The best part of the whole exchange...It just gives me the warm fuzzies to see all the colorful bits from all of you!
Thank you!

((((((((((((WotRoTT sisters))))))))))))

I just got home and the Wot RoTTs were patiently waiting at the door! I did not even put the groceries away... happy dance, happy dance touching every reel, recognizing good Forum friends and seeing new names for the first time! The reels are all so beautiful and colorful! Thank you Lorna and Rosemary for pulling this all together--I KNOW there are a lot of happy Wot RoTTers around the globe thanks to you and to all who participated in this exchange! And many thanks for the beautiful label, Rosemary!

Yippie, I just opened my package of reels. What a gorgeous array of colors from all over the world. Thank you to all who made reels and to Rosemary and Lorna for the exchange and for the beautiful label.

Michelle,

Thanks for the ideas. I am definetly going to use them.

Teresa, I also say grab that energy while it's there!! 6 is not too young to start...esp since it's obvious that your daughter is quite bright!!

Here's what I did with my daughter at about that age:

I drew a grid of squares on a paper for her to color. She colored in each sq whatever color she wanted. I think I made the grid about 6 x 8 squares and they were about 3" large on paper. It was so pretty with all her colors on it, one color to a square. Then she took the paper to my scrap basket and picked out scraps that matched the colors she used. I then pressed the scraps, cut them to 3 1/2" and arranged them on a piece of batting so they wouldn't fly all over. Then my daughter could rearrange them if she wanted to.

Then, I would sit with her on my lap at my Featherweight and together we'd sew the squares into a top. She placed her hands on mine or in the front area well out of the way of the needle. I taught her how I fed the patches, right sides together and chained them. Then I cut each set and sewed the rows, again with her 'help'. Then I pressed and she picked out a backing from my stash. We measured it to make sure it was large enough. Then pin baste and strait sew the quilting. I did the binding by machine. It came out so pretty and was a good size for playing with her stuffed animals and dolls.

Another fun thing at this age is to make pictures from scraps. My daughter would use a piece of batting as a base, then just pick fabric scraps and cut them (or not!) and lay them on the batting to make a picture. Flowers, houses, animals, whatever. Even abstract. Then I'd glue them to the batting and top stitch them in place with a backing of her choice. She loved these fabric paintings!

By the time my daughter was 8 - 10, she was sewing herself. Her first sewing on her own was the sew and flip technique on a muslin foundation. I let her use a 1/2" seam (which did wiggle alot!), sew the strip, flip it over, and I'd press and trim them at the edges. She'd add strips until the square of muslin was full. For one of these quilts, we used a Laurel Burch jungle animal print and fussy cut the centers in odd shapes, like hexagons and octagons and whatever looked good around the animal. Then the strips went on following each angle. I had previously cut the strips in varying widths from about 2" - 4" from FQ's she had picked out that worked with the center print. I think there were 9 or 12 blocks.

When she was 10, she made a Carpenters Star. She picked the FQ's and I cut the shapes. She sewed the HST's with guidance and I cut them apart and she pressed them. She pieced the whole top but lost interest at the borders. I finished that one for her.

I hope these ideas help you find something that will appeal to any and all of your daughters! My daughter is now 16 and not interested in sewing anymore. I just hope she will come back to it in the future.

kfstitcher wrote: She is only 6 and her plans already make me nervous. Wonder what she will come up with at 16 years old. She even made a cover sheet that says "Plan Z was made on a Sunday June 10th". Now I am thinking that I need to search the house and find plans A-Y so I can be prepared

kathyst2 wrote:
Oh, good! I am so glad that you found me! Once I received everyone's reels, I realized I probably didn't make a wise decision by just quickly writing on the backside, in the seam. People probably just think it is one that lost it's lable. Sometimes I have to take shortcuts to make sure my projects are completed in a timely fashion! (But, my name will be forever hidden in people's quilts, snuggled up to some warm and soft batting! Way cool!)

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montan

Teresa that is SO funny! Look out. She's got a plan!!

I'd say stirke while the iron is hot!

I got a big laugh out of this yesterday. Apparently my 6 year old was not happy that I was working with her sister on a quilt. Now Sierra loves to write and I found this that she wrote. Now I am writing exactly what she put, she has not quite learned to use periods so her sentences have a tendency to be long (but her spelling is correct).

"Write mommy a note stating thank you and grab material then try to find out how to sew and steal some sewing books and then steal all of them and start sewing a blanket for myself and sew a table cloth for a picnic or something else and then get all the sewing material and sew any quilt I want so in the winter I won't be cold and I will have some quilts to get extra warm when only one quilt is on me I will be more warm because I will have a lot of quilts on me"

I guess if any books or material comes up missing I will know where to look. I think I really need to come up with a little project for her to work on. She even started drawing a picture of a quilt to make.

I just checked on my reels shipment and it is out for delivery. Whoopy, I can't wait for the mail lady to come.

I won't be ready to do another exchange for a while yet, I'm finally getting some quilts in progress a little further along. I do love doing the exchanges. It's a joy to have blocks made by my friends here.

Kathy

Hi Maree! I got one of you reels! Thanks. I have the same question...now what? Of course, we have to sew and quilt our WOT ROTT reels, and then post them, then thre's the recipe book etc. However, I know most of us probably love having more than one thing going on at one time! Isn't this why we're here?

My Reels have arrived and they are so colourful and lovely. I can't wait to start the quilt, but I have too many on the go at the moment.
THANKYOU fot the lovely label, it was such a nice surprise. This has been a very good exchange and a BIG thankyou to the organisers.
Wonder what we will do nextLOL. Maree Tasmania