My fledglings have flown the nest (figuratively speaking)

Whilst reflecting on the lovely morning I had with one of my friends who is learning to quilt I came up with a great idea, I think. I'll set the scene…

Several months ago two of my girl friends coerced me into teaching them how to quilt. They decided it wasn't worth attending classes when they had me to help them. I decided that if we were going to do this seriously we needed to make a quilt that approached several aspects of sewing – much to their horror! It all goes back to my theory that if you can sew a straight line then you can sew anything,

I designed three quilts but one contained applique hearts, little squares and striped squares, nice and challenging for the beginner. So then it was my turn to coerce them into choosing the quilt that I wanted them to do. Actual lets be honest, I pretty much told them they were doing the one I wanted!

It was primarily designed to be a small cot or dolls quilt with the idea we could make it larger if they were enjoying it. They did, and we are.

They chose some great fabric between them – there was one really dodgy one – and that's where the story begins, other than the fact that neither of then could tie a knot when we started – hence our first lesson was knots. We met once or twice a week to sew, and I would say gossip, but sometimes they concentrated so hard you really could hear the pins drop. We, at times went off on a tangent (surprising that), and have made other things some weeks but mostly we sew the quilts. They have both impressed me with their sewing and I'm very proud of how well they are doing. They have both become very confident and are making their own decisions which is exactly as it should be. I feel like I'm writing a school report – Max is generally very keen but must try harder to remember if she has the pattern before she insist she hasn't. Kaly is very enthusiastic but should not bully her teacher! – only joking girls!!! (…some truth in there though.)

So going back to my great idea, I realised that I had missed a great photo opportunity this morning of Max cutting and laying out all her fabric for a full sized quilt but then I decided it shouldn't be for me to tell her story…

…so I rather excitedly told her, sorry I meant asked her to do a guest post for me. She's going to do a weekly-ish, post on her quilt and all the fun she's having making it!

…and incase your wondering about my other star pupil, we've allowed her some time off from quilting due to the lovely baby she has just had.

Not sure if this is Max or Kaly's but this is where it started…

I await with excitement your first post Maxine!

Hope everyone has had a gorgeous day. Have a fab weekend and feel free to leave a comment!

Rachael