Felicity and Kian wanted to help out and all 3 kids dove into my "pockets and patches" drawer (aka, the scrap drawer). I got a bit nervous as I envisioned a quilt made with every single scrap I had...orange polka dots, balloons on red, Easter bunnies on purple. But I wanted to leave the fabric choices in their hands and knew they'd get bored if the project was a few prints repeated over and over. Then I had the idea to do a rainbow quilt, so we could incorporate all the scraps the kids wanted, but keep some sort of order. We did the quilt as you go method, as I figured the kids could manage this method well.
When we first started the project, I had a moment where I thought it was going to be an epic fail. 3 kids on the sewing machine? However, once I learned what each child was capable of (or not) it was a very manageable project and we moved forward at a great pace.
Logan did almost his whole blocks by himself. The only thing I did was cut his fabric choice into the right length and width needed, and sew it in place to guarantee a good seam. He would then operate the pedal and guide his fabric through the machine, doing all his top stitching.
Here's an example of one of his blocks. The kids picked their fabric choices (which I'm sure you could tell) while staying in the designated color choice for that block. Logan learned how to do nice straight lines, but he also purposefully "steered" the needle around to make wavy lines, as you can see on that dark green fabric.
Felicity couldn't operate the pedal and guide the fabric at the same time. So I pushed the pedal, and she guided her fabric through. She had a tendency of putting weight on her left hand, creating a pivot. So a lot of her top stitching ended up being very circular. :)
Here's one of her blocks.
I tried to sew with Kian on my lap so that he could put his hands on the fabric and help me guide it through while I pushed the pedal. He did that some, and would also help me lift the presser foot and switch it into reverse, but it was pretty hard to sew with a wiggly two year old on my lap. So some of the time, he just sat in a pile of fabric scraps and told me which one he wanted me to put on next. Then, as I sewed, he'd tell me what a "good pick" he'd made.
Here's his favorite block. The tractors were a "very good pick"!
It was fun to have some one on one time with each kid. And once they completed a block, they couldn't wait to run out and show the others their creation. They were so proud! I added a few blocks of my own, to keep the momentum going.
And here's our finished product. Made with LOTS of love, and by lots of little hands.
We gave it to Papa for Christmas, and I think you can see that he liked it a lot.
We walk down to Papa's a lot, and every time we do, the kids can't wait to get there and see if Papa is in his recliner under his quilt.
I LOVED this project!
I loved being able to help Logan follow through on his feelings of compassion, I loved sewing with them, I loved how all 3 of them took so much ownership in their work, and I LOVED their excitement in giving. They talked about how much Papa was going to love his quilt through the entire project. They truly gave with all their hearts.
Logan wrote a note to go along with the gift, explaining it to Papa. It read;
"Dear Papa, We wanted to make you a quilt to make you happy because Nana is in heaven. Love, Logan"
