GEMMA MY GEM - RAILED IT! or NAILED IT!

Gemma and I have been working this spring and summer

to get her second quilt, the Rail Fence finished.

She rips out her mistakes.

She learned how to thread my Bernina 740

and how to set the stitch length.

And before we knew it...the top was complete

and ready to quilt.

We set her up to do organic straight line quilting.

I absolutely LOVE this photo!

I also remember when her little foot didn't touch the pedal.

And its all done.

She did a wonderful job,

I did put the binidng on for her

but she watched the process and helped a little,

Backing.

She has picked up my habit of petting her fabrics

and keeping her stash in check.

Gemma loves shopping from Aunt Kathy's stash!

She fills my heart with sew much pride.

She wants her next project to be a tote bag.

I hope she never gets bored and always loves

Sewing wtih Aunt Kathy!

GEMMA'S RAIL FENCE

Sew much fun when Gemma visits me!

I took her shopping and we picked up all her school supplies.

I can't believe she will be in 7th grade.

But wait...lets go back to the previous visit

and a peek at Gemma's Rail Fence quilt top!

We had some work to do!

Gemma was excited to get started!

She loves that her "fabric stash" continues to grow!

She picked the sewing machine she wanted to use.

My sweet Bernina 440 and a chain piecing lesson began.

And her pressing skills were reviewed.

She loves the design wall...

as it began to fill up with her rainbow blocks.

She has 100 blocks finished.

We need 20 to make 2 more rows

for a nice size lap quilt.

School is now beginning...

but fall might bring other opportunities for us to sew again!

ON THE FENCE!

Gemma has decided her 2nd quilt

will be a Rail Fence in Rainbow colors.

I cut the fabrics for her.

She figured out the color arrangement!

Laying out the stacks for some chain piecing.

And sewing them together.

She really liked the design wall and figuring out

what goes where...

I love teaching her quilting.

And she seems to enjoy it as well.

School and her horse keep her pretty busy.

I know this summer we can put some serious time on it!

I love her in my tshirt!

Today is her birthday and she's now 12, going on 25!

Happy Birthday Gemma, my Gem!

WHEN LITTLE GIRLS QUILT!

When you have someone you can pass on the passion

of quilting...you do just that.

For many, that is a grandchild...

for me, that person is my great niece, GEMMA

My Gemma, is now 11 years old and she finished her

first quilt December 2021 when she was 10.

She immediately wanted to begin another quilt

 and of course we can make that happen.

She found an Alex Anderson Rail Fence pattern

from the Learn to Quilt book by Alex.

She pulled some fabrics from my stash

for a rainbow quilt!

 I decided it was time for Gemma's first visit to 

a real fabric/quilt shop.

The Calico Cupboard, a local brick and mortar shop

was open and having a huge 19th anniversary sale.

We took her first quilt with us.

I knew all the people at the shop

would make a big deal out of her first finished quilt.

And oh me gosh,  DID they!

Gemma was beaming from all the

wonderful compliments and conversations

with all the other quilters.  

It wasn't just Aunt Kathy doding on her and building her confidence.

Perfect strangers just loving it all.

We found some more fabrics

that we could work into the Rain Fence quilt.

She was having such a fun time. (me too)

Back to my house and I cut some pieces.

I need to get her a rotary cutting glove.

She loved pulling the pieces for each block

and using my design wall to put the blocks together.

She just steals my heart every time

I get to share this passion.

I think she likes it too!

\

In the interim we won a 19 FQ bundle from that

quilt shop celebration.  I just picked it up. 

 She hasn't seen these yet, but I can hear her squeal with delight.

I just have to share another photo.

We stopped at The Nutcracker Diner in Pataskala, OH

Her interpretation of the Nutcracker.

NAILED IT!

We have a way to go she just got her hand out of a cast.

Pinkie finger was broken in 2 places due to a horse kicking her

while she was riding at a horse show.

GEMMA’S FIRST QUILT

What a fabulous and fun finish for Gemma’s first quilt. 

This quilt  has been in the making since 2019 BC (before Covid)

We finally got it finished at the end of December, 2021. 

I thought a Jelly roll quilt would be perfect and teach her the basic skills.

I had plenty of scrap strips sew

Gemma picked out those she loved.  

Nahhhh…we never have any fun in my sewing room!

Gemma has never been afraid of the big sewing machine. 

Here she was about 8 1/2…and the project was underway.  

She easily managed sewing the strips together…end to end at an angle. 

I would show her, then she would do what I said and  

would explain what she was doing and why.

That’s how ya learn….

THEN she began mastering the 1/4” seam allowance.

If the sewing got off track…she had to stop, fix the issues and begin again. 

A seam ripper fits everyone’s hand.

She learned quickly how to manage the fabric feed

keeping the fabric straight and lined up along the edge of the 1/4” foot. 

She also learned how to press the fabric.  

Pressing is NOT moving the iron all over stretching the fabric. 

Lift and place. 

She also loved the spray starch lesson. 

The strips were simply magical as they came together !

She was sew excited to see what strip lined up against another 

This is about where we had to stop when COVID reared it’s UGLY head. 

When it was time to resume our journey together..

I did most of the work for layout and pinning the quilt sandwich.

This takes time and I wanted her sewing as soon as possible. 

I did leave a corner for her to pin….cause it’s an important step

in the quilting process. 

Now 10 years old, Gemma is back in the drivers seat, doing straight line quilting. 

She’s a bit taller and her foot now reaches the pedal.  

She was very focused quilting the lines down the middle of the strips.

Once she got the hang of it…the speed picked up a little.  

I made the binding and sewed most of it on while Gemma watched me, 

paying close attention to the mitered corners technique I use.  I let her work on those. 

My mitred corner philosophy…learn to do sew then correctly.  

Nothing worse than an ugly binding corner on a beautiful quilt. 

Gemma pressed the binding once it was sewn to the quilt. 

Then we used a serpentine stitch for a machine finish. 

I like to hand stitch binding finishes but we wanted to get this done

Sew she could take it home.

And DONE looks sew cute over her! 

Aunt Kathy is very proud of her!

Heres a good pic of the fun backing she picked out. 

Notice how much she has grown since we began this quilt 2 years ago. 

And now snuggling is at its best. 

Two happy people, right here !

I sewed a text label on for her with my Bernina. 

Uncle Phil had his photo taken with her and her quilt.

He ranted and raved about her work and how proud he was of her too!  

We have plans for another quilt in 2022.

She picked out a ‘rail fence’ pattern and fabrics from my stash. 

Look at this sweet girl, my great niece, who will celebrate her 11th birthday in April.

I can’t tell you how much teaching her to quilt means to me. 

🥰🥰🥰