Kate was very excited. She was going to visit Grandma Katie for a whole week. They had a special project planned: making a doll quilt just like the one her mother made when she was Kate’s age.
Mom entered Kate’s room. “Have you packed everything you will need, Kate?” she asked. ”Don’t forget your favorite doll, Sallie.”
“Oh, Mom! You know I won’t forget Sallie,” Kate said as she closed the suitcase. “I have plenty of books, too. But I don’t think I will have time to read. Grandma Katie and I are going to work on our special project, and it may take all week to complete.”
Mom just smiled. She knew what the special project was. She had helped cut squares of material for the quilt while JR, Dad, and Grandpa Ron were fishing this summer.
“Well, if you are ready, let’s get going.”
Kate grabbed her suitcase and ran to the car. The family would travel to Grandma Katie’s and Grandpa Ron’s together. Then JR and Dad would go on a camping trip and Mom to a nurses’ convention. Kate thought she would have the best time staying with her grandparents.
As soon as Kate arrived, she asked, “Grandma Katie, can we get started on my doll quilt?”
“I knew you would be anxious to get started, so I have the sewing room all ready,” Grandma answered.
Kate went to the sewing room ahead of Grandma Katie. She couldn’t believe all the stacks of neatly cut squares of material lined up on the cutting table.
“I remember this material. These squares were cut from the material you used to make dresses for me, Grandma Katie,” Kate said as she held up a few.
“Yes, they are, Kate. I kept them hoping that, one day, we could make a quilt together.”
“Where do we start?” Kate asked as she settled into a chair in front of the cutting table.
“First, we will sort the squares by color. Some will have prints, and some will be solid. Next, we will count the number of squares in each stack. We will need a total of three hundred and twenty-four squares.”
“Wow! That’s a lot!” Kate exclaimed.
“Kate, you can start sorting.”
“I can count the squares, too. I’m very good at counting.”
“Good! You can count, and I will write down the total. When we have enough, then we will lay out the design using this graph,” Grandma said. She showed Kate a piece of paper with tiny squares. She had marked off a section with eighteen squares across and eighteen rows down.
“When you make a one-half-inch seam on all four sides of the square, it will be two inches by two inches. The finished size of the quilt will be thirty-six inches by thirty-six inches, the length of a yardstick.” She held up the yardstick for Kate.
Kate began to sort. When she was finished, Grandma Katie said, “It looks like we have blue, green, yellow, purple, orange, and pink. That makes six colors for us to work with.”
“I know the quilt will be pretty. These are some of my favorite colors, especially the ones that you used to make my dresses.”
“How’s the quilt coming?” Grandpa Ron asked as he came into the room.
“It’s going to be the prettiest quilt you have ever seen,” Kate replied.
“It must be getting late. We had better stop for the day,” Grandma said. “You can count the squares in the morning.”
“That sounds good to me,” Kate said. “I really had a good time today.”
Kate joined her grandparents for breakfast the next morning. She could not stop talking about the quilt.
“I can see that you are eager to get going. Tell you what—I will wash the dishes, and you and Grandma can get started right away,” Grandpa offered.
“We need to count the number of squares we have so far. We need three hundred and twenty-four,” Kate told Grandpa Ron.
“That’s a lot! You had better get going.”
Kate counted each stack of squares. Grandma Katie wrote down thirty-four yellow, forty green, forty-four blue, fifty purple, forty-two pink, and fifty-three orange squares.
Grandma Katie added each number. The total came to two hundred and sixty-three squares. “We are sixty-one squares short. Let’s see how many we will need of each color to make the stacks equal. You have six stacks of colors. If we divide three hundred and twenty-four by six, the result is fifty-four. Can you subtract the total of each color from fifty-four, Kate?”
“I can try. Will you check behind me?”
Kate began subtracting. She came up with twenty yellow squares, fourteen green squares, ten blue squares, four purple squares, twelve pink squares, and only one orange square. “Is that correct, Grandma Katie?”
“That is correct. You did a good job. We can finish the cutting before lunch, and you can start working on your design.”
Grandma Katie and Kate selected the pieces of material they needed. Grandma handed Kate a three-inch-square piece of cardboard. “Do you remember how to trace the square onto the material?”
“I sure do.” Kate took a piece of material and started tracing squares for Grandma Katie to cut.
“Don’t forget to look at how many we need of each color when you are tracing,” Grandma reminded Kate. “We will only cut the number we need.”
“This is fun.” Kate said as she traced each piece of material.
After lunch, Grandma Katie showed Kate how to mark each square on the graph with the colors. Following the design, Kate started laying out the first row. She alternated the blue, yellow, green, pink, purple, and orange squares until there were eighteen squares across. She would need eighteen rows of eighteen squares to complete the design.
“It looks great!” Kate exclaimed. “What’s next?”
“We need to set up the sewing machine and fill the bobbins with thread. Then you can practice sewing seams and using the sewing guide to keep the line straight. Tomorrow you will start sewing the squares together by rows.”
“I can’t wait!” Kate exclaimed.
Kate practiced until she knew how to sew the squares together and push the reverse button to make a backstitch. Grandma inspected the squares.
“Kate,” Grandma Katie said, “you need to go a little bit slower—you forgot to make the backstitch so the seam does not come apart.” Grandma showed Kate some of the squares.
“I forgot that step. I had better practice a little bit more,” Kate said.
“Just a little bit more. You have had a long day. We will start fresh in the morning.”
The next morning, as soon as they finished breakfast, Kate and Grandma Katie headed to the sewing room to start putting the quilt together. Kate would sew the squares together in rows and Grandma Katie would press the seams open. Kate sewed a few squares together and Grandma checked her work. “You are doing a good job, Katie. Now, take your time.”
After all the squares were sewn together in rows and the seams pressed open, it was time to sew the rows together to form the quilt. Grandma Katie showed Kate how to pin the first two rows together so that the seams lined up. She then sewed the first two rows together, while Kate pinned the next two rows. They continued until all the rows but the last two were stitched together. Kate was having a hard time lining up the squares.
“There are two squares missing, Grandma. Where could they be? I don’t see them.” Kate was puzzled.
They searched the floor around the sewing machine, but there were no squares. They looked on the table where Kate had laid out the rows, but there were no squares there, either. Grandma Katie looked puzzled, too. But suddenly she started to laugh and pointed at Kate’s back. “Look what I found on the back of your shirt, Kate. The missing squares. They must have clung to your shirt from static electricity.”
Kate had to laugh, too. She took the squares and sewed them to the row. Grandma Katie ironed the seams open. Together they pinned the last two rows together and stitched them to the others. The quilt top was now complete.
Grandma Katie held it up for Kate to inspect. “Tomorrow we will sew the batting in place and attach the lining to the back.”
“What is batting?” Kate asked.
“Batting is a material like a blanket. It is sewn in between the top and bottom of the quilt to provide warmth,” Grandma Katie explained. “Let’s go fix dinner— we have done a lot today.”
After dinner, Kate gave out a yawn.
“Looks like someone had better get ready for bed and sweet dreams,” said Grandma Katie.
“I really like to sew,” Kate told her grandmother after she climbed into bed. “I can’t wait until tomorrow when we put the quilt together. Will we be able to finish?”
“I believe we will. You did a great job sewing the squares together,” Grandma said. She leaned down and gave Kate a kiss goodnight.
The next day, they cut the batting to match the quilt top and pinned the pieces together. Kate used a zigzag stitch to secure the batting to the top and removed the pins as she sewed. Grandma Katie cut the lining from a solid piece of blue-green material that was two inches larger than the quilt top on all sides. She laid the top and batting on top of the lining and basted it in place.
“Now we make diagonal stitches across each square to secure the back to the top. Do you want to do this, Kate?”
“I think you had better do that, Grandma Katie. I will watch,” Kate said.
Soon all the stitches were complete. Grandma held up the quilt.
“You did a great job. But what do we do with the rest of the lining?” Kate asked.
“We will fold the remaining lining to form a hem, like the hem of your dress, and secure it with a zigzag stitch.”
Grandma helped Kate turn the hem and pin it into place. She then hemmed the quilt on the sewing machine. As she completed the last side, Kate joined her at the sewing machine. Grandma helped Kate make the final stitches.
Kate held up the quilt to admire it. “Thank you, Grandma Katie. I will enjoy playing with my quilt and dolls. I had a great time learning to cut squares and sew. I can’t wait to show Grandpa Ron.” Kate hurried from the room to get her doll.
“Grandpa Ron, Grandpa Ron! Come see the quilt,” Kate exclaimed as she ran with the quilt and doll in hand to find her grandfather. He was reading the paper in his favorite chair.
“That’s the prettiest quilt I have ever seen,” he said. “You did a good job. Did you enjoy learning to quilt?”
“Oh! Yes! I had the best time. I know my mom will be pleased, and my dolls will always be warm,” Kate said. “I like sewing with Grandma Katie.”
Grandma Katie came into the room. “I had a great time too!”