Monday, April 12, 2010

Scrapbooking, Baby Kitty's quilt, and more

I've been busy in my studio this weekend, though not with sewing. Every now and then I get bit with the scrapbooking bug. So Friday I cleared my schedule and cleaned off my sewing table. In place of the cutting mat, I got out my paper cutter and stacks and stacks of pretty paper. (I hoard scrapbooking paper, too. Sad....)

I don't know that any of the pages I made were showstoppers, but they are DONE. Done and behind plastic page protectors in Liv's scrapbooks. She's always so excited when I make new pages in her book.



And while I've got you here, I gotta share what my little girl made last night. The lead-up to the project went a little something like this:

"Mama, can I make a quilt for baby kitty?"

"uhhh...." (That's me, trying to work up the energy to tackle a sewing project with her instead of finishing up the last of the scrapbook pages.)

"Pleeeease!"

"uhhh.... Well.... I'm in the middle of something."

"Pleeease!! Baby kitty needs a quilt. And it would be really small."

"uhhh.... How about when I finish your scrapbook page?"

"...and I can make it myself. And I'll use the fabric out of my own stash."

And that last statement sealed the deal. The little girl has her own fabric stash, but just like her mama she has hoarding tendencies that have prevented her from cutting into any of her gorgeous fabrics. So when she offered to actually USE her fabrics, I couldn't say no.

And unlike previous sewing projects where I let my perfectionist tendencies take over, I decided that I'd take her at her word and let her do this completely on her own. She chose the fabrics. She did the cutting, the design, the sewing, the everything. I take that back. I did do the fusible webbing kitty patch. That whole hot-iron thing.



I could see her confidence increase stitch by stitch, piece by piece as it all came together. The result was a far-from-perfect little bit of fabric scraps sewn together. The fabrics were just layered and stitched, no right-sides-together going on there. The seams are crooked and the threads untrimmed. The sides are wonky and the edges raw. But it's all her own work, her own vision, her own little sewing triumph.

She's written up her own blog post about her project over at her blog, Cool Show by Olivia. Just like her sewing project, the blog post is all her own - phonetic spelling and all. See her post here.



(Baby Kitty snuggling under her quilt.)

Toodles,

5 comments:

Denise Felton said...

Y'all both rock so hard. I'm so glad I know you and Livvie.

Janna said...

Ok..somehow my comment didn't save.

I LOVE these!! I can't believe you got 5 done in a day, and they are each super-cute!! Liv's quilt is adorable, and what an awesome mom you are to let her do her project without taking over. I have a hard time restraining that perfection beast in myself whenever Zach wants to do something. He, as a result, loses confidence and doesn't want to try, asking me to do it for him. It's a bummer to do it that way.

Elizabeth said...

I spent several years as a kindergarten teacher and I think that quilt is terrific! I've come to the conclusion that getting out of the way and letting kids experience the joy of creation is far more important than what the end product looks like.

elizabeth @ twelvecrafts said...

I love your daughter's quilt! She did an excellent job.

LiEr said...

Anne, Olivia's quilt is fabulous! I went to read her blog post and oh, she is so, so COOL. I think I know now where Emily should be spending her allowance - in the fat quarter section of the fabric store! She needs a stash! Stat!