I See You! + TGIFF

The first 4-H club in our town started in the fall, and we were eager to get our oldest son involved. He's just five, and many others in the club are also quite young. Each month, our club does a different activity to give the kids an experience that might be new to them. We've decorated cupcakes, learned about goats, rabbits, and chickens, and done arts and crafts. Last month, I was signed up to teach about quilting!

At last month's meeting, each 4-Her made one monster block, then I finished the quilt before this month's meeting and documented the whole process in our club's Facebook group so the kids could see what goes on behind the scenes. I revealed the quilt to the kids this week at our monthly meeting, and it was quite a hit!

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I first saw this quilt on Pinterest, and knew it would be a great group project! (There's even a BluPrint class for it!) I started by gathering lots of white, gray, and black fabrics from my stash to make the background squares. Next I gathered all the bright solid fabrics I could find in my stash.

I cut all the background square to the size I wanted, then put Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 on the back of the all the bright solids. I also fused white and solid black fabrics and drew circles on them in different sizes for eyeballs and pupils. I drew mouths on another fused black piece.

I also printed out several of the finished quilt pictures I found on Pinterest so the kids would have a reference to guide them in making their own monsters.

The prep work ahead of time meant the kids were able to focus on being creative and making monsters!

Even the parents loved the project and jumped in to help!

After about half an hour, each kid had completed their monster!

After taking the monster blocks home, I adjusted the pieces slightly to account for seam allowances. (Notice the pink monster in the top right corner of the photo above is floating. I moved him down to the bottom of the block.) Then I pressed each block.

The 12 blocks would have made a quilt 30"x40", but I wanted a larger throw size, so I made 18 more blocks.

Using Aurifil 50wt Dove #2600, I stitched just inside the raw edges of every monster. I used the same thread to stitch around the eyeballs.

I switched to Aurifil 50wt Black #2692 to stich around all the mouths and pupils.

A peak behind the seams!

Next, I sewed the blocks together to make the quilt top.

I made the back from a striped fabric I've had in my stash for quite a few years.

I loaded the backing fabric onto the longarm using my Red Snappers.

Once the backing was loaded, I laid Warm & Natural batting on top.

Then I laid the quilt top on the sandwich.

I chose Aurifil 50wt Grey #2605 for the quilting, and I decided I would not quilt over the monsters.

I started to meander on the background fabrics.

Then I had the girls that are in 4-H Quilting help me quilt a few blocks! (Did I mention that I'm teaching four of our club members to quilt??)

After quilting, I trimmed it up,

cut 2 1/4" binding strips,

 

and machine stitched the binding on.

 

Find the tutorial for sewing binding on by machine here.

The kids loved seeing the quilt for the first time! They each ran up to point out their block!

The club plans to donate the quilt locally, but the kids voted at the meeting to wait to donate the quilt so it can be displayed at our county fair in July.

To finish the quilt, I added a label to the back with our club's name and the year.

UPDATE 11/20/19

The quilt received a blue ribbon at the county fair in July. This month, the 4-H club members voted to give the quilt to a local child at Children's Mercy hospital. Earlier this week, several members were able to personally visit a young boy in the hospital and give him the quilt in person!

I'm so glad the 4-H kids were able to have the experience of making the quilt from the beginning to end, and that they were able to put the 4-H pledge into real action!!

"...I pledge my hands to larger service..."

What did you make this week? Link up with TGIFF!

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Linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting.

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