I’ve spent the last week and a half with my two youngest granddaughters, nine and twelve,  first in San Francisco where they live with their mom, then in Ashland, Oregon for three days, and now in Portland, where they will stay with their grandpa and me until Friday.

We have a lot planned for our five days in Portland! One of the things on my wish list was to help the girls make their own pillowcases. They were all for it, which made their granny very happy. Today was the day. Each girl picked her own fabric from my (ahem) considerable stash. Twelve-year-old Bonnie selected a vibrant turquoise mini-dot for the body of her pillowcase and a lilac floral for the band. Beatrice, age nine, chose a lime green fabric with fuchsia blossoms for the body and a fuchsia vined print for the band.

Bonnie worked in my sewing room:

Beatrice sewed on the smaller machine that I set up in the spare room across the hall:

After a break for lunch in the garden . . .

. . . we headed back to the sewing room. I taught the girls the roll-it-up method for pillowcases, which encloses both ends of the band in a single seam. The girls finished their cases with French seams, so there are no raw edges showing anywhere.

They did a beautiful job! Here is Bonnie with her finished pillowcase:

. . . and Beatrice with hers:

Their granny is very proud!