Preschool Quilt

I am feeling bittersweet as the end of the school year is about to arrive.  While I am thrilled that summer is nearly here and we will no longer have to rush to get ready in the mornings, pack lunches in the evenings, and have my mind side tracked with the goings on of the classroom, it is the end of an era for Jack and Ryan.  Jack will be ending his time with Miss Tina and starting a brand new preschool in the fall.  Ryan will be starting kindergarten in August, which is so exciting, but will have to leave Miss Tammy and her wonderful preschool.  In fact, Miss Tammy's preschool will be closing for good and she will be greatly missed.  I have not worried one second of my day about either of the boys because their childcare providers have been so wonderful.  I knew both of these ladies deserved a special gift for all their care and hard work (and boy has Miss Tina earned it with Jack, but that's another post).  Since this was Miss Tammy's last year teaching preschool, I wanted to do something extra special for her.  

My mom suggested making a class quilt for her.  For years, my mom has made a class quilt with the students in her room by having the students draw a picture of themselves on fabric.  The fabric squares are stabilized by being ironed onto freezer paper.  The drawing must be done with crayon so the pigments will stay in the fabric.  After each drawing is made, the freezer paper is removed, the fabric is sandwiched between two pieces of paper towel, then ironed with a dry iron.  The wax melts into the paper towel while the pigments are set into the fabric.  Crayola crayons are also a must for this project since they are highly pigmented.  

I loved this idea, so two Saturdays ago, my mom and I got to work cutting fabric and ironing it on to freezer paper.  We then used a fabric pigment pen to draw a circle for a face onto each square and with a blue washable fabric marker, we made a line for each child's name.  I sent home directions and fabric to each family.  My mom and I also cut fabric and sewed little four patch blocks together so we could join the drawings together.  Yesterday, after church, I had finally collected all the blocks.  I felt like time was running out since the last day of school is Friday!  While Phil watched the kids, I sewed, and sewed, and sewed.  Then went to Joann's, and sewed some more.  At 10 o'clock last night, I was worn out, but I had sewn the front and back and had sandwiched them together.  This morning, I got up bright and early to quilt. I just stitched in the ditch.  And last, I put the binding on.  Thank goodness for three day weekends. 

We chose crayon fabric for several of the four patch blocks since it is a preschool quilt.  We also chose a border fabric that looks like the lines were drawn with crayons.  

Here is Ryan's square.  I love his glasses.

And here are some more cute examples.

I pieced together a strip for the back, including a label.

A close up of the label.

 I think it is so cute and can't wait to give it to Miss Tammy.