Wednesday, January 06, 2010

The best laid plans of a quilter....

I have a plan for the 5th grade auction quilt that is probably much more complicated than it should be. But I think it will turn out really awesome. I've compiled this outline for the teachers to see, and also all you blog buddies out there. If you see a fatal flaw, please let me know now!

The auction is February 20th, so I'm hoping to get this done before the 19th.... Here's the little sample I and the kids made last month.



I'm going to alternate Ticker Tape blocks {thanks for sharing Amanda Jean! who else is still in shock, mourning, and denial that she won't be blogging anymore?! Hurray for her, sad for us} with a solid. This sample is linen, but I'm going to use Kona Ash for the big quilt. The finished project should end up about 65" square.



I have 6" squares - marked off to 5x5 - for each child to design. I was going to label them after completion, but worried I would mess up a child's name and then ruin their work. So I have written all their names already. There are 83 of them. I'll bring along some extras in case the roster had a typo or some other disaster befalls a square in the class room. The teachers can also do one, and they will be grouped on a back corner - not enough room on the front.


I have a HUGE pile of gorgeous, graphic fabric. I added Heat-n-bond, peeled it, then whacked the stack up into small squares and rectangles. In the classroom, each child can hunt for favorites, then I'll quickly set their creation with an iron to make sure their design stays.


Once pieced, I'll free motion, raw edge quilt each placed rectangle {nanananana I'm not listening to how insane that may be with 83 billion fabric bits} the solids will probably be stippled.

I decided to pre-cut the fabric bits based on how my test quilt worked....for one, kid school scissors barely cut paper. They weren't going to make nice edges on fabric! Then, when I gave a pile to each kid and said 'fill it up and make something', this was the result:


Caleb the 7th grader literally filled it up and didn't bother to cut much of anything.


Kenton the 5th grader made some crazy tiny bits. I would have needed a padded cell if they all made little bits like that!


Becket was too small to cut with the sharp scissors, so I did cut his pieces. I preferred the clean shapes and loved how he layered a few. He worked for quite a while to get his just right. This was more what I was aiming for. You can see the blocks I made in the corners of the sample at the top.

The total effect is going to be pretty cool. I can't wait to see what the kids make of this!

26 comments:

~Michelle~ said...

good heavens chica! you never stop, do ya?? And this quilt is going to fabulous, I just know it :)

Leslie said...

first let me say...boo hoo for us. i was so shocked when i read amandajeans last post. i wondered what i was going to do without all her help and inspiration. thank goodness she is leaving it there for reference. now, this auction quilt is going to be amazing. assuming you don't lose your mind in the process. some of those are really little pieces, but alternating with the solid is going to be beautiful. Good for you for challenging yourself. you must work well under pressure...you always seem to have a deadline.

Isa said...

It looks good!! I think it's going to turn out just wonderful!

Dresden Quilter said...

Wow! You are amazing and have lots of patience! It will be wonderful and hopefully not too time consuming. I too was shocked and saddened that Amanda Jean is not going to post any more. I am glad she will still be posting on flickr.

Anonymous said...

Wow what a great idea and who would not want to win that at the auction!!!! Love all the fabric you backed and cut!!!!

Laura said...

That is such a wonderful idea. I'm sure the finished quilt will be gorgeous!

Crystal Hendrix said...

I too am very sad that Amanda Jean is no longer blogging...but this looks like a WONDERFUL plan! Good job!

julieQ said...

What a totally awesome project and idea! I love this!!

Karen said...

What a labor of love this will be! It's going to be awesome and someone will be thrilled to buy it at the auction. Isn't it fun to see how creation these kids can be! Happy sewing to you!

Julie @ Jaybird Quilts said...

the result is gonna be great.. but you are nuts!! {& that is why i love you}

Alyson said...

Oooo, this is awesome! Great idea and I think the kids will love it. Please, Please use only one color thread to quilt it!!! It will be crazy work but it will look great! Awesome scraps...those kids don't know how lucky they are!

Rene' said...

LOVE it! Great idea to precut the fabric pieces to let the kids pick out...another great idea to have the kids' names already written on their blocks. Sounds like you've got it all covered!

Katy said...

Once again, love, love, love your ideas! First off, such a great idea to let each kid {and teacher} "design" their own block. Second, I think you may be a little crazy after raw-edge sewing around each of the itty bitty pieces! No worries, you can just spew your craziness off here, you know we'll all be in awe!

And so super, uber sad about amandajean leaving us here in blogland! Mom and I always read her blog, and I didn't know until mom called me one night (I hadn't had a chance to read amandajean's post yet.

Okay, sorry for the novel. And good luck with the quilt, can't wait to see the finished product!!

Always,
Katy

Purple Quilter Queen said...

You are a brave woman! Can't wait to see the finished product! Jenn

shellysquilts said...

What a fabulous idea! How can it not turn out to be anything but stunning! Well done!

Stephanie said...

Love this! Can't wait to see all of the kids creations, it will be beautiful!

Life of Joy said...

That is going to turn out great. How much money are you saving so you can bid on the quilt?

leigh said...

I loved that ticker tape quilt the minute I saw it. And I LOVE your idea too. I'm always trying to think of a way to do quilts with the school kids. I also checked your quilty math and got the same results.

And I am also sad about Amanda Jean, but I get it too. It's so much work - what she did! I'm glad we still have it as a resource.

Little Lady Patchwork said...

OMG! What an awesome idea for an auction. I am sure that you will raise a lot of $ with this one! If not, we could all bid on it.

Good luck with all of those itty-bits! I know that it will look fabulous.

Kris said...

What a great idea and it's going to look fabulous!!

Jenny said...

What a fantastic, creative group project. I can't wait to see it come together!

Diane said...

Wow... just wow... I was going slightly nutso thinking about making a ticker tape from the triangles left over from a siggy quilt swap and this make me feel like a wimp :)

Its going to be beautiful and I think you have a great plan of action.

Rebekah said...

this is an awesome idea for an auction quilt! What a fun way to get all of the kids involced in the project

Luv 2 Kreate said...

What a wonderful idea!

Jessica said...

I love this idea! That quilt will go for a ton of money, I'm sure.

I'm thinking about a making quilt for an auction that I'm organizing in May. Not for school, so I can't have each kid do a block make (though I do love that idea and will file it away for when my little guy is older!)--trying to figure out what would appeal to the largest number of people and also be within my ability.

And I too was despondent about CMQ ending. At least she'll still be posting on flickr so I can still see what she makes!

Kerry said...

What a awesome item! Each is so unique! Can't wait to see the finished result.