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.

Scrappy Hunter's Star -- almost finished!

I thought I would go ahead and post the almost-finished quilt top, as I think I am running out of steam on this one. I might have to put it away for a while before taking it up again. It lacks a final border, which is in a dark green floral. I say that I might put it away for a while because I am not liking how the two inner borders came together. Plus, I really stretched out one of the sides while piecing it and am thinking of ripping both borders out to start again.


The details: the fabric is Origins by Basic Gray for Moda. The pattern is from "A Baker's Dozen," from the staff of That Patchwork Place. The pattern is kinda neat in that the entire quilt is made from a combined layer cake and jelly roll and measures about 85" x 85" when finished. Almost all the fabric with a few odds and ends are used. I'll post the directions for the blocks at a later date. As you can see, most but not all my points and corners matched up. But, the various prints are interesting enough that I think I can get away with it. One of these days I will have a precisely pieced top. :)