Quilting with Alex Part 2

This past weekend, we invited Alex* for her first quilt show and mini quilt shop hop.  She enthusiastically accepted and arrived with her little sewing kit complete with some show and tell to kick start our day.  She created this fun and colorful, fused quilt on her own.  She was so proud to show it off and had a huge smile ear to ear when pulling it out.  She is eager to create some more fused projects as holiday gifts for friends and family!

Our quilt association will be having our bi-annual quilt show in March and will have a youth entry category.  I asked Alex if she might be interested in working on a quilt together to enter into our March show and she was super excited to work towards that goal.

Once show and tell was done, we were off to Alden Lane Nursery for Quilting in the Garden (a beautiful backdrop for a fabulous quilt show) for some quilty inspiration for her quilt entry.  When we first arrived, I asked her to point out quilts that caught her attention and try to decide what it was about those quilts that attracted her attention:  design, colorway, fabrics, pattern, etc.  She was very interested in each of the quilts and was in charge of the quilt show program to help determine who created each of the quilts.

Alex laying out her ice cream cone design

One of the local quilt guilds hosted a family friendly fusible project.  Quilt show attendees were invited to select a design and received a packet of fused shapes that would create the selected pattern.  Alex was quickly drawn to the ice cream cone design and went to work selecting a sparkly pink background and knew exactly what to do to remove the paper backing and how to layer and press the shapes to create her fused block.

Alex and her finished fused block

   



At our first quilt lesson, I had her select a pen name for blog posts, and I was impressed when she chose the name Alex, since Alex Anderson has been one of my quilting icons, especially as I was first learning how to quilt.  So before leaving the house, I pulled out one of Alex Anderson's books and let Alex know that her name sake would be at the quilt show and she might have the opportunity to meet her.  We made sure to stop by Alex Anderson's booth and had Alex select a book to be signed by Alex Anderson.  Alex Anderson was so fabulous and even posed with our Alex and her newly signed book.  Alex Anderson even commented how great it was to have enthusiastic young people pursue quilting!!

Alex meet and greet with Alex Anderson and her newly signed quilt book

Alex's Fabric Stash Additions

And what quilt show day isn't complete without purchasing some fun new fabrics?  So we took Alex on her first mini quilt shop hop to visit Wooden Gate Quilts and The Cotton Patch, where she was able to select 4 fabrics at each shop to add to her stash and be used in a future quilt.  She had a blast selecting bolts of fabric and selected some fun patterns, including a few ombres!!  She later admitted that the fabric shopping was the favorite part of the day!  Ahhhh...a true quilter at heart!!  

Alex and her completed quilt top!!

And at the second shop, she spotted a fun border fabric featuring ice cream cones--perfect for framing her new fused block from the quilt show!  So once we completed our quilt shop hop, we asked her if she might like to come over to work on her mini ice cream cone quilt to which she eagerly accepted.  So we went to work learning how to satin stitch the fused shapes--and she quickly learned how to load the thread onto the sewing machine and thread the needle.  She did a great job stitching the cone and the layers of ice cream and I helped by finishing the one scoop and cherry on top.  From there, we laid out the borders and she went to work stitching on each of the borders and learned how to carefully press them for a flat finish!

Now that we have a finished quilt top, we will have to learn how to layer a quilt sandwich, quilt and finish a quilt!  Sew, stay tuned for more quilting fun with Alex!!