The Stained Glass Quilt

For the past couple of years I’ve been a teacher for the 4th grade CCD Class at St. Thomas in Poynette, WI.  During the Lenten season one of the things we try to teach the kids is to think about others and ways they can help them.  Which of course means … we make a quilt! If you want to check out last years quilt just head back a year to THIS post.   I decided to go a completely different route for the quilt blocks the students made this year.  I started out by pressing pieces of white pfd fabric to freezer paper.  I then cut them out to all the same approximate size … not exactly but a little different makes the final even more fun!  Then I had the kids draw an outline of a cross with black fabric marker.  From there, they added more lines.   I suggested that they color their blocks in with warm colors inside the cross and cool on the outside or vice versa.  Some went with this suggestion – others didn’t – and they all look great!  Once the coloring was complete I bordered each block a strip of black (following that whole stained glass thing).  Now it was time to cohesively put these all together!   How else could one do that other than spontaneous piecing!?  (or free form, or cave man, or whatever you want to call it!).  It was perfect – I was finishing the quilt and completing the April Off Season Project QUILTING Challenge!  I sewed together chunks of my random scraps.  I even had an extra cross block that I had made as an example but didn’t quite fit the layout I was going for.  So I cut it up and added it to the fabric scraps for the sashing!  Once I had a decent size chunk I could then cut strips out of that to make the sashing.  Whatever was leftover once I had my strips cut out where sewn onto other fabric chunks to be cut up into more sashing.  It was almost like the ‘Circle of Fabric’.  I started by getting the strips put together the long way. And then I added sashing in between.  It actually went together way faster than I thought it would and I’m beyond happy with the result. The final step was to quilt the quilt!  I free form quilted it using my Bernina and of course some lovely Aurifil thread. If you look closely in the quilting you’ll notice not only did I do free form meandering, loops, stars and hearts, but I quilted in some scripture that the kids had chosen.

"In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul." Psalm 138:3 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Timothy 1:7 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 "Give thanks to God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever." Psalm 136:26 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

The kids were so thrilled to see it hanging in church this past Wednesday!  It was great to see excitement and pride over what they had made. Here are the kids all pointing to the block (blocks) they made.  (Pip didn’t actually make them but her and Alli are super close!)  We decided to raffle the quilt off and raise money for future Project Linus Quilts.  I’m happy to say a wonderful family won the quilt and there will be lots of Project Linus Quilts in the future of the St. Thomas religious education program.    Linking up to:  TGIFF, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Finish it up Friday