Saturday, September 18, 2010

Great-niece Alice Makes her First Fabric Postcard!


My great-niece Alice spent part of Saturday with me today.  I had made a fabric postcard for her when she was at camp this summer.  I asked Alice if she'd like to make a postcard herself, and she was delighted.  So she chose a colorful print for the front, a coordinating fabric for the back, and then she stamped the back with the message and address sections.  After the front, back, and batting were cut out, Alice and I sat down at the sewing machine and I showed her how to operate the foot pedal.  She worked the pedal, and I guided the fabric.  She soon was confident enough to guide the fabric herself.  After we did the initial sewing, we turned the postcard right side out, Alice chose a lovely shiny rayon thread for the top-stitching, and I did the final step.  After we finished the postcard, Alice practiced some more machine sewing on a scrap, and by the time she had sewed four lines, she was very much at ease.  I've told her to come see me anytime for more sewing lessons!

P. S.  This fabric postcard is a surprise for her sister Katie, whose Bat Mitzvah will be in October.

Here you can see the lovely, festive fabric that Alice chose for the front.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Jubilant about Jubilation Quilt!


Jubilation
Designed and Pieced by Alice Baird
Machine Quilted by Judy Steward

At last!  Six months after attending Quilting Adventures and making this quilt under the tutelage of Cara Gulati, the quilt is done!  I picked it up from the superlative machine quilter, Judy Steward, who does all my machine quilting for me and has for years.  I could not be happier with it.  Once the binding is hand-sewn to the back (Judy sews it to the front by machine before turning it back over to me), and we've hired some men to come hang it on a very high wall, I will take pictures of it in place in our living room.  Here it is pinned to my design wall.  Now, some pictures to show how beautifully this quilt was quilted by Judy!



I truly love the quilting design and the thread color Judy used
to quilt the background fabric!