Quilts
Each DiNozzo has a special quilt, 2030; Tony learns to sew along with Ziva
Chapter 1 – LJ's Lions
"Whatcha doin'?" Tony peeked around the corner to the sitting area in the master bedroom. He'd heard an unrecognized sound and his curiosity was piqued. Now that he was working from home on Fridays, he and Ziva spent time together when the kids were at school.
"Trying the new sewing machine," Ziva's brow was furrowed in concentration as she guided the piece of fabric through the feed dogs. "I am starting simple. Remember that shirt you tore doing yardwork in the fall?"
Tony nodded; it was his favorite outdoor shirt for the crisp days of autumn. "Yep, are you repairing it for me?"
Ziva nodded. She indicated the pile of clothing that needed mending, "Feel free to do some sewing as well, Tony. On the tutorial video for the machine the instructor said that doing simple mending is a good way to practice with the machine, especially straight seams."
"If we're both gonna sew, then we need two machines," he smirked as he sorted through the pile of garments. "I mean that it would be faster and more efficient…"
Ziva pointed to the sewing machine that Delilah's mother gave to her the previous summer, "We have two already. Go for it!"
Thirty minutes later, Tony was guiding a pair of pants belonging to one of the twins through the second machine. He'd skimmed the instruction booklet and the getting started guide; the machine threaded itself, so he just needed to figure out how to get it started threading. Once that was done, he tested the foot pedal a few times and started sewing.
"This is kinda relaxing," he commented to Ziva as she held up another repaired shirt of his. "So when do we start making the quilts? Isn't that why you got the machines?"
"It is, but we have to learn what to do," Ziva pointed to several books and magazines that were stacked near the sewing machine Tony was using. There were also several DVDs in the stack. "Mrs. Fielding gave me most of her duplicate books and instructional videos."
As Ziva repaired a seam on one of her tops, Tony leafed through several of the quilting magazines. He dog-eared several pages with designs that caught his eye or technique tips that looked interesting. A child's quilt with appliqued circus animals and patterns for the animal shapes stopped his page-turning.
"I could do that, but with lions for LJ," he held up the magazine for Ziva to see the finished quilt with the animals. "Looks simple enough… where do we buy the fabric and other stuff?"
Ziva chuckled, "First, LJ is eight years old; perhaps he is a bit old for that? Second, there are two fabric stores over by the mall. We can go look tomorrow if you would like."
A week later, the pair were sitting in a quilting class at one of the local fabric shops. Tony had spotted the sign-up sheet when the clerk was cutting the fabric the couple chose for their first projects.
When the DiNozzos arrived, one of the store employees mistakenly thought that Tony was going to wait for Ziva instead of attending the class. Ziva smirked as Tony informed the woman that he was there to learn to make quilts.
"I am taking the class with my wife," Tony smiled his best charming smile. "We are both into sewing and I am not too proud to admit that I am enjoying learning so far. I even have some ideas for my first quilt."
After some general instructions, the group split into two parts. One half learned about simple applique techniques for making picture quilt blocks; Tony joined that group to get some tips for his lion-themed quilt for LJ. As each person worked on blocks, he created a set of four lion appliques from golden-yellow color fabric and brown for the manes. Each fabric piece of his lion was attached to a double-sided fusible mesh that helped attach the lion to the quilt block.
Ziva's group learned how to make half-square triangle blocks for a pieced quilt. The design was created by the placement of the blocks and the fabrics chosen. That group learned two methods of creating the blocks; one from pre-cut triangles and the other from sewing two squares together and then making cuts on the diagonals to unfold the half-square triangle blocks. Ziva was fascinated with making the different patterns and experimented with pinwheels and stars.
At the end of the four-hour class, Tony had completed the quilt top for LJ with the lions on four blocks plus grass-like fabric strips between and around the blocks. Ziva had a set of three half-triangle star blocks in pinks and reds.
"That is a really cool quilt," one of the women in the applique group complimented Tony. "I couldn't get my husband in here if I tied him up and dragged him in," she joked with Ziva. "You're lucky he has interests that match your own."
"Thanks; I'm making a lap quilt for our youngest. He loves lions," Tony added. "And the class was my idea, by the way. Ziva was all for just getting started on our own, but I saw the flyer for the class last week and signed us up."
Ziva patted her husband's arm, "We do many things together, but we also have our own interests. Tony plays golf with his brothers, but I have no desire to learn the game. Just as he has no interest in volunteering at the library."
"Nice talking with you," Tony tugged Ziva towards the displays of batting for the quilts. Since the store had a fifty percent off sale on all batting, he wanted to stock up for future projects as well as have what they needed for the current quilts in progress. "I think we should go with the poly-batting for the lap quilts for everyone. Easier to wash and dry than the cotton batting. But, if we make the bed-sized quilt we saw in the magazine, we should use the heavy-duty cotton for warmth and thickness."
"I agree," Ziva spotted the rolls of batting. "This may be a better choice than the precut pieces for a specific size. We have plenty of room to store a roll of each."
When the couple finally headed out of the store, they had four rolls of batting, some polyester, and some cotton, three bags of fabric, a bag of remnant pieces, threads of various colors, and four shape templates for cutting half-square triangles, diamonds, hexagons, and squares.
~Quilts~
"LJ?" Tony peeked around the doorframe of the boy's room after dinner on the following Saturday evening.
"Yeah, Abba?" the eight-year-old was scowling at the drawing pad on his desk. The sky in his drawing just didn't look right to him. He was getting frustrated with the whole thing.
"Got a minute?"
LJ turned towards the doorway, "Okay, Abba… this sky is annoying the heck out of me anyhow."
The boy followed his father to the master suite wondering what was up. "Hey, Abba, am I in trouble?"
Tony shook his head and grinned at his youngest, "Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you, kiddo. I have something I made for you. I hope you like it." He handed LJ a folded fabric piece. On the part that was visible the fabric was a flannel print with realistic lions and scenery. "It's my first attempt, and I know I screwed up a few places… I had to redo this one seam five times…"
LJ unfolded the lap quilt; he saw the four blocks of appliqued lions, the filler strips of the grassy printed fabric, the golden yellow and brown border strips, and the binding made of the grassy print. The quilt was just the right size to wrap around his shoulders when watching TV with the family.
"It's cool; I like it Abba. Toda raba," LJ hugged his father with a huge grin on his face. "Is it okay if I show the others?"