Projects (Lianna, Don't Read or Look at This Post Until After Your Birthday)

A few years ago my friend Mary invited me over to quilt with her for the day.  I had never quilted before and I wasn't sure it would be my thing.  I decided to go anyway and since then I have grown more and more appreciative and interested in quilting.  The first quilt I made after working with Mary for the first time was made from old blue jeans.  I cut out the jeans into pieces and patched together some complicated (for me anyway) pieces.  They were made from a combination of triangles and squares, and they took me forever!  I think I made four or five of those pieces and then put them down and forgot about them for close to a year.  And then Mary invited me over for another quilting day.  On that day she taught me about the "disappearing nine patch."  This is a quilt square that is made by sewing together nine equally sized squares and then cutting that larger square into quarters crosswise.  In the end you have four smaller squares that you can arrange in different patterns.  The final project looks much more complicated than it is in reality.  After learning about the disappearing nine patch I went home and dug out my blue jeans.  I promptly began to piece together nine squares and cut the resulting larger squares into quarters.  In the end, I pieced together a baby blanket for Finn, my dear friends' baby boy. 

Since that first quilt I haven't done much quilting, until this spring when I was suddenly inspired to cut up fabric and piece it together again.  I dug out my piles of fabric and began to cut squares to make another disappearing nine patch.  Mary helped me piece it together over April vacation, but I wasn't totally satisfied with it because it's made from upholstery fabric and not cotton.  The colors are kind of bland and it's lacking character because the patterns are too big and blah.  But I really enjoyed the process.  So I decided to go buy some actual quilt fabric and make a real quilt.  After thinking about the quilt I wanted to make for a few days, I decided on just the colors.  My sister recently bought herself a condo, and the few times I had been there I had noticed a real lack of blankets for her couch.  I decided her color scheme of pink, black, white and yellow were the colors for the quilt so that she could have a nice comfy blankey to snuggle with on the couch.  Here is the finished top:

Here you can see the disappearing nine patch.  Each of the larger squares you see are made up of four smaller squares.  Lianna loves polka dots and black and white, so I hope she likes it!  She's getting this for her birthday present-- I hope she's not looking at this post before then!  It still has to be quilted, and I'm having a hard time deciding on the right fabric for the back.  Her birthday is coming up on June 18th, so I don't think it'll be done on time.... 

Not too long after I finished working on Lianna's quilt top my students and I decided to make a quilt for our one and only 8th grader.  Our community doesn't have a high school and since it's impossible for children to commute to and from the island for school, children move away from home after 8th grade to attend high school.  Can you imagine moving away from home at 14 years old?  To help the kids leave the community we have a wonderful celebration--it's a kind of right-of-passage for the children in this community.  The school kids prepare a presentation and a gift for the graduate and the graduate prepares a speech for the community.  After the graduate speaks, the community is invited to share memories and wishes with the graduate.    It's a truly beautiful and meaningful event for our whole community and there aren't many dry eyes by the end of the evening.

The student graduating this year has been in my class for six year.  I have many, many fond memories of working with him, but the two that are most clear in my head are two projects that involved sewing.  When the graduate was in fourth grade we were studying the Civil War.  When he learned about the Underground Railroad and how people used quilts to send messages about traveling on the Underground Railroad, he insisted on making a real quilt.  I tried my best to convince him to use scissors, paper, glue and makers, but he refused to do anything other than sew a real quilt.  So we worked on a real quilt together and it turned out beautiful.  Additionally he made a map showing the Underground Railroad and wrote about the meaning of each of the squares in his quilt.  The year after that we were studying cultures from around the world.  He was studying Japan and really wanted to make a kimono.  So, we did.  I loved working on those project with him and will never forget it!  For a gift I wanted to make him a quilt and the students wanted to give him something, too.  We decided to combine efforts.  Each student drew a quilt square and I sewed them together and finished it off.  Our hope is it keeps him warm when he is living away from home next year.