During the spring semester, I decided that I needed to do something really cool for Hannah's teacher at school. I was the room mom and getting some flowers or some lotion just didn't seem a right thank-you for the whole year. I had an idea one night that I would make a quilt for Ms. Phillips. Now I didn't know what I was going to do or even where to start, but one night I got an idea from seeing the kids handprint Christmas wreath that they made. **Yes I bought that one too!** This got me thinking. I wanna capture these little hands some how. Freeze them in time and make something really nice too.
Since I am at school all the time helping out it wasn't hard to nicely ask if I could get all the kids hands on paper. Trace them nicely and then write their name underneath. Little did I know what those 17 little handprints on a sheet of paper would turn into. The best part was that Ms. Phillips didn't even know what she just helped me do!
I took those hands and outlined them in sharpie marker so that I could see them through the fabric. I then decided that I would make them each into a 9x9 quilt block. I traced in pencil each hand and name (all of which were very different) and go to working on stitching each little hand and name. It would take me weeks of stitching every where I could in the middle of going to school, church, running kids to the gym, and keeping up with everything that life throws at you. I even had other quilt blocks too. One with a poem, a second grade block, and even a school house too. I didn't realize how much time it would take.
While at Wal-Mart I found a really cool school looking fabric and my quilt was starting to form. I still didn't know how all this was going to go together, but I had my main fabric and a bright school red to go along with it.
In time my blocks were done and I finally got to piece them together. I think it was looking good by this point and I was only done with the top! This secret of mine was turing out great! I even snuck in all the blocks to the class one day! I made the teacher go stand in the hall and get a potty break (since they don't get many of those during the day). The kids were great too and never said anything about this fun project of ours.
So here is how my quilt top turned out....
Finally after some really long nights and a deadline that we were leaving for Utah, I got this quilt done! It was magical! It turned out so much better than I even could have imagined. I just look at it and this creation was just from 17 sheets of paper. WOW! This will probably be my most favorite of any quilt that I will ever make.
It was done and wrapped up and waiting to be given. I told myself don't cry. I knew that Ms. Phillips would cry! and the kids were so happy. I can't wait to see it hung on the wall next year. It is now a super teacher gift from all the students with love! Now what am I gonna come up for next year??
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