Teaching grandchildren to sew

I had been so blessed to have one of our sons and his family 

move close to us :)

We both just had new homes built and we are literally two blocks away from each other, along a trail and through the park.

My three little grand daughters can walk to our house!

I have been working with Neo for months now, but she wanted to finish this quilt during fall break.

I didn't let her cut any of the fabric with the rotary cutter, I cut the pieces for her courthouse blocks myself!

Neo's 8 years old, she will be 9 in 6 days!!!

 Neo came over to my house last week 

and spent the whole day sewing.

She worked really hard and got five rows sewn together.

She came over the next day with her sisters 

and sewed the next five rows together.

She knew what to do, so I left her in the sewing room and helped her sisters with their own projects.

 She finished sewing all 60 blocks together!!!

Now she just has to sew a 6" border, that will be easy :)

Neo has come to know how useful a seam ripper is too, lol!

A seam ripper is a seamstress' best friend.

While Neo was sewing, I got an embroidery project ready for Kylie, who is 6 years old.

I helped her choose the colors and showed her how to stitch.

To my amazement, she sewed perfect little stitches.

She is a natural!

I think it takes talent to be able to use your fine motor skills, especially at age 6!

Then there's Izzy, she's 4 years old!

She loves putting puzzles together and did that for a while when I was helping Kylie.

She quickly became bored so I let her watch a little TV,

When I finished showing Kylie how to take the little stitches and tie a knot in the thread ( which she's already an expert at), 

I helped Izzy make a batch of Snickerdoodle cookies.

The girls had never tasted them before!

It's become a tradition that when we make cookies, we get a scoop of cookie dough while we're waiting for the cookies to bake.

Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!

I am very blessed to have such cute little grand daughters 

who live so close!

Now I just wish the other 11 grandchildren could move closer!

Young Women learning embroidery and sewing skills

I was asked to teach the Young Women in my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)   how to hand embroider on one of the blocks of the rag quilts that they were making.  The group is so large, there are 48 Young Women, that it would be impossible for me to teach them by myself.  I taught all of the leaders the backstitch, and some little tips that I have learned along the way.  One evening we separated into three groups at various homes and taught the girls how to embroider.  Some of them loved it immediately, others weren't quite so sure...but in the end when they were able to complete their projects, they all felt a strong sense of accomplishment.
There are nine blocks in each quilt.  Eight of the squares are the value colors (red, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow,white and gold).  The ninth square was pink because who doesn't love pink, and the personal progress book is pink!!  One side of the block was a print and the back side was a tie dye pattern in the same color.  The temple spires were embroidered on the white squares.
I didn't know that I was going to post on this project, so I didn't take a closeup of the embroidered block.  They embroidered the temple spires inside an oval outline.
Last week, we all attended a program at church called New Beginnings.  The Young Women brought their parents and all of their quilts were lovingly displayed.  The theme of the program was "A Pattern for Life".  There will be 13 girls entering the Young Women program this year when they turn 12.  A Laurel (girl aged 16 to 18)  was assigned to each one of the new girls, and they all went on "dates" to the frozen yogurt shop.  The Laurels found out interesting things (favorite food, color, singer - Justin Bieber :), favorite thing to do, etc.) about each of the girls and shared them at New Beginnings.
Five different women were asked to share how their goals have changed at their specific time in life.  There were women of all ages, starting from youngest to oldest.  I was the one who was entering the "empty nest" phase.  lol!!
The Young Women set goals and earn their young womanhood recognition.  The leaders wanted them to realize that goals don't stop when you earn your award, but they continue throughout your lifetime.  There was such a warm and cozy feeling in the room the whole evening:)

This photo is a closeup of many different quilts pinned together. Click on the photo and  you can see the embroidery on the white blocks.

The quilts were hung on a rod, and they were all over the room!  I was asked to bring some quilts to hang on the wall. That is my "Thanksgiving Dinner" quilt that I made. The pattern is by Lori Holt from Bee in my Bonnet.

This is the back of the room.  That is my row quilt.  I joined the Block of the Month at Quilts Etc. in Sandy, Utah.  It was my first "block of the month" class out of three at that shop, and it was so much fun figuring out how to arrange the blocks to create the quilt.  Lindsay took that class with me.  Bridger went too, he was only one and sat pretty still on his mom's lap :)

Look at all of the beautiful quilts!  I haven't even included all the photos of them.  There were so many!!!

This is the front of the room.  That is my "Comforts of Home" quilt that I made.  It is my favorite one out of all the quilts I have made. The pattern is by Lori as well.  It was so much fun taking her classes, and I made a lot of new friends in the process.  The leader compared the quilt to our lives.  It is a journey, one piece at a time.  Not all the pieces may be perfect, but we take the stitches out and start over again.  Each time you look at the quilt, you find something new.  Isn't that the same with our lives?

I saved the best for last!  The beautiful Young Women who were involved in the program.  They radiate the Young Women values that they live.  The two girls in the front row with the roses will be joining the group this year when they turn 12.
It is always a great experience to teach a young mind something new!  You appreciate it more as you get older too.
For more information on the Young Women program, you can click here.