quilting fun with granddaughter

With my bi-annual quilt show coming up, my 8 year old granddaughter wanted to have her own quilt in it again. She picked out her fabric on Saturday, then on Sunday came over to start sewing. I cut it out for her and then gave her the design wall to play with the fabric. She only worked for about an hour before bedtime, but got up raring to go on Monday. She sewed them together, I pressed for her. Then I loaded it on the long arm and away she went! It's funny, the platform I let her stand on to reach the handles, was almost too tall for her! She had to bend over a bit to see what she was doing. And yet, not quite tall enough without it to reach the back of the quilting area or to see what she was doing. But she managed and got it all done. She got a little more nervous when I reminded her that we had to stitch the binding on the back by hand. (I sewed it onto the front for her). She remembers poking herself a lot! So, being the softie that I am, I told her I would sew the binding for her. But she had to do the next one. All during the day, she kept mentioning that she really needed her own sewing machine and work area, like mine. AND she wanted a sewing machine mat with pockets with HER name on it, like mine. So, she worked hard on her quilt, so we could 'play' a bit. I made the mat for her and in the meantime, she created a little quilt for her doll. She even quilted it herself on the sewing machine. I love it! She found things to add to her pockets, making sure she had all the essentials like I had close by my machine. (Yes, she was pretty sure she needed reading/sewing glasses like mine too!)I love how she reminds me so much of my younger years, always wanting to create things. Scrounging around for materials to create. I didn't have access to fabric then (my mom didn't sew and I lived too many states away from both my grandmas), but created other things. What a blessing to have a new generation eager to learn and pass on our love of creating beautiful things!