Santa Cruz County Project

The Story Behind the Quilt

This quilt was made with Denise Blair's third grade class at Gault Elementary School in Santa Cruz, California. During my year off from teaching to stay home with my son, I again had the pleasure of being a volunteer in Denise's classroom. This quilt was made after students had spent most of the year studying Santa Cruz County where they live. The completed quilt is being used each year by Denise as a way to teach other classes about their community.

How it was Created

The students first brainstormed a list of all the places and events that they had learned about during the school year. Each student picked an item off the list and made a picture block using Pentel Fabric Crayons that depicted an important place or activity in Santa Cruz County.

The students then pieced a house block from a selection of house and roof pieces that had been pre-cut. The background of each house was the same, but the walls and roofs were unique. We spent several class sessions hand sewing the pieced blocks. Then each student added some embelishment to their house using fabric crayons. We worked together to lay out the entire quilt.

I sewed the blocks together, putting a sashing between each block and put a border on. The students tied the quilt.

Each student made a second house block which was made into a pillow. I brought my Featherweight sewing machine in and students took turns using the machine to sew around three and a half sides of their block and the pillow backing with right sides facing each other. We then turned the pillows right side out, stuffed them, and the student's hand stitched the opening closed. Each student then had a pillow to take home with them to remember the project.

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Created by...

Heddi Craft, heddi@thecraftstudio.com
Suggestions, ideas, and additions welcome!

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