Or How To Learn To Sew While Having a Great Time With Your Mom.

That's what these four Moms and their daughters did a few weeks ago.

Lower right corner - that's Angela Yosten and her daughter, Paige.  Angela is the uber-awesome web designer here at Moda.  At Paige's birthday party a few weeks ago, her friends saw Angela's sewing room and got excited about how cool it all looked, especially after seeing some of the things Angela has made.  They wanted to learn to sew!

While a couple of the moms had sewing machines and did some sewing, not all did.  But they wanted to learn too.  So Angela made a plan.  Her Mom - Karen Smisek - just happens to be the owner of The Retreat Place in Dennison, Texas.  Even better, her Mom is a quilter who has taught many people to sew and quilt using Pellon's Fusible Quilter's Grid.

Invitations were sent.  RSVPs received.  A few weeks later, four Moms packed up their girls and headed off for a weekend retreat.

The Moms.

Angela.  Lauren Schafer.  Sarah Hale.  Lisa Marks.

The daughters - ages 6 to 12.  Minus one who kept going missing when cameras came out.

The project was a simple one.  Since all the girls are into American Girl dolls, the girls decided to make doll quilts for their dolls.  For the fabrics, the girls got to pick from a big selection of Moda Candy Mini Charm Packs since they were the perfect size for the project.  Four matching or four different - the girls got to choose.

Then came the fun of laying out the squares on the grid.

It's very serious work.  Paige chose  Modern Backgrounds Paper by Zen Chic.

Once the fabrics were placed, it was time to press and fuse the squares to the backing.  Then folding on the lines and sewing.

Of course, it can't really be a retreat without some laughing and hijinks.

It was also a slumber party of sorts.

It was unanimous - everybody had a really good time.  As much as they loved learning to sew and making something, it was the time spent together that made it such a memorable weekend.  The girls are already asking  about the "next" retreat.  (The moms are trying to figure out how to plan a Moms-only sewing retreat too.)

And yes, the girls finished their quilt tops.  All that's left is the binding.

The point of this is that every one of us loves to sew.  Someone taught us to sew and someone helped us learn to love it.  Whether it was our mom or a relative or a teacher, someone in our life "passed it on" to us.  If you have a daughter or granddaughter, maybe you can arrange something like this to teach her to sew.

Wherever you are, planning something like this isn't hard.  It doesn't need to be at a retreat facility, it could be at your home or a friend's - one with a really big house, of course.  Retreat facilities just make it easier, and a bit more like an adventure.  Ask your local shop if they'd be interested in having this as a class or workshop.

Thank you to Angela for sharing the pictures and the idea.

Before I forget!  Something interesting I learned from Angela the other day - the Moda Measuring Tape that's used to wrap the pre-cuts is accurately sized.  You can use it to measure something! (Like you needed another reason to buy a fat quarter bundle for a long piece of that ribbon...)

Happy Tuesday!

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