Making a School Quilt

Sewing a school quilt, where you use artwork or photos from the students to sew quilt blocks, then join them together into a quilt, is a large undertaking. I've never done it before so I am enjoying the sewing adventure.

So glad I decided to go with the log cabin method of quilting, where you sew a strip (like a log) of fabric onto the main block (in this case the drawing), then turn it and add another strip to the side, and continue on like that until your block is the right size for your quilt.

In my case there were 33 student drawings to work from, a bit of an odd number for making a symmetrical quilt. I added three extra squares with just fabric, to bring the number to 36. That will be six by six in the blocks department. As for the exact measurements, that is somewhat in flux right now. I am working my blocks to be approximately 14 by 16. Later I will be adding borders around the whole quilt, and probably trimming my blocks for a perfect fit. Although I planned for a queen size, I am considering a full size or something in between if it works out that way during the phase of setting all these blocks side by side. I was thinking a queen was nice but now I wonder if most kids have full size beds.
The quilt will be donated to the school, then auctioned off at the fundraiser auction in the spring.
I am enjoying pulling each piece of artwork out of the folder as I go along. I've not peeked at them, so each one is a surprise. Then the subject matter helps me select the colors. I strive for contrast but there is no strict rule for picking colors.
This is a forgiving quilt form because the strips don't have to be measured. The sewing doesn't have to be straight. It actually seems to look better with some wiggles to it.

I do however, iron a lot. I press the seams I sew after every one or two strips are added.