Too Much Help

As the mom of three young kids, I am often faced with the problem of "too much help".  I know they just want to help, but their version of it is much different than mine.  Like the time my eldest wanted to help clean up the floor....while I turned my back to get some paper towels and come cleanser, she got a bucket of water and pulled down a towel and started sloshing the water around with it, "just like Cinderella cleans the floor, mama!".  Nice.  "Too much help".

So, when they are around, I don't even attempt to quilt.  They are just too good at helping me push the pedal on the sewing machine just as I am repositioning my quilt.  Or helping me reorganize my spools of threads, so that I can't find a single color I am looking for.  You get the drift.

Tomorrow, being Saturday, I am in full Mommy-mode, so no quilting.  Yesterday, however, I had help of another kind.....

This is Tookie, giving me her opinion of the blocks I am auditioning for the quilt I mentioned yesterday.  More "too much help".  The will be for my niece who is in the hospital for a while.  It is one of the quilts that MUST get done in time for Christmas. It is a cute pattern from the spring 2009 Quilts and More magazine.   I originally started the blocks to be the backing for a playmat I was making, but the blocks turned out so cute that I thought they should go into a quilt of their own (actually two!).

This leads me to my tip of the day for beginner quilters....Piece your backing.  Pick a block you like (I am partial to pinwheels) or repetitive pattern of some sort.  Yes, it takes more time and I know you want to sandwich the thing together and get it done, but it is useful practice, it helps you get a feel for combining colors, and it makes your quilt truly reversible.  Neat!