Gwyn

What is a jelly roll quilt?

windycitygal

I would suggest you use a 40%-50% off coupon for Jo-Ann's and buy the Quilt Wizard. It is about $15 at half price and is made by the Electric Quilt people. This way she could play with the nine patch, log cabin, ect. chose her colors and see her project come to life on the computer. Plus the quilt wizard gives you the yardage estimates for each color. It is a wonderful little program and sold me on buying the EQ7 for myself.
I like the idea that she will see her choices before she sews so she will not be disapointed about her color choices. I would recommend you allow a little more fabric for her in case she makes mistakes with cutting.
Remember, 9 patch can be made 12 patch or 16 patch!

Texaslady

Let her try a nine-patch quilt. You can start with block pieces of 4 1/2 inches (4 inches when seamed), and let her decide how she wants to quilt it, or teach her to quilt in the ditch or along the seams. This is a simple quilt to start with. She can decide what the materials she wants in the quilt, remembering that she will need plenty of white muslin for the white blocks in the nine-patch square. She could also try cutting these pieces out by cutting long pieces of material of 4 1/2 inches and then take the seams off of the strips when they are sewn together. You can sew these together and make three block strips so that she would not have to sew so many of the individual blocks together. Hope this helps, and that it makes sense.

Amma2EM

I say go for it. I bought my granddaughter a Janome Mini for her 5th birthday. I cut the material for her but she has completed 3 lap quilts and 1 larger quilt. She also made 16 pot holders for Christmas presents. She says, "I didn't know quilting could be so much fun!" She can't get enough time on the sewing machine.

calla

I agree with the log cabin, and rail fence & the nice patch.........also when teaching youngsters having them practice on the machine............... stitching WITHOUT thread on the lines of notebook paper to aid with sewing straight lines is very helpful...........have fun.........calla/Sue

cattailsquilts

I am working with my daughter on a simple strip-piece four patch. She's almost 10 & doing great! Her first quilt was a rail fence.

ok, I can't link images, but trust me, your 11 year old is more than capable of these! =)

Pzazz

My mom started teaching me to sew about age 6 or 7. At that time, I only made doll clothes, and mostly by hand. By the time I was 12. I was making all my own clothes...including winter coats!! By that age, I would also put my mom into a tizzy when she would come into the sewing room and find I had taken the sewing machine apart to service it. :) So...go for it mom!! And let us know how she does.

Patti