precipice

That crafty gal o' mine, she's at the tippy top of a slippery slope and, boy, she's looking forward to the ride to come! I'm talking about fun with fabric -- quilting -- which has risen to a feverish pitch for Leah. She comes by it rightfully, given that Scott's mom is an exceptionally talented and skilled quilter, and I guess it's been coming on for a long time, with hemming, hand-sewn patchwork, machine stitching, applique, sewing clothes without a pattern and with, and making fabric wallets as gifts.

Most recently, I showed her an old packet of paper piecing patterns that was mixed in with my needlework patterns. She immediately dove (again) into the box of beautiful fabrics given by her Grammy for xmas 2006 and the next thing I knew, she had a bunch of little paper pieced projects to play with. (Nope, no plan for them yet, just enjoying the process itself.)

She couldn't get enough of this and I knew it was time. I took her to the local quilt shop, where we made a new friend, browsed the goods, bought the pattern for a bag project, and decided the block-a-month club sounded like good fun. We returned on Friday afternoon and Leah joined about 50 other folks for the first of a series of monthly meetings where she'll learn new techniques, be inspired by others, have a darn good time, and end up with a dozen quilt blocks, ready to be made into a quilt. Ooh, the excitement!

While her fabric was drying, we headed off to Old Sturbridge Village. There were multiple reasons for making the trek on Saturday, not the least of which was the opening of the newly renovated Fenno House, with exhibits focusing on textile production and fiber arts of the 1840s. There were spinning wheels, opportunities to hand card wool, weaving, and needlework exhibits. You can imagine the squeal when a certain someone caught her first glimpse of the room with a new focus on another textile art...