Another Friday, same WIP

It has been a hectic week, but I have made some progress on my kite-quilt. Here are some of the kites pinned up on the background sky fabric. I have actually finished all the kite parts of the blocks, and they will all go up on my design wall* tomorrow to decide which ones go where. Once I have decided, I can finish the blocks with sky-, sea- or sand-fabric respectively. I hope to have this done by the end of the weekend.

The Jan Mullen fabrics and some other brights from my stash seem to work quite well for the kites, so my soon to be six year-old nephew will get a bright and cheerful quilt to suit his bright and cheerful personality. He is such a sunny child, always with a glimpse of a dimple in his cheek and a twinkle in his eye as he talks a mile a minute and twists everyone around his little finger. I can't wait for him to see his quilt :-)

Talking of little boys, I was quite impressed by another little one yesterday. A group of us gathered at the local quilt shop for a stitch-and-chat. One of the girls couldn't get a sitter, and had brought along her son who's just turned five. He was put to work by his mum, making headbands for his cousins. His mother cut the fabric (chosen from his very own stash, which he brought in his own little bag) and some polar fleece for the backing. He stitched the pieces together on the sewing machine, his mother clipped the corners before he turned them inside out. His mother ironed them and he did the quilting, on the machine, before his mother added the velcro. He obviously enjoyed the whole process, working with his mother, choosing fabric and thread for each of the cousins and doing most of the work - it was obvious that this wasn't the first time he had used a sewing machine though. But it really goes to show how much a child can manage with a little help (and supervision) from an adult, if we dare to let them have a go. I bet he'll have wonderful memories of crafting with his mum, and who knows, maybe he will become a quilter when he grows up!

*"Design wall" is rather a grand name for it, come to think of it! I haven't got much free wall space available in my small flat, so my design wall consist of a flannel sheet with big metal eyelets in two corners. This is hooked on to the wall whenever I need to use it and is easy to take down again once I'm finished.