The Future Of Quilting

Five young ladies arrived for class. Ages 7 to 10. They each had their very own "quilt mentor" to work with as I had 5 volunteers from my chapter come to help. I didn't get to work with any of the children one on one so that was disappointing. The girls were a bit nervous but quickly began sorting through the fabric wedges and trying out various designs. In the end, they all opted for a variation on red and black.

After the picking they folded their background fabrics into quarters and drew a circle in the center so the wedges lined up evenly. Then their mentor pressed the wedges down for them.

Next came the fabric "sandwich" and pinning that sandwich together with safety pins. Now they were ready to select thread for the quilting.

Donna gave them a demonstration of the quilting technique on her grandmother-in-law's Dresden Plate quilt. But we were going to be doing "utility" quilting with perle cotton #8 and a big needle. The girls got right to work. And they worked right up until 5:30. A whole peaceful hour and a half. For 7 to 10 year old children that is some kind of wonderful.

My volunteers had a fantastic time. The girls faces glowed with pride as they looked at the work in their hands and they were eager to show their block to Mom when she came to pick them up. I sent each home with extra thread for additional quilting and asked the three moms if they could help with knots and needle threading. Two said yes and one laughed and said that her mother would have to help her daughter. Won't grandma be pleased? I think so.

They asked if they could sign up for next week's session. Of course, I said yes. We are talking about the future of quilting and hand sewing. I need to do my part!

So the answer to yesterday's question-- why do I volunteer? Because it always turns out so darn wonderful. The look on those girl's faces? Priceless.