Last week Alex came home from school with a note from his teacher saying that one of his classmates lost everything in a house fire. Alex was quick to tell me, "mom, he doesn't even have a book sack!". As a first grader, all this info is a bit difficult to process.
The note went on to say that the school was having a donation drive, but if we had any ideas for the class to do something special for their classmate, that would also be appreciated.
Well you know me, my mind immediately turned to what can I make for this boy? What can I do with the kids for this boy? A quilt seemed like an obvious answer. A quilt that every kid in the class could contribute to. As soon as I could, I emailed Alex's teacher with my idea and thankfully she loved it.
The next day I sent to school with Alex some fabric squares that had been ironed onto freezer paper (much easier for little ones to draw on that way) and some fabric markers. My only instructions were for the kids to draw Kyle a happy picture and sign their name.
Oh my goodness, the pictures I got back were so sweet! I can't help but smile when I look at them.
This weekend I got busy on the quilt. My original plan was to border each drawing with a colorful print and back the quilt with a solid gray, but after making block, I decided that was a bit much. I didn't want to detract from the drawings at all, so I alternated a solid gray border with a print one, then I threw in some white to make it all pop.
Using gray on the front meant that I didn't have enough for a solid back, so that got pieced. I personally like a pieced back better anyway, so that all worked out.
I'm so happy with how this turned out! My quilting is wonky and I machine stitched the binding on entirely, but in this case, done is better than perfect. Tomorrow I'm sending this quilt to school with Alex to give to Kyle. I sure hope he likes it!
