Marsbarn Designs...

fox trotting from kinders to middle school

Times passes like a fox trot.
Quick-quick-s l o w. Quick-quick-s l o w.

Days are slow, weeks are long, ages fly by in a blink.

Little e's time in elementary school is winding down,
as are Sweet G's middle school days.  We're in for a 
big changing of the guard come next fall.  

Which brings me to this project from Little e's kinder
days.  In 2008, I was hired (hired, mind you) to do a 
project with all 4 kindergarten classrooms.  I was 
their Artist in Residence, and I had a blast.  As part
of that experience, we made four quilted hangings
that brightened the hall outside of the classrooms.
Those hangings warmed the hallway, and greeted
visitors as those kinders moved through the grades.
Now they are 5th graders, and the hangings have
come down.

 

The hangings will be sold at this year's school auction,
and hopefully, they will go home with families who 
have warm memories of their days at our elementary
school.

I have mixed emotions about this transition.
I wonder sometimes who is more ingrained in these
childhood schools, the involved parents who volunteer
there or the children who attend the school.  
After all, the parents often spend more years
attached to the school, than the children.

I had thought, hoped, believed that those hangings
would be there for evermore, but perhaps it is 
better to have  school that is filled with current art,
not the decorations of children from the past.
I am struck again how difficult it is to estimate
how art effects others, and what is important.
There have been so many projects during my
time at our elementary school; I wonder which of
those projects meant the most to the children 
who did them, and the people who hold them now.

Quick-quick-s l o w, quick-quick-s l o w.

On finishing a project, being kind to yourself, and letting go. (Or, sometimes what you do is enough.)

So, the Secret Quilt Project is finished.
Well it's finished to the point that the sewing on both
quilt has been completed, both have been tied, and one
has been washed.

And this is where I'm pausing for the moment to breathe.
You see, despite the copious heat setting and prewashing
of the squares, the quilt top ran. Even though the
sample I made was perfectly colorfast, the child-made
item took on a life of its own.  The solid backing has 
a few blotches, the grey sashing has color on it, and a
few squares bled into their neighbors.

And you know what?  It's going to be okay.  It really is.
It doesn't need to be perfect.  When I spent my time in
the school, having the children create the squares, I told
them that there was a surprise factor in this project.
I said, "This is not going to turn out the way you envision
it, and that is okay.  This is the nature of art."  

I think there is a trend with women, especially with
quilters, to be hyper critical with their work.  So much
gets reduced to minutiae. Is this corner lined up with that?
Is my quarter inch seam 1/16th off?  Oh, the horror. (Not.)
Let. It. Go.  Honestly, this is a labor of love, or at least
it should be.  Sloppy and careless is one thing, but anything
created with passion and love, whether it be paint, or
sculpture, clay, or fabric, should be appreciated with its
flaws intact.  Perfection is for machines and things without
love.  Ask yourself, would you rather have a gift made with
love and off square,  or something made by rote in a factory?
The imperfections are what create beauty.  It's the crack
in the ceiling's plaster that makes the bedtime story,
not the smooth blankness of a ceiling tile.

Am I thrilled that the colors ran?  No.  It hurts.
But, this is not a tragedy.  This is not a tornado in
Oklahoma, a factory collapse in Bangladesh, or a gifted
teenager dead long before his time.  This quilt is a gift
made by the hands of 625 students and teachers that will
be loved and appreciated despite, or perhaps because, of
it's handmade nature.  

Why such a long blog post about a quilt who morphed in 
the wash?  Because that moment when my chest ceased
as I drew it out of the dryer was followed by a shrug and a
smile.  I have loved working on this project.  Loved every
portion of its creation.  And my refrain through out has 
been "Do your best, and let it go."  I've said it to children
and teachers unhappy with their ink drawings, to adults
unhappy with their seams, to friends worrying about the
straightness of their rows of knots, and to myself when
need be.   There is just no need for stress in this project.
No need for angst or worry.  This is a project of thanks,
appreciation and love.  The people who are going to get
these quilts have already said they do not want parties
or gifts to mark their retirements.  They did not do their
jobs for recognition or for praise or thanks.  They did
their work because it needed doing.

They aren't going to turn their noses up at unevenness or
an ill drawn circle.  They are going to see the perfectness
of the whole. They will see hundreds of hands at work.
They will know the love and appreciation that powered
those  hands.  And to be totally honest,  a bit of stray color
fits this project.  In their careers, everyday wasn't perfect.
There are things that they would do over. It's the whole
that matters. The flaws are what make this project art and
significant. 

So, be kind to yourself.  Yes, you.  Be kind.  You do your
best, and you let. it. go. 

 

 

Bookcase Quilt, final reveal

(You can click on the image to make it bigger.)

I'm really, really pleased with how this one turned out.
Many of the students used the names of stories they'd
written in class for their book titles, so their books
have special meaning for their teacher.  

I am also really pleased at how this quilt both captures
the spirit of this class, and is versatile enough to be
appreciated by later classes who will be taught by
Miss S.  

Here's a big Thank You to all of our teachers who capture
the attention and imagination of their students!   

Bookcase Quilt, more notes on assembly

The Bookcase Quilt was one of the smoother
classroom projects I've done.  

From classroom time, to assembly, to layout, to finishing,
it pretty much just hummed along.  I did have a bit 
of a learning curve with the addition of the titles to 
the books.  For the books where the students had written
in block letters, I cut out their letters and used thermoset
vinyl.  Easy, peasy.  In the future, I would actually
recommend big block letters to the students.

For the other titles, I tried to replicated their handwriting
as much as possible.  Finding appropriate ink was
a bit of an issue.  I didn't ask the students to use light
colors for their book labels, so I needed something
that would show against mixed colors and darks.  I ended
up with a silver ink pen meant for dark papers.  Since
this is an art quilt, and not meant to be washed, I
felt I could take some liberties.  I then started outlining
the silve with black fabric pen.  This two toned technique
worked really, really well.  Even on the most patterned 
fabrics. 

 While it might be simpler and more efficient to ask
the students to use light colored, or solid, fabrics
for their title backgrounds, I really liked the colorfulness
of our quilt.  You might not be able to read the titles from
across the classroom, but the patterns of the fabrics
make a really wonderful impression. 

Bookcase quilt, the back

For the back of the Book Case quilt, 
I decided to do a mini signature quilt.
Each child was given a 4 by 4" square of fabric
and was then let loose to do whatever they liked.

Okay, not quite.  I talked to them about seam
allowance (stay a pencil width away from each
edge).  I asked them to play nicely with my fabric
pens (no pressing hard, no coloring the entire fabric
red just to see the ink run out.)  And, I told them
they had to include their name in whatever they
created.

This is when I let them run free.  They could just
write their name, they could draw a picture,
they could write their name over and over again.

Then, at home I pieced it into a grid.  Our classroom
had twenty five students, so it formed a lovely 5 by 5
grid.

Then, I wrote a dedication beneath the signature 
quilt to the teacher, and I included the year.  I was 
really happy with how the back turned out, and would 
love to do this again on a larger scale.

(And yes, they all played very nicely with my fabric pens.)

Bookcase Quilt (not an auction quilt, but it could be!)

For this quilt, I used a bookcase theme.
The idea is that each child creates a quilt block that
looks like the spine of a book, when put together,
and edged with wood grain fabric, the quilt looks
like a bookcase.  The book could be real titles,
or imagined titles, but they had to represent the
personality of the student who created it.

This is the sketch I made and used in my presentation 
to the class so they could have an idea what the finished
quilt would look like.  

I made two sample templates, but kept them very plain
so I wouldn't interfere with their creativity.  Text could
go in either direction.  Text was not a requirement, 
though. If a child wanted to create a spine what was 
just color and pattern, that was find.  I did handout rulers
and instructed them to only use straight lines.  No
curves or circles were allowed (this was a concession
on my part to make assembly easier).  I also limited
them to 5 fabrics, but this was a loose rule that I was
happy to make exceptions for.  Then, I let them go.

This is a sampling of what they created. 
I precut the templates into varying widths and heights,
but let the students choose which slip they wanted.
I think it is key to the success of this quilt that the books 
vary in dimension.  You'll notice that there are no 
seam allowances in the templates.  I added all of the
seam allowances in the construction phase of the quilt.

Since these are 3rd graders, I had them make all of
the notes on their patterns.  They wrote down
descriptions of the fabrics, and if they preferred they
could draw the patterns in. Each fabric swatch had to
be larger than the space it was to fill on their pattern.
I did double check the fabric size and the notes on the
templates when each child was done, so that I could
be sure that I understood what they'd written.   

I left class that day with a pile of patterns with the
fabrics pinned to the back of each template.  At home,
I had the help of another parent to trace the patterns
onto lightweight stabilizer.  I used a foundation
piecing technique to assemble the quilt.  With my
straight line only rule, the blocks came together
really quickly. I have a tutorial on foundation pieceing
here. 

 

Notes on doing this project with a classroom.

If I do this quilt again, I would be sure to tell the
students to hold on to their fabrics.  There were a
few students that thought I could find their fabrics in
the bin (we're talking 20 pounds of fabric) based on
descriptions like "red flowers".  I was flattered that
they had such faith in my deduction powers, but also
traumatized.  I also recommend that you forbid  
scissors.  I did this, but still had to repeatedly tell them
not to cut the fabric no matter how large they thought
the piece was. 

I used an hour of class time for this project and had
4 parent helpers.  We were able to also tackle 
a project for the back of the quilt, and everyone had
time to finish.  It should be noted, however, that I
have worked with all of these students before, and
could skip some of the introduction to how things
work. If I were to do this project with a different
class, I would only do the front, not the back of the
quilt.  (I'll cover the back in  another post.) 

Auction burnout, but not classwork burnout

I didn't make any auction projects this year.
It's shocking really, but I was Burnt Out. (Yes, with
the intentional cap's and everything.) 

I didn't miss the auction. Apparently making 9 auction
projects over 6 years makes a soul wear thin.  But,
it's not the work with the students, and it's not the
sewing.  No, it's the selling. It's the not knowing who
will get this work of love. It's that bit of random that
will claim your classwork when it gets to the auction,
and that sense of elation or depression when you find
out how much money your project made, or didn't make.

I had been moving away from the live auction during
the past few year, doing more presales, or projects
that could be reproduced and sold to the entire class,
but this year, I just didn't want to sell anything.

There is a passion that powers your work when it is
for a specific person, and I have missed that during
all of the auction projects.  So, this year I sat back,
and let another Mom do the auction project. I offered
help where I could, and let go.  

Then, in April, I missed the work with the class.  Sure
I taught classes in Parent Led Art, but there is such
joy in watching children comb through a bin of fabric.
So I approached Little e's teacher and asked,
"Would you like a quilt as a thank you gift at the end
of the year?" 

She answered, "Yes!" And we worked out the details of
class time, and what kind of a quilt would serve her best.
I offered her a lap quilt that she could take home, but
she opted for a small-ish wall hanging for her classroom.

What a difference it makes in my attitude to make a
quilt meant for a person, a specific person, not an
unknown highest bidder.  In keeping with the school
theme (the teacher's request), I put together a book
theme and gathered my fabrics.

5th grade auction project

This year's fifth grade auction project involved decorating the backs of dominoes. The project was lead by a local artist, Gary Hirsch, who is currently exploring this medium.

It was a good project.  It was inexpensive, quick, and really fun for the students.  The students were instructed to decorate each tile with images that brought them joy.

Each child was given 3 tiles.  We used Mark-it pens,
which work better on the hard plastic of the tiles
than sharpies, and come in a large array of colors.
Afterward the dominoes were clear coated with Modpodge to seal them.  We also attached magnets to them. 

The student's really enjoyed being able to make art
with something not normally associated with art.
My favorite part of this project was seeing the mosaic
created out of the images.  

 

I miss the whirl of color and finding that balance.

This is the first year since Sweetheart G began Kindergarten that I did not make a quilt for school.
Last year, between the two classrooms, I made 4 quilted wallhangings for the auction.  With the end of year quilt I made, the count goes up to 5.

This year, we did a book for Little e's classroom,
and Sweetheart G's class made magnets with a local artist.
(I'll blog about this later.)
I was still involved in both auction projects,
and I still did a lot of art instruction in both classrooms
through our Parent Led Art program.

It's important to me to spend time in their classrooms
teaching art.  My own memories of the rare times we
had art instruction when I was in 4th grade are some
of my strongest memories of time in the classroom.

 But here's the thing, I miss the fabric work.
I miss the artistic challenge to assembling those quilts.
At the beginning of the year, I felt so burnt out, and I 
think not doing them was a good choice, but I miss 
all that color and design play.

So, I've been pulling out my fabrics and playing with colors
and thinking about what kind of a project I want to start.
It's time for a quilt or two of my own.  
Time to stretch the old brain a bit. 

Second grade auction project: wrap up and notes

The book is done. 
I have a big stack of bound, colorful books waiting for distribution next week.

I am so pleased with the way the book turned out.
The art transferred beautifully, and our local UPS store,
who does our printing, knocked themselves out with
the quality and accuracy of the colors.

My top two tips for someone who would try a project like this:

-Find a printer who cares and will work well with you.

-Bind the book yourself, if at all possible.

I've found that the price of binding a book at a copy shop
can be almost as much as the printing. Most stores charge
$3 or $4 for binding, and this isn't fancy binding,
it's the same comb binding most schools have the
equipment to do.  I figure that the hour I spent in the
closet of the school library punching and binding saved us
$140, which becomes profit.  
(Honestly, I wish there were more things that paid that well.) 

As Little e was reading the finished book for the first time,
she said, "Hey, this actually came together well!"
There was a certain amount of surprise in her voice,
which could show a certain lack of faith in one's mother,
except that the pages created by the class vary wildly.
The stories they wrote range from teachers eating ice cream to visiting planets inhabited by banana eating spiders.

Organizing the book, finding a rhythm that will 
hold the book together, and discovering a story arc,
can be challenging. 
This is the part of the project where you have all 
of the puzzle pieces, but not the box cover that tells 
what the picture looks like.  

When you come home with all of the raw art
it doesn't seem that scary, you're excited.
But, when it's all been scanned, cropped, compiled,
and had the student's writing added,
there is a moment when it stares at you. 
I come to this same point when making quilts with children,
and there is always a little flurry of panic.

What I do is organize.

I make a list of the children's topics, and I group them.
With quilts I group by color or shape, 
in this case, my topics were: travel, profession, home,
and fantastical.  Once I have the pages in groups,
I play with order.  Where to I want to start and
where do I want to end?
Once I find my beginning (a fishing trip in this case)
and an ending (writing children's books),
the rest of the pages begin to fall into place.

Another challenge that came with this particular project
was finding a voice for the book.  Our teacher wanted
the students to have a writing project as part of the book,
so they wrote about their illustrations.
As wonderful as this was, it did leave me with a dilemma.
How to include the writings and still have a continuous voice?

My solution was to use the children's words as artist's notes at the bottom of the illustration, so a reader can see their art and hear their individual voice. 
At the top of the page is a simple dialogue linking the pictures together into a story, so the book can be read straight through like a traditional picture book.

The first page has an introduction about our teacher retiring and wondering about what she'll do, then the story begins with these two pages:

(Click to make the image larger)

After ranging through all of the ideas the students came up with, the book ends with this page, to pull the story together:

It took over half an hour for our teacher to read the book to the class for the first time.  The students were so excited to see their images in print and hear their words, that there was a discussion with each page.  

The best part (for me) is that each child has the chance to bring this project home. (I've said this before, and I'll say it again.)  The tragedy of the traditional auction project is that only one family gets to keep the final project. Seeing how excited the class was to work on this project (they'd chant when I came to class (really!)), how would I have been able to tell them that only one of them would get to keep it?