Two Weeks Gone, Grand Kids and Connections

I can't believe I missed blogging last week.  I just don't know where the time went.  Well, maybe I do.  It has been harder to get out of the office after 8 hours a day this week. I have a new project at work that I need to make happen in the next two months.  On top of that, I have two grand kids living nearby for the first time ever.  So I am very busy.  But I have done some quilting.

First of all I decided what to do on the borders of the Christmas Lemonade quilt. I am tracing the stars onto the borders and will quilt then. If you look closely you can see the white star.  I need to change my hopping foot to the open toe foot so I can see to follow the lines.  But I did figure out what I want to do and have gotten started on doing it.

I also have started working on the Ribbon Dance quilts.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I am using 5" squares instead of 10" squares since I already have those.  I had 4 packs of Toy Chest 2 by Riley Blake and 4 packs of Micheal Miller's Cotton Couture in white. 

I am rather disappointed in the white squares. I was shocked to see that the edges were not straight and that the squares were not square.  These were not some cheap squares I picked up in a bargain bin somewhere. These were premier fabric and I am not pleased with it. I was also surprised that the white squares were noticeably smaller than the Toy Chest 2 squares.

But I did get all 336 squares sewn together.  I even got them cut apart and started pressing them. I will have to square them up and hopefully I will be able to square them up to 4 1/2 inches. But I am looking forward to sewing these squares into a quilt.

The best part of this past two weeks was coming home to the grand kids at the house.  Rorie, who is 3 years old, pulls up my saddle stool next to my desk, climbs up on it and watches me while I sew.  Or she climbs int a chair next to me and watches while I cut fabric.  She even leaned on the desk and watched as I was pressing to the dark side.  And being the smart little bug that she is, she is asking questions the whole time.

On time while I was cutting the half square triangles, She sat beside me and handed the square to me. We took the time to look at each square. Rorie told me what color each one was and what was printed on it. When her mom tried to get her to go play she wanted to stay next to me.  She said she wanted to help grandma. She even told my husband that she is learning to quilt.  It was very gratifying to have her there by me even if it took twice as long to get things done.  Hopefully these will be good memories that she will treasure.

I never knew my Grandmother Borden, I did get to sew some of her hand work though. She had made some of my parents square dancing clothes. They were amazing. I barely knew my grandmother Thomson but I don't think she sewed much. I am glad that my grand daughter is getting to know me. And I am glad that I can share this hobby with her.

I know that I have grandmothers and great grandmothers who quilted. In fact I have a quilt top that my great grandmother Borden pieced for my mother's seventh birthday. (I really need to get that finished.)  I am sure for those women quilting was a way to "use it up." The quilt top that my great grandmother made, has fabric in it that my mom remembered having dresses out of. Now I don't cut up old clothes or take left over scraps to make my quilts. I buy fabric. I plan out what I am going to do with it. It isn't a way of economizing for me.  Yet still when I sew and quilt I feel like I am connecting to those women.  I hope that in spending time teaching my granddaughter to quilt I am honoring my grandmothers and mother. I also hope Rorie will feel that connection. 

Why do you quilt? Who do you share it with?