Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Quilting with my granddaughter

My granddaughter, Bella, is two and a half years old. We have been encouraging her to express herself through art and color since she could hold a crayon. She has known all her colors for a very long time, and she is great at shapes. She also holds very strong opinions. It is with all these things in mind, I asked her if she wanted to make a quilt for her Grandma Edwards, who is a quilter extraordinaire. She has a couple of wonderful quilts from that grandmother, so she readily agreed. After asking her what colors she wanted to use and what shapes, I began to prepare for this great adventure.

On Sunday, when she came over, I pulled out the bins with the pink, red, and purple scraps. We took them into the family room/photography studio where she had plenty of room to spread them out and make her fabric selections. It took her a while, but she spread every piece of fabric from both bins all over that room, the dining room, and the entry. She wandered around, looking at the colors and patterns, and then selected the fabrics she wanted in the quilt. I set them aside and told her we would play with them again on Tuesday.

I cut the shapes on Monday, and when Bella arrived on Tuesday, I handed her a basket of pieces and showed her the area on the design wall that was just for her quilt for Grandma. She played with a felt board before, so she knew just what to do. Here she is explaining how she is arranging the pieces. My wonderful husband, Tom, took this series of photos to document the process.
Bella really enjoyed the process, explaining why she put certain pieces next to other pieces. She move them around, and when she was done, she had everything to her liking. My challenge was to move the pieces closer together without messing with her ideas. I did that while she was napping.

The designer at work.
When Bella woke up, I gave her an opportunity to rearrange the pieces, which she did. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photograph of the final layout. After she left, I sewed the HSTs. Tomorrow, I will sew the small quilt together. It is based on 2" squares, mostly. I think it may be a Valentine's day end table topper. Bella can't wait to give it to Grandma Edwards. I will post a photo with Bella and the final piece later in the week.







6 comments:

Jann Gougeon said...

Ohh. . that's so precious! What a doll she is!

Willa said...

When will we see the qult top?

Chris said...

What a fun idea/project! She is just darling - and I know the quilt will be great!

em's scrapbag said...

What a great experience for both of you. Good memories for both of you and a nice quilt for Grandma Edwards.

Sarah Craig said...

Miki, this is such a great story! My 3-year old granddaughter loves to play at making quilts - I may give this a try with her and see what we can come up with together!! Whoop whoop!! Thanks for linking up!!

mjdedwards said...

Miki, the mini-quilt that you design with the help of our beautiful graddaughter Isabella touched my heart. When she gave it to me on Friday my heart skipped a beat. The pictures that Tom took of Isabella designer her quilt are adorable! She has great color and shape skills for so young of a girl. She will be an exceptional artist just like both of her grandmas. When I came home I placed my treasured quilt in the perfect spot, my antique secretary. Thank you again.
Love Grandma Edwards