Teacher's Crayon Quilt Done!

Crayon Quilt Finished Front

I just finished up the Great American Teach In Crayon Quilt that I made.  I call it Art from the Heart and I will send it to school on Monday for my daughter to give to the teacher.  I really struggled with hand making the label this time as I just didn't feel up to all that stitching, so when a friend suggested I just write the label, I considered it and knew it would get the quilt done.  Which is something I really needed to do so against my own grain I just did it and called it done.

Crayon Quilt On Reverse

The quilting is glitter stitched with each student's name in Superior's Metallic thread, the one they had on sale for $1.50 a spool.  They still have some if you'd like to pick up a spool or 20.  Look under their "Try Me Specials".  I found that when I followed their directions everything worked nicely.  Rick rack runs in two solid strips at the top and bottom which actually helped to bisect the quilt to make the pre-marking easier to gauge.  I also quilted each crayon in the ditch so it appears to pop unto itself.  Then I filled the remaining areas of each crayon with thread matched to each strip in loops and stars to resemble doodling.

The Students names were something I really wanted to make sure were right.  So I left the tags that had each child's name on it from when they selected their strip during the Teach-In, and I kept those tags on until I had completely finished all of the quilting on that strip.  I double, triple, and even quadruple checked and if that's a lot just think of how the child would have felt had I messed up their name?

Crayon Quilt Name and Pencil Detail

The pencil is a point of pride for me and is in the teacher's selected colors.  I did not applique this independently and instead worked with many pins as I quilted it on.  Trust me I was poked enough times to make me question my sanity.  At the tip of the pencil and at the eraser, the pencil is independent and loose from the quilt creating a bit of a 3-D effect. Now if you look you'll see a bit of blue thread , How did that bit of thread end up on that final name?

The Quilt is topped with matching Prairie Points and loops behind them for hanging on the wall.  For some reason it seems  to me that it will be easier for a teacher to hang loops vs. a sleeve. The sides are traditionally bound which created a challenge at the two upper corners but I like the result and would make the same choice if I had it to do again.

This quilt is quilted rather densely so it took me more than my usual time to quilt it.  Also I found the metallic thread to be nearly impossible to "snap" into my self threading needles, so instead I had to work in good light and thread it into the eye myself when tucking the threads ends in.  Good thing it's a single thread instead of a woven one.

Sure hope the class likes it.