A long absence

Hello world!  I'm fairly certain that most anyone who used to read this blog has moved on to others. I have tried to post many times over the past two years but technical difficulties stopped me. It's a love-hate relationship. 

There have been many projects made and thousands of miles travels and photos taken. 

The most recent quilt was another t-shirt quilt. This time for our principal who is retiring. She gave me her shirts a couple of months ago and this is the end result. I made the blocks bigger this time (cut 13x18). 

The back got the signature blocks from each grade, two preschool classes and the faculty and staff. 

The white bit of binding on the left side is where I signed my name. A label of sorts. 

The sharpies mostly washed well. I need to remember next time to only use Sharpie brand. Other tend to bleed when washed even after being heat set. 

I quilting all over with a meandering pattern. So rusty but I was surprised at how quickly it quilted. Faster than the other quilt I had just finished with straight line quilting. 

She loves the quilt and said she has it draped over a chair at home and no one is allowed to touch it!  Hopefully she will enjoy when she is missing us and smile at the names and the memories made. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2010

I am so glad that I saw this happening again! I have been very absent from blogging this year. Thank you, Amy, for hosting the great Blogger's Quilt Festival again! I love seeing everyone elses amazing work. It is always inspiring.

This quilt started as a small idea, two teachers retiring and somehow involving all of the students. I donated the time and material to make this quilt (and the next) and the PTO helped to cover the cost of a long-arm quilter to do the hard part! I had a short time frame, I think it was about a month.

Orginally I thought I would have each student do a 6" block but that was simply too daunting to prepare and sew with the time I had given myself. I chose a garden theme because it lends itself well to childrens creativity and both like to garden. I love this quilt because of it's long garden rows spaced by a great batik grass. Then surrounded by water/sky.

The garden spaces are made up of two classes each and the last row with the thank you block. It was great to watch the children put something in the garden and show their love for these teachers. It was great to work with the fabric pastels. I've used them on a couple of projects since then.

This was a great exercise for me to give over the creative license to the kids and even more to hand over the quilts to be quilted by someone else. My friend did a fantastic job and worked fast to help me meet the deadline. I could see myself getting carried away with the quilting and that would have taken away from the beautiful art.

Wrapping up the quilts I used the extra from the backing (there was a lot!) and made cases for them. We hung the quilts up at school for a couple of days for the kids and teachers to see the final project. They loved how it all came together and so did the recipients. Lots of love shared and tears shed.

Finished Teacher Quilts

I think these turned out better than any of us expected. The teachers were floored and thrilled and they cried a little too! Definitely a sign of a great gift!

(wrapped and ready for delivery)

I did turn them over to Meg to quilt. She did a great job working around the art work and had them done super fast. Thank you!!

The colors held fast except that a mild detergent or maybe none should be used. There was some little fading of the colors but more so on the signatures. I had intended to go back over them all again but forgot and ran out of time.

We also hung them up in the hall for the last two days of school so the students could see how it all came together. They loved seeing their art worked into a quilt. That puts me to mind of another project (more on that later.)

Without further ado, here they are.

Teacher Retirement Quilts

This year we have two teachers retiring and I wanted to do something special for them. I was inspired by this quilt. I used the fabric pastels and so far they seem to be holding up. Once I ironed them they stopped smudging and seem set. I'll know for sure after I was them.Do not buy them on line. Your local craft store most likely carries them. I found them at Hobby Lobby with the t-shirts and fabric markers. They were $3.99 for the 15 ct and I used a 40% coupon.

My original idea was to have each student do 2-6" blocks with a garden theme (flower, butterfly, bird, tree etc.) Then I got to thinking about how much sewing that would mean for me. 137 blocks x 2. I only had a week to get the blocks done and the quilts made. I know that with 4 kids there was no way for me to get it done. So I opted for large panels. The first one I did 14x70 and had two classes share the panels and sashed them with "grass" in a green batik. On the bottom panel I made a large label of sorts.

For the second quilt I had more of a raised bed garden idea. The smaller panels I did one for each class (12x25). I like the way they turned out. The backings are simple white with a pieced strip. I'll post the finished product when I get them back this week.

I've sent them to a friend to quilt for me. I have never done that before and there is a sense of giving something up by not actually doing the quilting myself. I know they we be great but it was an interesting feeling I had not expected.