Quilting With Fourth Graders

This year I am the room parent for my son's 4th grade class, which also meant that I was in charge of coordinating the class art project for the school's annual auction. So this is what a group of very enthusiastic 9- and 10-year-olds created:

We started with a layer cake. This was one I had in my stash, one of Aneela Hooey's early collections called Sherbet Pips. We then took 5-6 squares at a time and cut them into strips of various lengths of 2 to 4 inches. The kids then selected three different prints and sewed them together. It was a great project for novice quilters, as there was no concern about keeping a quarter-inch seam allowance (or sewing a straight seam, for that matter). Most of the kids had never used a sewing machine before, so again, it was a very doable group project.

Each block was trimmed down to 9.5" x 6.5". We used a 5 x 8 setting, so we needed a total of 40 blocks. There were only a few strips of fabric left over at the end, so it was a great project using a layer cake. I then used 3.5" x 6.5" blocks for the sashing in between each block, and then 3.5" strips between each row.  The border also used 3.5" strips. The quilt turned out to be a relatively good-sized quilt, 63" x 75".

For the quilting, I used a longarm quilting pattern called Jade. The pattern reminds me of puffy clouds and flowers, so I thought it would add some nice texture to the white background.

These kids should be proud of their work. I think it turned out pretty spectacular! We've already had a few parents expressing interest, so hopefully the quilt will raise some funds for the school.