Special Saturday :)

I'm a very lucky lady! We've been Judi's friend for over 15 years, she introduced me and DH and we have shared many happy times over the years. She has three beautiful daughters and yesterday, Jessica (daughter #2) and I spent the day sewing. This day was part of Jess's birthday present, though a bit late as her birthday was actually in May! I've been busy, Jess, sorreeeeeeee :)

We were both very excited when Judi dropped her off at 1030 and couldn't wait to get started. I wouldn't say Jess is indecisive but her reply to most of my questions during the day was, 'I don't mind' - bless her! So, after discussing all the options on what we could make in a day, Jess went for a Christmas mat. And this is when I know why I love the blogging world because on Friday I had seen this post from Jo @ Jo's Country Junction. She had posted this cute Snowmen table runner:

Isn't it gorgeous? And, how generous, Jo has shared her pattern for free! Jess agreed this would be fun to make. Despite the tons little bit of stash in my sewing room, we just HAD to go shopping! There was an altruistic reason for this too - my LQS, Yarnia, was having a fundraising day for Project Linus and I wanted to go along and show my support. They were selling some beautiful quilts - well done, ladies! Some more indecision from Jess meant we came home with two background fabrics!

Once I had gone through some safety bits, I set her up practising sewing a 1/4" on some scraps. Quilting, as I explained, is creatively draining so the body needs extra sugar:

Look at her first ever sewing on a sewing machine - a perfect 1/4" seam - what a clever girl / what a great teacher! (thus was born our mantra for the day!) 

Snowman or snowgirl? We got a decision! Jess picked all the fabrics then drew the hat, arms, scarf and nose onto paper and traced them onto bondaweb. Here they are ready to be appliqued:

I couldn't tempt her to do the appliqué stitches but, after burying 78 knots on Friday, I was more than happy to let her do that bit! 

Ready for quilting, I set her up to make a label:

Every step of the way, I explained what we were doing and encouraged her to have a go ... she really is a bright girl and picked stuff up very quickly. When it came to hand sewing the binding down, she looked at me curiously and asked, 'Why don't you use the machine to do it?' I explained how you can do it on the machine but I like to hand sew but that it does take a bit of time so found her another project - making a cushion. 

Remember she's Miss Indecisive 2013? I had sewn 1/3 of the binding in the 20 minutes - yes 20 - she took to decide which charm squares to use and what arrangement she wanted them in! We did laugh - she couldn't believe it had taken her that long! We took a photo to remind her of the order as she was sewing:

And then she set about sewing them together. This was a bonus ... she was keeping busy whilst I cracked on with the binding. I helped pin but Jess sewed the whole cushion top together and, whilst I was sewing on the label, she was sewing the seams on the envelope backing and ... drum roll, please ... after 5 hours of sewing and laughing and creating a wonderful memory, we had made a Christmas Mat (15" x 15") AND a cushion! 

Jess called her mat, 'My very late Snowgirl' in remembrance of how long it had taken for us to get together - cheeky! 

Thank you, Jessica for a wonderful day :)