Introducing Fire and Ice

This is the face of a very happy Young Man.

I had invited him to the studio on Saturday afternoon  to die cut tumblers.  (heat index was 107 - not a good day to play outside) He loves to help stack the fabrics, turn the die cutter's handle, peel off the excess edges, and sort the cut pieces that result.

It didn't take long before he pulled some fiery red-rust yardage off the shelf -- "Mee Mah, can we make a quilt with this?"

How did I not see THAT coming ?!?!  

I handed him some mixed media paper and my box of Tombow dual tip brush pens and asked him if he could draw out his idea.

My immediate thought was The Yellow Quilt.  I showed him a photo and he said "yes" without hesitation.

I had asked him to choose six "fire" (warm) colors and six "ice" (cool) colors which he did with the help of my gorilla step stool so he could reach the top shelves without asking for help. 

(I still can't believe he'll be eight in just over a month) 

As I was rotary cutting 6.5" strips and squares from his chosen fabrics, I heard him ask "how does this thing work" as he kept poking the screen without result.

I explained that he had to use the buttons ("it's not like your tablet") and he happily made a label for his new quilt's project box.

Once the squares were pressed (my job), he worked on the layout.  

His focus, explanation of thought process, sense of color, and placement decisions are a joy.

Less than 90 minutes after he initiated the project, he posed with his results.

I told him I didn't have any big-enough yardage to make a back with all one fabric.

"That's okay, Mee Mah.  I like it when the back has lots of different fabrics in it."

So back to the yardage shelves we went.

Again, his choices surprised and delighted me.

The black and blue jumble fabric will be used for borders and the geode print will be the binding (again, his choices).

Finally he scurried off to my thread cabinet and picked out this color for the quilting.

My goal is to have this ready for him when he stays with us on his next "Mommy and Daddy" have to work" day in about two weeks.

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He told me his idea for the quilt and its name came from his fascination with fire/ice dragons and phoenix and it was wonderful to listen to his reasons for choosing each of the fabrics.  

I'm so grateful he still gets excited by the process of making a quilt from start to finish.

Earlier in the day he had also put together a complicated kit for a solar powered wood car that really works, and he created two sophisticated folded paper swords (stiffened with some of Uncle A's card stock bookmarks) along with several folded paper fortune tellers.  

He has clearly inherited the "maker" gene.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"We do not need to teach creativity but rather inspire its daily practice."

Diane Darrow (teacher)