Lucie Summers, designer of the fabric line Summersville, has written a book! It is called Quilt Improv and a blog hop has been organised to celebrate its debut. The blogs that are participating are fantastic - lots of fun to be had!
One of the participating blogs is Fresh Lemons, where Faith and her 4 year old son used Lucie's improv techniques to make a mini quilt. For a favourite Panda bear!
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| Even a 4 year old can help make a quilt! Photo from Fresh Lemons |
I thought this was a fantastic idea and asked my four children if they would like to do something similar. Three out of four said yes. Jed wasn't keen. He is 12. And the cricket is on tv.
First of all, out with some of the scraps. Not all of the scraps, as there was no need to cover the entire floor. Everyone chose their fabric bits and started placing them together (on our very attractive carpet) in a sort of square shape. As I am feeling the cushion cover vibe at the moment, our improv squares will be made into cushion covers.
Here are the fabrics during the creative layout process.
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| Eli's work in progress. |
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| Lily's fabric selections and layout. |
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| Zoe's 'draft' cushion cover. Summersville is her absolute favourite line of fabric (no, really it is!). She searched through the scraps to hunt it down. |
After a bit of sewing, trimming, more sewing and trimming we had some completed squares. They range in size from 18" square to 22" square. Fingers crossed I'll be able to find cushion inserts that big.
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| Eli's finished improv cushion top. I just noticed that he has included some orange Summersville in his top! |
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| Lily's improv cushion top. |
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| Zoe's 'Ode to Summersville' cushion top. |
I think they turned out great! I really liked the fusion of mathematical and creative processes that this activity provided. It was enjoyed by all three of my children, who range in age from 4 to 10 years old.
Now my children are thinking about how they want their cushion covers quilted. This will be a great opportunity for Zoe to do her own quilting. Great practice for the lap sized quilt she is working on!
What an absolutely fantastic activity for you and your kids. They seem to have an 'eye' for these things, don't they. Am looking forward to seeing the finished results.
ReplyDeleteWell, I just love this! I think they did a great job of picking out their fabrics, and I can't wait to see their finished cushion covers :) What a great family activity! Makes me miss having a little one at home :(
ReplyDeleteSo funny! The cricket is on... Your kids make me laugh so much. I just love them. :)
ReplyDeleteImprov is the best fun!! I love that you got Eli, Lily and Zoe to design their own cushion covers, and they all turned out so well. I bet there'll be more requests to play with your scraps in the future. Maybe even Jed will be tempted to make one when he sees these 3 cushions fnished.
ReplyDeleteYour kiddies will love their own cushions...they all look gorgeous...Jed will get in on the action next time, for sure after these beauties hit the couch!
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