Third Grade Class Quilt

I recently made a quilt with Malcolm's third grade class, and I think it might be my favorite class quilt yet.

I tried something a little different this year.  First, I read them The Quiltmaker's Gift, by Jeff Brumbeau.  Then, instead of giving everyone the exact same fabric squares to work with, I had five groups, with four students in each group.  Each group was assigned different color.  They got a container with a variety of fabrics in "their" color that they had to sort through to make their blocks.  Each color had various shades and patterns to work with.  They laid out the fabric choices on a piece of grid interfacing.  Once they were happy with their layout, they used a glue stick to tack down the fabric pieces.

Luckily, It was hat day at school, so in nearly every photo, their faces are covered.

 Some of the kids did random placements, and some had very elaborate designs.

 The purple group had some fabric with glitter on it which was extremely popular.  There were some big negotiations going on to decide who could have the glitter pieces.

 Many students did one layout, then completely removed the fabric squares and started over again.

 Here, she is making rows, but her finished block was very different.

Third grade was a good age to try this with.  They are old enough to be able to follow the instructions easily, and this gave them a little more freedom of choice with their blocks.  I love what the kids came up with and they all look great together.  If I do a quilt with Dorothy's first grade class next year, I think I will stick with giving each child the exact fabric squares they will need.

I took everything home to sew it together, then brought back the finished quilt for them to see.  Showing the completed quilt is easily my favorite part because of all the gasps and, "Whoa"s and the excitement of the kids.  I always hear them pointing out which block they made, and they are very proud of their work.

This class had lots of interesting question for me like, how I made the border of little colored squares, and how I decided which block to put where.  It was a good opportunity to explain the construction process and to let them know how much math I used to figure things out before even coming to their classroom.

After showing them the quilt, I hung it up in the hallway of the school and made a small bulletin board display with the photos I took, the book jacket, a couple of small write ups about how it was made and where the quilt will go, and some extra fabric squares.  I wish I had taken more photos to fill up the bulletin board.  Maybe next time.  It will be donated to Project Linus once it is no longer hanging at the school.

 Here's the quilt and bulletin board at school.  I forgot to take photos of the quilt at home, so I did all my pictures once this was done. 

 Slightly closer look, without all the extra stuff around the edges.

 Slightly closer look at the blocks the kids made.  The depth and texture just doesn't come across in photos.  It is quite stunning, in person.

The third row is sewn straight, it's just laying funny because of the edge of the bulletin board behind it.

These projects are always a lot of work, and partway through I wonder why I'm doing it.  The kids are so enthusiastic when I come back though, and that's why I do it.  I'm always pleasantly surprised how much they like doing these.