Sweet Silhouette {Quilt}

This was the first time I have had complete artistic control from start to finish on a school auction quilt and I could not have been happier!

I saw Angela Pingel's Profile quilt tutorial on her blog, Cut to Pieces, and knew that I had to make it for Button's Kindergarten year!
 

Her instructions on taking the pictures were perfect.  The only thing I made the mistake of was focusing in on some of the kids, when you should, ideally, stand at the same spot and make sure your camera lens is the same distance each time.

 
I had this great stack of solids I had picked up at Quiltcon in Austin and had used some of it for a quilt I'm working on for Button....just enough to do a quilt for 13 students. I found larger scale Alphabet fabric that I've used before from Joann's for the backing.

  I struggled to figure out a layout and decided to just do some empty blocks to make it a nice lap size.

I liked the idea of printing on fusible, but I already had a bolt of Pellon Wonder Under in my studio.
 I also really wanted my profiles to face the original direction, so I used a sharpie around the printouts, then flipped them over on my light box and made a line on the back.  Then I laid my fusible (sticky side down) on top and traced.  I cut up close to the edge, then ironed on, and then cut the fabric with fusible out.

My longarm ruler base was cracked in the move, so I didn't feel confident I could get the crosshatch that Angela's quilt had.  So I fused and stitched my applique and then quilted with it with a piece of scrap batting on my domestic machine.

I then cut away just to the edge so that it would help the trapunto effect I was going for with this quilt.


Before I pieced the blocks, I added their embroidered names.  I went in to the classroom and had each child write their name in the same size space.  I scanned and digitized them in my embroidery software so that they could be stitched out their EXACT penmanship.

Here is my confession part.  I told myself that a neutral thread throughout would work.
 I didn't want to change threads constantly.

And it looked alright-ish until I got to the end of the first row in the dark fabrics.....

I have not been listening to my gut the past few weeks and have paid heavily for it.
I spent six hours unpicking and reminded myself that sometimes there is a reason we should do the extra work.

This was the second time I used double batting on a quilt and I LOVE IT!!!
I chose a wavy crosshatch quilting on the empty blocks to make sure the eye always returned to the profile blocks.  They were fun and will definitely do it again!

I decided to quilt the profile blocks with free motion "doodling" and making sure I did an outline around the profile to emphasize the trapunto effect I was going for. I think it worked well.

See all the fun colors on the back?!?!  I was too hesitant to tempt fate and use a neutral color.  I'm thankful the backing was busy enough to handle it.

Had to share Button's little profile!  Unfortunately, I did not have a matching thread color for his fabric choice.  I'm not totally in love.  But his little handwriting!!  I melt....

I tried to match the letter backing, but soon discovered the lines just weren't matching.  So I added three primary colored strips.  I like how it draws the eye to the label though.

A solid black binding seemed the best choice to frame out the all solid quilt.

And, of course, I had to embroider a label for the back!

The thing I love the most is all the texture!!!

Quilt Stats:
Measures: 56" x 60"
Pattern: Profile Tutorial by Angela Pingel
Fabrics: Moda Bella Solids, Kona Black, Joann Fabrics Alphabet
Batting: 2 layers of Warm & Natural Cotton
Quilting: Diagonal Crosshatch on Babylock Symphony
 and Freemotion and Wavy Crosshatch on HandiQuilter Avante

And off it went to Auction....
and was successfully sold for a VERY generous amount to my co-room mom!
 I couldn't think of a better Mom-Son duo to win it!!!

Tree Quilt {School Auction Quilt}

"Like branches of a tree our lives might grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one"

This quilt started out super easy but ended up being the most time consuming "little" quilt I quite possibly have ever made. 

I was approached by the auction chair from Button's school to see if I could take all the fabric that the kids tissued dyed and make a tree quilt.  The fourth graders dyed theirs very multicolored and the kindergartners and preschoolers did greens, blues and yellows. 

She envisioned a tree with birds and leaves with their names on them. I told her it would be "easy" to design bird and leaf appliqués in my embroidery software. I may now regret that word choice. 

I, first, pulled out my trusty ole freezer paper and started sketching a tree. I ironed it on back of some textured brown fabric that I had in my stash. I then, awkwardly, cut it out and appliquéd it on some Kona white background. 

And then. It hit me. What I thought were only a handful of green fabrics were more going to be more leaves than my spindly tree could handle. There were 20-ish pre-k 3 and 4 year olds, but 30 kindergartners!!!!!

Thankfully, I quickly came up with the idea that I could use the Kindergarten green blocks as border and started piecing them. 

Then I laid out my paper samples of birds and leaves laid out for size and placement.

 I embroidered. And embroidered. And hooped. And unhooped. And embroidered. And snipped stabilizer. Hooped. And embroidered. Not to mention a few thread color changes. 

What I thought would be a few hours slowly and excruciatingly became....

36 hours. 

Thirty-six. 

HOURS. 

  After that?  Quilting was easy peasy. I used a flannel plaid green from my stash for backing since it was a wall hanging.  

Quilting in negative space white what is now one of my favorite fillers. I happened to have some old green dyed muslin in my stash for binding.  The fabric was from my JJ's pre-K4 class auction quilt I made in 2006. 

How's that for a full circle?

Leaf quilting in the border seemed appropriate and is one of the first free motion quilting patterns I perfected on my domestic machine. 

I had to do some fun wood grain quilting on the tree trunk and branches. 

And of course, I'm a firm believer in labels. I made a label that I printed.

 I love putting clip art that reflects the top and a good quote or poem. 

Quilt Stats:

Measures: 36"x 48"

Pattern: none

Fabric:  Brown, kona white, tissue dyed by kids

Thread: Omnithread Bright White, So Fine Variegated Green by Superior Threads

Quilted: Freemotion on HQ Avante

**important note: this quilt cannot be washed!  The dye WILL disappear!***

 Despite the incredible amount of time it took, it was worth all the work. Stewardship isn't just about money, but time and talents. And I'm always eager to share all three with my boys' Catholic schools. 

Nativity Tree Skirt {School Auction Quilt Project}

 "and she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the living-space." Luke 2:7

 When we arrived to Salt Lake City, my friends all wondered out loud how long it would take the schools to find out about my quilting experience.  All it took was an Auction meeting in September to offer my services to the committee. The kindergarten room traditionally did a quilt for the class auction and they needed help.  How could I not speak up?

 I met with their room mom who had chosen coloring book images for the kids to color.  I sent her on her way with the approximate size, preparation of the muslin fabric with freezer paper backings, and my collection of fabric markers.  She chose the fabrics for the sky and background based on the fact that she wanted to do more "traditional" Christmas colors.

 She returned with two sets of Nativity scenes, unsure if I would need it to "fill up" the tree skirt.  However, it was too much, especially knowing that we had to keep the adorable drawings toward the edge of the skirt.  I saved the second set for the Nativity Wall hanging Quilt I made for the end of the year Kindergarten teacher gift.

I was really worried about the figures getting lost in the background and satin stitched them to some black felt and then appliqued them on the backgrounds.  It ended up being the part the parents loved the most.  The colors the kids chose and the fabrics the room mom picked evoked feelings of an authentic desert nativity scenen.  I made the creche oversized, had the shepherds gathered on hills of sand with palm trees, and the village of Bethlehem in the distance behind the Wise men.

This photo is actually from the wall hanging.

 I think I went a little crazy with the dense quilting, but I wanted to showcase the figures and also give the feeling of shifting sand dunes and swirling dense stars.  I can't seem to find a photo, but I made covered button closures at the opening.
 I also made a printed quilt label with the kids names on the back.  They were the main artists!

 Quilt Stats:

 Measures: Approx. 40" diameter

Pattern: none

Fabric: Kona Parchment, Kona Brown, Northcott Christmas Reindeer Prance, 

Henry Glass Beige Baroque, Moda Swirl

Thread: Omni Thread Natural Linen by Superior Threads

Quilted: Free motion on HQ Avante

I have to admit, I was pretty excited to hear how well it did at the auction! 
I hope that I can help them out to do just as well next year!

Class of 2015 Auction {Quilt}

Graduation time is coming up soon!

Every year the 8th graders that want to participate are asked to turn in t-shirts that have meaning to them so that they can be made into a t-shirt quilt for the school auction.

Sometimes they are shirts from their past.  

Some give you a glimpse into their possible future.

 Some tout their favorite sports team. 

 Some are their jerseys they wore for their sports teams.  

Some can just be shirts that they happened to wear to every single "free dress" day.

And best of all? Some say "THIS IS ME".

After careful thought, a layout is chosen.  This year it was happenstance that were put in a "rainbow" sort of order.  Normally there is a plethora of school t-shirts that seem to be blue and red like the school colors, but this year the students seemed to have a fantastic range of color that just couldn't be ignored.  

The center features the front and back of their 8th grade shirt.  This year's theme "Captains of the School"

Each t-shirt is backed by a stabilizer, then pieced together.  Quilted with Rainbow Superior Thread with an organically moving rectangle/square free motion quilting on my longarm.

A variegated thread color called Tapestry.  Much like its name, it weaves throughout very well making the colors of the t-shirts sing and tell their individual stories.

Backing is gray dotted minky.  Very soft and snuggly!

Binding is a stripe that picks up so many of the colors in the quilt itself.

It was a pleasure to work on the quilt this year as our second son graduates and prepares for a new chapter in his life.  It is the 10th Auction quilt (sometimes two in one year like this year) and the 2nd T-shirt quilt I have lovingly dedicated my time on for the school in the past 11 years along with countless other sewing projects like prayer table cloths, tote bags, rosary bags, and Christmas program costumes. 

 It was bittersweet because we are moving from the area this summer and leaving behind a very beloved school.  A place that has nurtured and supported our sons through such an important time of their lives. 

Happy Graduation Class of 2015!