Tag Archives: quilting with kids

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Two years ago I made class quilts with the kindergarteners at school when my son was in kindergarten. Last year another parent took the reigns and and this year it was my turn again, since my daughter is in kindergarten this year.

I decided to do something a little more complicated this year. Since I was really enjoying seeing all the Village quilt blocks on instagram I ordered a copy of the pattern for the kids to each sew a house block. They made fingerprint art a la Ed Emberley on the doorway fabric with their teachers and I led them through piecing their blocks. (The maker's names are on each doorway as well, but they have been removed for the blog post.)

The kids are at a montessori school, so sewing has been part of their curriculum for the last three years. By kindergarten they are all comfortable using needle and thread. To help them with their piecing, I use a frixion pen to mark the 1/4" seam on the wrong side of each fabric to help the kids keep their running stitch in a straight line. I pin together the two layers of fabric to keep them organized. Some kids take tiny microscopic stitches and some take 1/2" long stitches, but it all gets the job done.

Aren't the blocks adorable!? Once each child finished hand piecing their quilt blocks I brought them home to give them a good press, sew them together, and finish the quilts.

I was sure to get a good shot of the quilt sandwich before I added the binding. When I taught the kids about the parts of a quilt they got a kick out of the phrase "quilt sandwich." I told them that the top and bottom fabrics were like the bread and the batting was like the... whatever you like on your sandwich. One student asked nearly every time I saw him if I had added the peanut butter and jelly yet. ;-)

I opted for echo quilting bordering each house and my daughter helped me pick the zen chic blue dot fabric for the binding. These adorable quilts are about 16" x 15". They were finished and hanging on the classroom walls in time for Mother's Day Tea.

 

Just for fun, here I am with the portrait of myself that my daughter drew for the Mother's Day Tea on Friday.

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Round three of the Kids Quilt Round Robin really turned into a slog at our house. We didn't get started on the sewing for July until after our week of sewing camp. That meant that my kids were a little burnt out on sewing.

R wasn't too late in finishing the large flying geese for her row for Norah. I love these colors and R really enjoyed sewing on the marked line for making the geese. This is a great block for young quilters. The large size was great for her. The geese finish at 5" x 10". R's row is on the right. Norah's first row is in the middle, and the row on the left was made by the sister team of A & C.

 

G, on the other hand, took much of August to finish his 20" x 20" block. Sophie's theme was stars and constellations. I didn't realize what a big task we'd created for him when he decided he would make seven 3" wonky stars to make the Big Dipper on his block. It was a lot of sewing (and a bit of resewing) to make those adorable stars. In the end, he set the final layout of the  stars on my design wall and I puzzled it all together by adding the background fabric to bring the block to size. This is a great example of a block that was a little too ambitious, but I love how it turned out! It was sad for me to see it go.

Sophie's original block is in the top left and the bottom right block was created by Hannah.

 

Both of my kids are excited to be in the home stretch. We'll finish up the final round this weekend and look forward to receiving their projects back with all the blocks the others made for them.

You can check out everything going on with the eight quilts in our Kids Quilt Round Robin on Instagram.

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR

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We're halfway into the Kids Quilt Round Robin, which I'm hosting with Sarah of Berry Barn Designs. We sent off R's animal block to Z and G's sports block to Caitlyn on June 1st. And shortly thereafter R and G received the blocks that they would be adding to in round 2.

R received this adorable treehouse block from A & C (Sarah's kids, ages 8 and 6), sisters who are working together to make their little brother a quilt. The girls asked for blocks featuring tree houses, outdoor play, or trees.

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR treehouse block

In planning the block she would create, R initially drew a tree house identical to the one on the first block. It's a fine balance sewing with kids... giving them creative control, but also helping to guide them. Eventually she made some decisions to personalize her block through picking fabrics from her (and my) stash. She mentioned wanting to add a pond and I offered my fish fabric. From their notes she knew that A & C have cats, so R wanted to use some of her cat fabrics. (I did manage to dissuade her from using the 6" tall sushi cats.) R chose two cat prints and picked two playful kittens for the area near the base of the tree and a sleeping cat to put up in the tree. We worked on the "design floor" to layout the quilt block. The final addition was to add a rainbow. I think this was a great solution to the empty space in that section of the block.

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR

R chose all her fabrics and helped me iron to prepare the fabric. We used Heat n' Bond Lite fusible. I ironed it on and trimmed the fabric per R's specifications and she peeled off the backing paper. Then we worked together to press the fabrics in place.

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR sewing with mom

She chose all the thread colors. I especially like her choice of the Aurifil Marrakesh variegated thread for stitching on the rainbow. :-) R sat on my lap and "steered" while I worked the pedal of the sewing machine.

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR rainbow and cat in tree

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR applique detail

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR applique detail

I love the personality of her block. She is very proud of her work. And I heard that the girls are very excited about the kittens. :-)

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR quilting with kids

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR treehouse theme

 

G received a lovely rainbow block from Hannah (age 5). (Who doesn't love a rainbow!?) She chose a theme of rainbow stripes for her quilt and indicated that brown is her favorite color.

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR rainbow block

G quickly and easily pulled fabrics for his block. Since his "rainbow plus brown" included seven colors, and the sections he was making finish at 10" squares, I suggested he not try to have equal width stripes. He worked out the math and provided me a cutting list. I opted for cutting a little larger... I cut all the strips 11" long instead of 10 1/2" and cut the end strips (red and brown) 1/4" wider than they needed to be. This way we had some wiggle room to not end up short on the overall block. I trimmed down each unit before he put the last four sections together for the final block. He used the design wall to keep himself organized as he worked.

G did all his piecing independently, with a minimum of seam ripping. He's working on accurately pinning which really helped him keep the fabrics lined up. Just three pins on the 11" strips seemed to be right.

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR quilting with kids

I love the addition of the brown triangles on the corners as it gives the block a pinwheel vibe.

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR quilting with kids

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR rainbow stripes

 

You can check out everything going on with the eight quilts in our Kids Quilt Round Robin on Instagram.

Kids Quilt Round Robin KQRR

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