Rocky Learns to Sew ....

First of all, I want to wish Happy Mother's Day to all my lovely followers!  

Lovely pot of hydrangeas from my son!

Even if you are not a mother in the typical sense of the word, it's more than likely that you have "mothered" others in your life - even guys can do that! - and that really is what we celebrate isn't it?  I've had a great day and hope that you have too =^..^=

Also, since this is Sunday, I'd like to join Kathy's Quilts Slow Sunday linkup by sharing some hand smocking that I've been stitching during the past month or so.

I've never done smocking before, so it's been kinda fun, even it if does take forever.  I remember my mother making smocked pillows when I was a child, and being fascinated at the folded designs.  This is how it is shaping up.  Not perfect, but it will look better after I have straightened some of the puckers out.  It will definitely be good enough for my first adventure in smocking.

I'm making the smocked piece to be used on a bag project I started in March.  I took this class called the Fifth Dimension Bag from Rami Kim at Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge TN.

I have to say, this was the most interesting and downright FUN class I've ever taken!  Quite a few of my friends were also in the class, and we all agreed that it was great.  Above in the orange grunge fabric you can see a segment I made in class (by machine) called Harlequin Tucks, and beside that are my Lined Prairie Points and Square Chopkeys.  Chopkey is the Korean form of fabric folding.

I believe someone else has also taken quite a liking to this project!  Rocky has become quite the little quilter's helper.  He loves being in the studio and "helping" me do anything and everything.

He's even learning to help me pick out fabrics ....

Gypsy and Sable never paid any attention at all to anything I did in the studio.  They often came in to sleep on a quilt while I sewed, but I never had to worry about them bothering any of my tools.  But for Rocky, this is a veritable treasure-trove of toys to play with!

I've actually had to cover this area over with fabric and hope he never figures out how to pull it off ...

He knows it's under there, but hasn't yet figured out how to get there ....

His favorite thing to do is pull the pins from my pincushions - and of course that's something that worries me half to death!  I've had to bring out the squirt bottle to teach him to leave the pins alone.  He's not at all happy about being deprived of his most exciting pastime in the studio, and often sneaks over there to grab one when I'm ironing or pulling fabric.  So I've had to start covering all the pincushions too!

He especially loves the ones with the big colorful butterfly heads!

And remember the quilt he claimed before I could get the binding on it (here)?  He actually sat on the quilt while I sewed the binding down!

When I shooed him away, he went over to sit in the back and watch what I was doing from there - as though he was making sure I didn't hurt his quilt :*)

Something tells me I'm going to have to learn to sew with him right there watching every stitch!  After a bit, sitting quietly in the back wasn't good enough and he walked back around to the front to get a better look at exactly what I was doing.  Before I could blink, he started trying to grab the light!

The next day, he was back on duty.  I was simply sewing up a backing for the top I need to quilt for my Guild UFO Challenge.  First, he refused to let me press the fabric.  He decided it would be great fun to play "grab the fabric away from Mom" - thankfully the iron had not heated up yet and I got him down from there quickly!

Then he had to examine what was making all that noise at the machine ...

Nothing is going to happen around here without him supervising, that's becoming quite clear!

I sat back for a bit and just let him explore all the parts until he got tired of it.  I've had to be pretty careful though, because he just loves to sit close and watch the sewing process.  His quick little paws have come close to getting hit with the needle.  I like that he is interested, but I'm going to have to find ways to let him watch without worrying about him getting hurt.

Before I close, I thought I'd share a recent fabric pull ....

These two fabrics are the background - I just love grunge! - and focus print ....

These pretties will be used to make a quilt for a very special little one-year-old, our youngest granddaughter, Jacqueline Monroe...

Well, what else would I be doing on Mother's Day than picking out fabrics to make a sweet quilt for a grandbaby?  Hope you are finding something equally fun and exciting to do this beautiful Sunday!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=