Ready To Go

Today I'm off to give a quilting presentation to our local second-graders for their annual Colonial Days. I've lost track of how many years I've done this, but this is at least the fifth. They keep asking me back every year and I never get tired of doing it, but I do get exhausted by the time I'm finished with presenting the program three times in one morning!

I usually bring a bunch of my completed quilts (the teachers don't mind if they're machine quilted, not hand quilted), a quilt top so that they can see what the seams look like, a few blocks, and some scraps to give them an idea of the kinds of pieces that quilts start with. I also bring along a quilt that I started at least ten years ago, but haven't touched in years except for the annual presentation. It's the maroon and gold one that's in the hoop. The fabrics are not my colors and I don't really want to finish the hand quilting, but it comes in handy to demonstrate what a quilt sandwich looks like and how to hand quilt. I just take a few big stitches every year during the demo...it's a good excuse not to finish the quilt...I'll need it for next year!