Somewhere in the world, pigs are flying

My sister has started her first quilt! She decided to sew up a very simple quilt for her bf's mom for Christmas, and I've got evidence to prove it!

This last weekend I was visiting my mom and stepdad for my stepdad's 60th birthday party, which created the perfect opportunity for me to help my sister get started. She wanted a very simple design, so she chose a few black, white, and red prints that we cut into 16.5" squares. She pieced the squares in a 3x4 layout.
She even taught me a trick! I tend to shoot from the hip when piecing, which doesn't always result in the best layout. Stacey cut small squares of each print and played around with the layout on the table before she started piecing. My world seriously changed when I saw her do this! (I'm not one to sit down with graph paper and colored pencils-it takes too long and you can't move things around easily!)

The final layout:

The night wasn't without a few hiccups, of course. The machine that we intended to use wasn't working properly. My mom has two other machines, both of which were in the room with a sleeping Addy. I managed to sneak in and get the machine plus a few notions and the manual. Good thing the manual was out in plain site, because I had no idea how to operate my mom's machine!
And of course no project would be complete without a little bit of frogging (at 3am):

By Sunday morning she had the quilt pieced and basted. I gave her a few tips for tying it, and I think she'll work with my mom to finish it up. After it's tied, she's going to applique an "N" for Nancy to the lower right corner. And to finish the edge, we talked about trimming the batting flush with the top and turning the backing over to the top to form a faux binding.

She says that she doesn't think she'll become a quilter, but only time will tell. She loves fresh, modern fabric so I think there's still a good chance that she'll be sucked in. Besides, she got a king size quilt out of me earlier this year, after which I told her that she was on her own. ;)

Either way, I had a lot of fun working on it together. Maybe next time we'll start earlier and get to work on more!