Art+Craft:Young Hands Quilting Community

Our second Primary week was about the students from Kindergarten to Grade 4 seeing the art quilts laid out in their pre-quilting state. The autumn quilt was basted with thread to demonstrate how the three layers will be connected until the quilting process is complete. This was the first time that the younger students were able to see all of the 90 squares for each season pieced together. To learn and have tactile interaction with the different stages of making a quilt the students then had the chance to quilt on the sewing machine. Each student quilted a 4 x 4 inch square to take home. When we return to classes next week the Intermediate students will begin quilting the art quilts by machine and by hand. Our raffle tickets go on sale April 6th! Check back soon for the reveal of the finished Raffle Quilt and for more information about where to see the quilts and buy tickets.

We have been busy sewing again.  Our seasonal panels tops are under construction. After the design process numbers were taped on the back of the squares, students began sewing them together. Each row had 9 squares. It is lovely to see how the squares contrast or blend as they are sewn together. From the Summer Panel. A Winter panel row completed. Here is how the rows come together after they are sewn. This is the Autumn quilt. More soon as we proceed into our second Primary student week next week.

Design week was an inspiring one where four out of the sixteen classes working on the Art Quilt worked out the final layouts of the 4 x 4 inch squares in each season. I was impressed by the thoughtfulness and lively discussions that accompanied these sessions. The students had lots of opinions and had to make their case on several occasions for why they thought a specific design choice should or should not be made. Blocks were taped to the wall in the 9 squares per row, 10 row pattern Students then re-arranged the squares to make a pleasing design This was challenging as many of the squares have similar designs.  Should they be grouped together  in a pattern or distributed randomly?  What is most pleasing to the eye? These classes also brainstormed the titles of the panels. We used process of elimination through voting to get our final result. Once the design was finalised each block was numbered from 1 through 90 on the back sid...

This week was our first Primary week of the project. Since the older students are doing most of the sewing I have spent more time with them thus far. Primary week means that I can share our progress with the students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 and let them have some hands on time with the sewing machine as well. Our first step was to look at the finished Raffle quilt top and admire all of the hard word of the Intermediate students. (Grades 4-7) Each student then chose two 2.5 inch squares to sew together and the sewing began Each student took home their work for a keepsake

We are hard at work after our Winter Holiday break. The first three weeks of January are all about learning to use the sewing machines, constructing 120 rail fence quilt blocks and sewing those blocks into our quilt top. These blocks are for our queen size quilt which will be raffled off to raise money for the school. Some tape helps the students to keep their sewing lines straight. Three strips become two blocks which we then trim into 7.5 inch squares The iron station is very popular with the students. As we were discussing pattern choices and block layouts we moved the squares around to see all the possibilities. Along with piecing the blocks we have also begun sewing the blocks together into our quilt top.  In the end we will have 12 rows with 10 blocks in each row. We expect the raffle quilt to be finished with the piecing portion by the end of this month.

While the cutting of fabric was underway with Forest Grove's six oldest classes, we have also been working on our 4 x 4 inch art squares. Each season has four classes making art about it. The four classes range from Kindergarten to Grade 6 and/or 7 in each grouping.  This allows for each season's panel to share a spectrum of techniques and abilities. Autumn  Winter   Spring Summer Art squares will be finished by the end of term in December.  Techniques have ranged from painting with stencils and stamps to free hand painting to embroidery. We are getting closer each day to our goal of 360 squares in each panel. 

Our last two weeks have seen the students learning about the tools of quilt making and cutting fabric for our Raffle Quilt. Each of the six classes who are making the raffle quilt have learned about the tools used for quilting and needlework. Filling out worksheets to learn the names and uses of the tools helps develop their vocabulary for a new skill before the tools are used. The students are then asked to gather in pairs and use a rotary cutter to cut 3 x 16 inch strips.  We need 60 strips of each of the three fabric colours to create 120 blocks. One more class is left to cut fabric and then we move on to sewing.