Nine Patch Project

I already mentioned that we have been reading through the Little House on the Prairie books as a family.  I am amazed at how much the children, even four-year-old Daniel, enjoy the stories.  One of the things that is mentioned frequently is Mary working on her nine-patch quilt.  As I pondered this the other day, I guessed her age at the time to be around seven years old.  Quilting already!?  Wow. 

My girls have recently shown a great interest in “stitching,” as Esther calls it.  I had an epiphany.  Why not let the girls work on their own nine patch squares?  I know I have tons of little scraps left over from  sewing projects over the years, and what better purpose could they serve?  I promptly began cutting the scraps into small squares, and told the girls the plan.  They were thrilled!  I had already taught them how to thread a needle and knot the thread at the end(this has been cause for great fun over the last few weeks, as they sew scraps of fabric together in random patterns), so they busily began to thread their needles while I cut material. 

You can see there was quite a bit of silliness going on, too.

Cutting a bunch of 3.5” squares – not too big, not too small for little hands and short attention spans!  It also works well with the leftover scrap fabrics that are too small to be used for anything else.

They each got to choose the fabrics they liked best and put them in the order that they wanted within the block.

Then the sewing began!  Disclaimer: no one was seriously injured in the making of this blog post.  I did suffer a needle stab at the hands of a very eager seamstress, but I have not suffered from lock-jaw at this point.

Here is Abigail’s first finished nine-patch square.  She is so pleased with her accomplishment.  Her goal is now to make a whole blanket.  The seams are a bit wobbly in places, but overall, I would say it looks pretty good for a first attempt!

Esther’s pattern was more symmetrical than Abigail’s was, which makes it easier to tell them apart.  Her seams were  very  wobbly, and this particular square may not stand up to very many washings, but with experience comes skill.

We had such a fun time together, laughing and sewing and talking.  They both told me as they went to bed that night, that they really enjoyed our crafting time together.  This is what being a mother is all about!