to make up for it, perhaps a quilt for her beloved stuffed dog Snuffy.

It was a game changer. There were more tears before the day was over, but it was definitely the turning point. I sit here now and think back on how many times the prospect of "sewing time with Mommy" saved the day with my girls. It has so often been a way to help them through difficult moments.

So while the rest of the family went to Saturday lunch at our favorite Mexcian restaurant, Mouse and I went upstairs to sew. Miniature doll quilts are such a wonderful project when you want to sew something with a child. You don't even really need a pattern. Just pick the fabrics, choose a shape or design, sew the top, and then cut a backing print to fit. I like to use a piece of muslin or cotton fabric instead of batting so that the quilt isn't too stiff. Instead of binding, I just sew the front and back together, leaving an opening for turning, and then once it's turned right side out, I tuck the raw edges inside and stitch 1/8" from the edge all around. So simple!

We made a little pillow to go along with the quilt, adding pom-pom trim at Mouse's request. She was absolutely delighted with the finish, and immediately wanted to tuck Snuffy in for a nap.

She's spent the rest of the day resting on the couch in the family room cuddling with her little pup and watching old episodes of the Beverly Hillbillies. I love to hear her giggling from the next room.

After a week like this one, it's the most beautiful music in the world.

Sewing School: Tiger Lily Doll Quilts

It's been a while since I've sewed with my daughters. With the move, I just haven't had the time. But earlier this year when I first laid eyes on Heather Ross's Tiger Lily collection, I knew that this would give the girls and me something to look forward to. After weeks of hearing little voices ask, "Is it here yet, Mommy?" our package showed up earlier this month, and last Friday we finally sat down to sew.

My girls wanted to make doll quilts for their American Girl friends, so after measuring their IKEA toy beds, I decided we would make simple patchwork quilts using 16 blocks, each a finished 4" square. I cut a stack of squares for each girl which they got to arrange any way they wanted.

It was fun to observe my daughters as they walked through this creative experience, especially since they're at least a year older since the last time we sewed together. They were all big fans of the planning stage. Bunny even brought her doll in to consult on placement decisions. Bear put in a lot of time on arranging before finally coming to me with a brown square and saying, "Mommy, I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but this fabric isn't really my style." We quickly replaced it with something pink. Mouse insisted that she had a matching theme to her quilt, since she tried to make sure that similar designs in different colorways were placed right next to each other.

For the first time, I let Bunny sew by herself at the machine while I watched, and she was so proud. I got to hear all the details about a future sewing room of her own. This girl has big plans, let me tell you.

Bear and Mouse both sat on my lap during their turns, placing their hands over mine while we sewed and quilted together. I let Bear take the wheel for a few seconds here and there, but it was definitely a team effort.

We decided to do a different style of quilting for each quilt. Bunny chose wavy lines, Bear used a zig-zag stitch, and Mouse had simple diagonal lines across the squares. I've found that even though kids can tell their projects apart by the arrangement of the quilt top, it helps to use variety in the quilting designs too.

The bottom line: sewing with kids is not really something you do for relaxation, because honestly, that's not the point. It's always a challenge to keep little hands away from the hot iron, to explain what a bobbin does for the fifteenth time, to make your peace with a five-year-old's design decisions and the inevitable mismatched seams. But time spent sharing your passion with your children and seeing it become their passion as well...it's time you'll never regret.

Celebrate the end of National Sewing Month by sewing with a kid. I promise, you won't be bored.

Chevron Doll Quilt Tutorial

Today you'll find me over at Amanda's wonderful blog Jedi Craft Girl sharing a tutorial for this little doll quilt featuring my favorite chevron block. Hop on over and have a look!

Sewing for Dolly

When I was a little girl, I used to pore over the American Girl catalogs that my grandmother mailed to our house -- she has always been a doll collector and believes in starting them young. The cost of all the items were light years out of our family's price range, but I would spend hours happily turning the pages and making lists of things I wanted to buy. It's given me quite a laugh to watch Bunny do exactly the same thing this past year with those catalogs (which my grandmother is still sending), proving that she is indeed my daughter in every way. Today is Bunny's sixth birthday, but we had her party on Saturday so that the family could all come. And the special package from my husband's parents this year held an actual American Girl doll inside -- the first one that anyone in our family has ever owned, giving Miss Bunny an honored rank similar to the first person in a family to go to college. Since Bunny tells me that Ruthie the doll is in desperate need of bedding and clothing, and since we don't have the Swiss bank accounts that one would need to purchase these items from the people at American Girl, today was the first of what will be a standing weekly mother-daughter sewing date to create Ruthie's wardrobe and accessories.

Today's item was a sleeping bag and pillow set. I had planned to make Ruthie a doll quilt and buy an inexpensive doll bed online, but apparently they don't exist (the cheapest one I could find was $40 -- obviously I'm in the wrong business). My design was based on a tutorial which you can find here.

Bunny begged me to buy a charm pack of Aneela Hoey's new Posy collection last month, so I let her use that for this project. She got to choose the layout for the charm squares and help me guide the fabric through the machine for some of the sewing.  Most of the interior is one of the Posy prints along with a strip of Waffle Pink from Monaluna's Havana collection. I bound the sleeping bag in a grey and white crossword puzzle print by Tim & Beck.

I love the simplicity of this design. There are no zippers to bother with and the buttons are purely decorative. You can make the bag with a single piece of fabric, but doing the charm squares makes a sweet patchwork version that fits Ruthie's 1930's time period quite well. Some of the Posy prints -- especially those bunnies in the picture below -- even have a bit of a vintage vibe, I think. This collection just couldn't be more perfect for little girls.

Since I didn't want Bear to feel left out, I let her pick two charm squares from the pack, and she helped me sew a simple coaster to put under her water cup in her room. We had so much fun making this together, and Bear was absolutely thrilled to pieces with the result. She's been carrying this coaster around with her all day long.

I definitely want to sew with my girls more often. It's great to see the pride they feel in being a part of making something that they're really going to use. Bunny was watching me as I ironed out a few of the seams we had just sewn together, and she suddenly flashed me a blinding smile. "I like sewing, Mommy! I think I'm really getting the hang of this!" Then she reached over and hugged my arm. "You're the best Mommy in the whole entire world."

Need I say more?

Zakka Block Quilt

I had planned to make the full size Zakka Block Quilt this week, but when I thought about the fact that I still have the girls' three quilts to finish as well as our own quilt to start -- well, it seemed like throwing another lap quilt into the mix was a bad idea. The solution? Make it a mini.

I've been hanging on to a charm pack of Liz Scott's Domestic Bliss collection for a while now. I pulled out eight squares and cut them into quarters, then paired them with a grey colored linen blend for the front. I added a few full size charm squares for the back along with a pink herringbone print from Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow. The piece is quilted in a simple zig zag pattern and bound in the same grey linen.

This was my first time ever using linen in a quilt I made, and I have to say that I love the feel of it...so soft and cozy. I may end up trying this on a larger quilt at some point. It really does look lovely. By the way, I apologize for the slightly blurry look of the top photo in particular. I was fighting the wind as I took my pictures this evening, and just couldn't get that quilt to hold still for a hardly a second...

Linking up to TNT Thursday & the Zakka Along.

Super Spy

The I-Spy quilt that I've been working on for my girls is finally done, and not a moment too soon. They've been waiting to pounce on it ever since I pulled out the charm squares from my Ellison Lane Quilts swap. I went through at least a dozen ideas for this quilt, but in the end, I decided that simple was best. "After all," my husband said, "it's all about the game, right?" The grid of modern fabric squares is separated by strips of my beloved grey -- is there anything that does not look great with this color? -- and bound by Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelet in red and white.

On the back I put a print which I absolutely adore, Michael Miller's Retro Escapees in aqua. I've been saving this one for a kid's quilt, and this was perfect. It's almost like having another I-Spy game on the back. I love the way the light shining through the quilt makes the back look like it's all lit up with Christmas lights.

This is going to be a well loved quilt, I can tell already. All I had to do was toss it on the floor and say, "Alright, girls . . . it's all yours." And yes, all three of them did actually pounce.

Linking up to Sew Modern Monday, Manic Monday & Fabric Tuesday!

Lattice Quilt

For the next few weeks, I'll be working my way through the projects in Pretty in Patchwork: Doll Quilts. What fun. I'm learning some new techniques, and getting instant gratification at the same time -- small quilts that I can make in a day or two! This lattice quilt is a gift for my grandmother who is absolutely crazy about dolls, so I thought it would be a good fit. It marks the first time that I've been brave enough to make my own binding, and now I'm wondering why I didn't try this sooner. I definitely need to work on my binding skills some more and possibly invest in a few more colors of thread, but it's a start. Some time later in the year, I'd like to try this quilt again and see if I can take it in a different direction. For now, it feels good to be growing in my skills.

Doll Quilts

Birthdays are wonderful things, dropping all sorts of lovely surprises in your lap. My family was kind enough to indulge my new love of all things sewing this year, so I was able to build up my fabric stash quite a bit. I was also able to purchase a copy of Pretty in Patchwork: Doll Quilts, which is currently my favorite book in the whole wide world. Inside those incredible pages I found a pattern for the Dream Doll Quilt by Aneela Hoey, who incidentally had designed the fabric I had set aside to make quilts for my daughters, a darling Red Riding Hood pattern called "A Walk in the Woods." The fabric line will not be fully released until early spring, but I was able to find a few sets of charm squares available online. I backed the quilts in another one of her prints from the Little Apples line. The original doll quilt pattern is quite a bit smaller and more detailed than my version. I wanted something that my girls could sit on while they played with their dolls, so I made the quilts long and placed the dolly quilt pocket at the top. I made the pockets large enough that they will fit more little friends if I get around to making them in the future. So far they seem to be a hit. In fact, my girls are snuggled up on the couch with their new friends even as I type this entry.