Marsbarn Designs...

The official letting go

I had been waiting to post the final photos of the Kindergarten banners until I had some better photos, but I'm just not sure that's going to happen.  (I am letting go, officially. I even called Young Audiences and told them I was DONE.)

I will try and take some photos of the hangings in situ, once they've been hung.

You can't see it in these photos, but the classroom teacher's name is printed on the solid block with "kindergarten" written on it. Oh, and I finished up the maps this weekend, so each child can find their particular brick on the quilt.

The red and orange one, I posted here.

So now it is on to the next set of projects!

Auction Art ahoy!

On Wednesday I go into Sweetheart G's 3rd grade classroom so they can choose their fabrics for their quilt.  This one will be a fabric art wall hanging with an "Under the Sea" theme.  It will be made in the same fashion as I did the 2nd grade auction quilt last year.

This week I also plan to make up a prototype for the kindergarten auction project.  And yes, it will be quilt.. I do what I do, what can I say?

But first, I have some Valentines to make!

Ahhhh the sweet joy of finishing a project. Bring out the Trumpets!

All four of the kindergarten Artist in Residence wall hangings are done, dropped off at school, and have been ooh-ed and ahh-ed over by teachers and students a like.  (One of the teachers said, "Oh, it really is beautiful!" with a tone of excited surprise. Then she quickly added, "Not that I'm surprised!" )  And, I got them done early enough that they will be on the walls for Kindergarten Round-Up!  Sweet!

Kindergarten art lesson: wrap up

Today was the last kinder class.  The t-shirts were handed out and the kids put their quilt squares onto a paper template of the wall hanging.  I've created a Flicker set which contains a step by step photo gallery of the kindergarten art project from start to almost finish.  Take a look if you like.

Kindergarten art lesson: preparing for the last class.

The kindergarten project continues and I am in that blissful place where it seems like this project might actually meet my expectations of time and effort (instead of exceeding them as is normal).  (It would be kind not to remind me of this optimism once the work begins again and I am again mired in details.)  Sure the ironing time was a little extreme, but now the shirts are finished and are ready for delivery on Thursday.  The quilt pieces have been cut, and the template for the quilt top is ready for the kinders.  My plan is to have each kinder place their pre-cut fabric on the template exactly where they want it to go.  Then I will bring the pattern home, with fabric pinned in place, and sew the tops together.  Tonight I am making my paper patterns for the words that will adorn the center of the quilts.  I'm having this delirious moment where I think I might actually get the words appliqued in place before Thursday,  but that might be pushing things too far.

Kindergarten art lesson, painting finished

 

This what our fabric and t-shirts looked like after the first layer of paint.

Then the students arranged their freezer paper stencils how they wanted them on their fabric.  (I was shocked by how many children didn't know the word "arrange".)  An adult ironed on the stencil.

Then the kinders went to work with sponges and paint.  For each layer of color there were two shades for the students to mix as they pleased; one flat, one sparkly (!).

The color groups were assigned by classroom;  orange/yellow, red/orange, blue/purple, and blue/green.  This way when the classes go on field trips each class is easily recognizable!  

Here are some examples once the paint had dried and the stencils had been removed.  

The next step is for me to plug in a good book on tape and heat set all the paint. (Ironing, oh yay! Not.) Then I'll wash all the t-shirts so they are ready to wear.  Next week I go back to do a follow up presentation for each classroom where I will give them their shirts and have them place their fabric blocks on the wall hanging.  My plan is to pre-cut the squares from their painted fabric and have a template of each wall hanging.  Then each student will place their quilt square on the template just where they want it.  I plan on having all the wall hangings sewn up by the end of February!

Kindergarten lesson, class three

Today was the third class for the Kindergarten Artist in Residence program.  It was our second hands-on day, and my hearty volunteers and I were able to motor through all four classrooms (I'm pretty beat now).  Tomorrow it is back to school to catch the ten kiddos we missed today, and then after I heat set the fabric paint I'll go back for my last class period so the students can decide where their blocks will go on the quilt top.  Then... then.. I get to barricade myself in my sewing room and sew, sew, sew.  I'm looking forward to it!

Yes, this is a photo Big E took for me of the limequat marmalade. (Isn't it lovely?!) Yes, I had my camera with me today in class, but I didn't take a single photo.  I am (perhaps deliriously) hoping that tomorrow with the smaller groups I'll be able to take some photos of the kids and their work!

My dogs are beat, but it was a good day

So today was Day 2 of Kindergarten Art.  All in all, it went well.  My gaff of the day was to forget to write student names on the first 8 or so fabric squares.  Luckily one of my fabulous parent volunteers spotted my brain malfunction and corrected it! Out of the 87 kids, I have about a dozen students to catch tomorrow morning.  The painting took longer than I'd hoped, but we completed much more than I'd feared.. if you get my meaning.  I'm pretty bushed, and my feet are really tired, but I'm excited to go back tomorrow and see how everyones art looks without the freezer paper.  If I did this project again, I would be tempted to eliminate the t-shirts.  They doubled the amount of work and tripled the amount of fabric paint used.  The kids seemed really excited about them... so I'll wait to make my final decision until we're done.  Next week we'll add the second layer of color!

Kindergarten lesson, part one

The kindergarten lessons today went well.  I remembered the important things (coffee and water), and was able to cover all the important bits (wear old clothes next week and think about your shapes) without looking at my notes.  My concept of a quilt as a "fabric sandwich" went over well, and I only had one boy peek ahead in my pile of props. 

After introducing myself, I asked the kinders what a quilt was, after the normal answers (something to keep you warm, a blanket) I held up a plain white square of fabric.  "Is this a quilt?"  "NO!" they answered.  "Why not?" I'd ask.  Answers of "its not bits sewn together" or "It's not snuggly!"  were very popular.  I then demonstrated building a quilt with fabric, batting (the squishy stuff), and more fabric and making the fabled Fabric Sandwich.  Then I passed around 4 doll quilts to illustrate finished quiltage.  Interestingly, only one boy recognized the fabrics in the quilts as being the same I'd used to make chair bags for two of the classrooms.  We also talked about decorating fabric, and what we'd be doing for the next two weeks.  All in all, not too shabby.