valoe cabin, a start

so, this is very not-seasonal and not anything i was planning to do at the moment. i am so motivated to get some wips completed and the starts in the queue did not include this quilt at all. but i tried out an idea late one night and then my grandson keeps asking to sew with me and this turned out to be the easiest thing to sew with him. 

so . . . 

a few weeks ago i was browsing my saved ig posts (which is such a good way to see a lot of quilts i like at once and get inspired). i came across this old quilt from quilter jenna valoe. the color palette is classic jenna and this is one of the quilts that inspired my "valoe" stella grande quilt. i knew i had plenty of scraps from my "valoe" quilt leftover, so even though it was late at night, i snuck downstairs and whipped up a block, just for fun.

that was supposed to be as far as it went for now. the block and the scraps were supposed to be put away until maybe spring.

but then the little guy came over and asked to sew. i didn't have anything else out ready to sew with him. so i grabbed the scrap pile, cut a few pieces into 2.5" strips, and we made another block. this has happened on repeat several times now and i'm quickly accumulating blocks!

he likes to sew with me, but the discovery of my candy bowl of sewing sweets is, i think, the main motivator. granna is stingy with the sweets - we have to complete a whole block before he picks out one candy (it was candy corns until this week when those were gone and we switched to peanut m&m's). but he's really into it and works hard for that one little bite.

i've been letting him decide what order the colors go in, which hc was making for some similar-looking blocks. i've started guiding that a little by giving him a choice of two colors to pick from for the next one we sew. he always wants to hold the "key," the little screwdriver tool for changing my needle and foot. fortunately, that's on a ribbon, so it's easy to keep track of. it's the first thing he goes for when he gets inside the blue doors. then he sits in the chair i found for him and runs the buttons and foot pedal on demand. i let him choose the speed at which we sew and lately he is really into turtle speed. it makes me a little antsy because the turtle is soooo slooooow. but he's the boss! i'm impressed how patient he is while i cut and press between strips, although he has started fidgeting and pushing a button or two while my back is turned, haha.

so not only have i started a new quilt, we're actually completing it rather quickly as these are big blocks and i don't need much more than a dozen for the quilt. i asked my grandson if he wants this to be for him and he says, no, he already has a quilt that i made for him. i asked if we should make it for his mom. no, she already has one, too. i guess we'll just have to wait and see where this one lands. maybe he'll change his mind once it's done.