Thursday, October 28, 2010

5 girls and a disappearing 9 patch

In my Bad Blogger Givaway post (check it out to enter) I mentioned that I did have some quilty things going on.... this is one of them.



I had a group of 5 girls that are all home schooled that wanted to learn to quilt. I had just completed the Fishies quilt and thought that would be a good pattern for them since it looks far more complex than it is. I made up the above quilt as my test run before starting with the girls.
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It features the Dick and Jane fabric... so cute... I found it at Joanns as 2 sets of fat quarters.
I wanted to test drive a pillow case edge thinking it might be easier for the girls than a binding and used this as my sample. I quilted using stitch in the ditch around each fabric. This quilt will be going to the Downy Quilts for Kids program.







This is Shanon and Alyssa.... all basted and ready to tie... didn't they do great?



I had a couple assumptions regarding the sewing experience of both the girls and their mothers that were for the most part false, so what I had planned to be a 5 week class stretched to 8, but in the end there were no dead bodies and the girls all completed both a 4" 4x5 patch quilt for their baby dolls as well as a nice sized disappearing 9 patch lap quilt for themselves using 6" squares. I even had one girl who used free motion quilting!


I had the last session with the girls one-on-one to give them each individual attention to finish up, but only remembered to take pictures of the sisters. I hope to get pictures of the others soon and will share. All 5 of the girls did great!




Two of the moms participated as well, making a larger version of the quilts.



This is my quilt-along version I did with them, well, three versions of it. Which border/binding option do you like better? 1,2 or 3? I think I have a favorite, but lets see what you say.... and to sweeten the pot all opinions will get another entry in the Bad Blogger Giveaway!


12 comments:

  1. I like option 1 the best...option 3 would be my 3rd choice.

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  2. I think I like #1 best too. But all three are good!

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  3. Option 1 definitely-the orange is a very striking binding, and the yellow border will help the blocks pop even more :)

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  4. I like all 3 quilts. You have been very busy.

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  5. How rewarding teaching a group of girls to sew a quilt and didn't they do well. Love that Dick and Jane fabric! So fun! Well I'm going to go with option 2 for your quilt. I think the green border brings out the greens in the patterned fabrics and the binding just ties it all together. It will be interesting to see what you go with.

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  6. I like the first one best.
    Your post brought back memories. I helped 9 home schooled girls learn to quilt (including my 2 girls) back in 1993 (give or take a year or two). We had the quilts long arm quilted and then the new public library in The Woodlands, TX displayed the quilts for their grand opening.

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  7. I love the second one with the green border. I think it makes all of the colors stand out better. Lovely quilt!

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  8. Thank you for stopping by Diane, I like version #3 the best. That is cool I helped my nephew's scout troop make quilts. The made 3 of them and donated them to a shelter. Was so much fun. My son was homeschooled for 5 years. He started a double bed size quilt and I finished the last 2 blocks, batting and quilting on it just before he graduated from high school. The quilts the girls made are just sooooo....cute!!!!!

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  9. that is so cool of you to teach the girls and some of the moms. I used to homeschool my kids so when others are around to help in their education the way you did is great. They all look great.

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  10. I like number 2 best, the one with the orange binding & the grey\silver strip around the edge. Your quilt looks cute!!

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  11. I like number 1 best. I think it looks best.

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  12. I can't seem to definitively make up my mind between 1 & 2, but I think I like the first a little bit better. Clearly, they're both good options. :)

    Thanks again for teaching this class. Both the girls & I learned a lot!

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