6.09.2015

Sewing With Kids - Hazel Hedgehog Quilt

Ever since Chesney got her adorable Hello Kitty sewing machine she has been wanting to sew. I haven't always been the best at stopping what I'm doing to make time to sew with her. However, over the weekend I knew it was time. So, my kids and I ran to our local quilt shop, Quilted Works, and I told Chesney that she could pick out any pattern in the store and we'd make the project together. I was thinking she'd chose a bag or a skirt or something like that, but she chose the Hazel Hedgehog pattern, and she was pretty excited about it.


I knew it might become a challenge so I tried everything I could think of to have her be involved. We picked out the fabrics together, she picked them very carefully, she wanted each hedgehog to represent a person in our family.

When it came time to cut the fabric I did all of the cutting, but had her make the little labels.

Then it was time to sew. I put her on my lap, put the machine on the slowest speed and helped her guide the fabrics through the machine. 
She did really good following the lines that I had drawn on the fabrics, keeping a good 1/4 seam was a little bit more of a challenge, so I helped a bit with those. 

A photo posted by Natalia Bonner (@nataliabonner) on

She was pretty proud when we got the first block done. So we made a second hedgehog.

After the second block was complete Brayden woke up from his nap and decided he needed to help too. I came up with a brilliant idea, I had him sit on the floor and push the petal and while I sat at the machine with Chesney on my lap. She would tell him when to stop or start and he did so good, and was proud that he was helping too!


After we got the third block all done they needed a break, so we went to the neighbors swimming pool. :)

On Sunday afternoon we decided to finish the quilt. After sewing the top together, it was time to quilt it. She liked how the original quilt was quilted so we used my Crackle pantograph pattern and quilted it on the long-arm. She was so proud of how it turned out. I asked her if she wanted me to bind it for her, (most of you probably know that I don't bind quilts.) But she quickly replied, let's just wait and have grandma bind it. :)

The process was fun, I'm glad that I finally made time to sew with my kids. I think it was actually a good experience for all of us and I really hope to make this happen more often.
We shared her progress over on Facebook & Instagram while we were making the quilt and I just have to say thank you so much to all of you who commented, liked and encouraged her. She spent a lot of time, while I was pressing looking at my phone and you all encoruaged and excited her so much, much more than you'll ever know! THANK YOU!

8 comments:

  1. I bought my daughter the Hello Kitty machine~didn't make her interested in sewing! Oh well, my older daughter took to it like a fish to water :) I completely understand the love/hate relationship of all of this...glad you all survived and are still happy! The quilt is adorable!

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  2. Loved this post, and great job having the patience to teach your children sewing. I wish I had been diligent in that area, since they no longer teach it at school where I learned and I started working when my kids were all in school still. Hazel is such a cute pattern!

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  3. I absolutely love this and love how it turned out! I have yet to make this but need to. I followed this on Instagram and thought it was the best thing! I hope you find more time for it, too, she (and he) really seem to have enjoyed it! Now she can spend some time with Grandma and learn to bind! hehe

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  4. That is so awesome and such a great memory of doing a project together. It's just darling.

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  5. That is really good. I just started sewing with my eight year old granddaughter and it is surprising how well she did. She would love E that pattern. What is the name of the pattern. It's nice to get the young sewing.

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  6. That is so sweet! She did an amazing job! (Laughing about the binding...she knows you well.)

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  7. What a great job by all of you! The hedgehogs all look great. I know they are not all named Hazel. :-)

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  8. Love this post. I have to take the time to do this with my kids as well. First she needs her own machine! I'm too protective of mine. Thanks for this inspiration. The quilt is adorable!

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