Quilt!

Quilt!
Originally uploaded by The Gypsy Wagon.

This is an "in progress" picture of the self-portrait quilt that we're working on for my third grader's class. It is their offering for the Spring fundraising auction, and it's starting to come together. We started with white pre-washed 100% cotton fabric, and cut pieces to size (about 9.5 inches x 10.5 inches), and then ironed freezer paper to the back of each piece. Adding that gave the fabric enough body to allow the students to draw their portraits without having the fabric bunch up. We gave each student a piece of white copy paper, and had them draw their self-portrait with pencil. When they were satisfied with their drawing, we had them use the window in their classroom as a lightbox, and taped the drawing to the window with the freezer-paper lined fabric taped on top. They were then able to trace their drawings with little effort.
Then, we passed out the Pentel Fabricfun dye sticks (they look just like crayons), and had them color their designs. We really stressed using lots of color, and adding backgrounds. There were other unexpected things we had to remind them - like eyebrows. No one remembers that they have eyebrows! And ears! It was so much fun to watch the drawings evolve, and to see the kids' personalities shine through. From field hockey to swimming to airplanes, they had such diverse interests and hobbies. After the drawings were completed, we peeled off the freezer paper, and heat set the artwork with a hot iron - covering each block with a piece of paper and ironing it for about 20 seconds.
    We've just started the process of assembling the blocks and have found a red multi-colored polka dot block that we'll use for the sashings around each of the blocks. We haven't come up with the name for the quilt - I guess we're hoping it will come to us as we continue the process.  I'll post more pictures as it progresses.