Finding Fifth: A Preschool Legacy

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

A Preschool Legacy

The director of our local Preschool is saying adios at the end of the year after 20 years of service. She is a lovely lady and been a driving force in the development and success of this important institution of the community.

The staff and the committee are organising 2 gifts but I wanted to make something that will be beautiful, practical and sentimental to acknowledge her contribution.

After 2 mis-starts ( I will share later), I finally settled on some 3" jelly rolls from a Moda scrap bag. Four were burgundy and four were gold.

Then I raided my stash for some tone on tone or solids in yellows, pinks and burgundys.

Then I came across two yards of gorgeous 'Barclay' from the Alexander Henry 2010 collection. That provided the modern twist. Can you see the snails in the top print?

The solid white added a freshness to break up the colours.

Staggering the strips was a bit trickier and they did not always match up, but it didn't really matter.

The main challenge was to arrange the fabric strips to achieve a mix and a pleasing aesthetic.

I used basting spray for the first time ever (and I managed to clog the first one up early on) but I still pinned as usual. There is no fun in basting I must say, but I can watch a lot of 'Deadliest Catch' because the kitchen bench overlooks the tv.

It was small enough to quilt myself but I stayed simple and did some straight stitching on the verticals where I shadowed the ditch on the front. This made for a nice pattern on the back as well.

The binding didn't take as long to make this time and I managed to machine bind it all on within two and half hours. I only missed one corner this time!

So this is the front completed...

and this is the back.

I have to make a lovely label from some scraps and dedicate it to Rosemary...in time for her farewell picnic on the 4th December. Now to bind another project!