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...

a multicraftual kid

Since Leah so far has escaped the Virus of Doom (not flu, btw, according to Jesse's testing, but he's still a pretty sick kid) that has turned the males of this household into pathetic sofablobs, she continues on her merry way with a perpetual assortment of projects.

When a friend was here for a sleepover recently, pre-quarantine, they decided to sew patchwork bags for themselves.

Lots of previously sewn quilt blocks, paper piecing experiments, and scraps were included. The friend hadn't used a sewing machine before, but Leah showed her how and the two of them had a blast, making it all up as they went along. I wasn't home to get a pic of her friend's bag before she left, so I'll try to do that when she comes back to line it and embellish with tassels and decorative stitching. Leah's using her bag, even without the lining, and is pretty psyched about the results.

I prefer magic loop, but Leah likes to knit socks and fingerless gloves on DPNs. She does not, however, like having to track missing ones down or picking up stitches when a needle slips out, so she got a package of goofy pencil toppers/erasers(?), poked a hole in a pair of them, and secured a length of elastic cord from one topper to the other, knotted through the hole.

Now, when she's putting her knitting away, she can gather the four needles and tuck their ends into the toppers, held in place by the lightly stretched elastic, with no fear of losing her needles. Bonus: No needle-poked holes in tote bags!

The love of Celtic knots and making her own outfits from periods throughout history (examples here and here and here) continues. Most recently, she's converting a hand-me-down gold satin evening gown and Goodwill-found velvet dress into a Renaissance style gown, complete with embroidered stomacher and sleeve inserts.

Lots of library books and Internet research for information. She's putting lots of effort into this dress and has a very clear idea of what she's aiming for. So far, the results are better than either of us could have anticipated. Go, Goob!