Hot Air Balloon Festival

This is the last of the five quilts I worked on with the fourth grade classes at my kids' school. This class chose a hot air balloon festival as a theme. It's a perfect concept for allowing each student to create their own individual piece that becomes part of the whole composition.
The kids always want to make a sketch first before they begin with the fabric. We really try to get them to think about shapes and just get straight to cutting. The kid who created this plane insisted he could not possibly just cut. Really???
I suggested it's really just triangles, right? Long skinny triangles for the wing, shorter fatter triangle for the nose, etc. Sometimes they just seem to want to be pushed back with a bit of humor. He was quite pleased with the result.

That big white bus on the bottom is a shuttle for people to ride from the parking lot. Of course.

Outer Space Part II

Two classes chose "space" as their theme this year. Of course, they are completely unique.
I especially love this space man. I think he might be a storm trooper.

I think the little green alien in the space ship with the purple spots is awesome. Bet you didn't know there was toothpaste and toothbrushes floating around in the galaxy.

Infinity and Beyond!

This one is a little "out there." Still fun, though!It's called Crazy Spacey.

Initially, the theme was outer space. But several of the kids really wanted to include their love for the Percy Jackson books (which are based on Greek mythology). So we have Zeus throwing a lightening bolt (while drinking a Diet Coke).
And we have two Poseidons holding tridents. (And another little alien creature drinking a 2 liter of Diet Coke.)There is also an apple tree and various floating fruits on the left in the full image. I used some glow-in-the-dark thread for the quilting. Pretty fun!

Candy Metropolis

Thank you so much for all the enthusiastic comments on the last "kid quilt" I shared with you. Here is another...
The class titled it Candy Metropolis. An excellent title, I think. They came up with some wonderful ideas and executed them so well. Check out the banana split boat in the chocolate river, the sweet little cupcake and the gingerbread house.
The art teacher and I really encourage the kids to do their best work, cut careful nicely formed shapes and take their time. Sometimes they do.

When one student first presented this ice cream cone for fusing, I ask her if she wanted to add any more detail. She shrugged. I suggested she clean up the edges a bit and add another scoop of ice cream. She came back with a bit more excitement. Then I prompted again about additional detail. Maybe some lines on the cone, I asked. She went back to the pile of fabric and added the light brown x's. When it was really done, she was so pleased! It is such a delicate balance between telling them exactly what to do or giving them full creative control. Not to mention, with nearly 30 kids in each class, there is a huge variety of skills and interest levels. It's an amazing learning experience for all of us.

Hooray for Hollywood!

I am thrilled to debut the quilts created by the fourth graders at my kids' school! This is the second year I've worked on this project with them and it was a blast!

Each class chose a theme. The art teacher and I really encouraged them to choose themes that would allow each student to make an individual part that would be added to the whole. When this class chose "Hollywood," I was very skeptical about how it would all come together.

They totally surprised me! It's my favorite of the whole bunch.I created the background for them: the blue sky, the green hillside and the gray road/sidewalk area. The Hollywood sign really sets the theme. Notice the spotlights and paparazzi helicopter.
Here on the red carpet you can see limos, more paparazzi, the Walk of Fame stars, Oprah, Paris Hilton and Duane Johnson.Oprah is wearing a purple dress and has her dog with her. Here is a comparison.
Paris Hilton is predictably dressed in pink and carries her dog in a pink bag. Another comparison.And Duane Johnson is showing off his buff bod.The giddy, enthusiastic energy in the classroom was so inspiring! (And I never thought I'd be inspired by Paris Hilton.)

More quilts later in the week!

Diversion

How about something other than beautiful pictures from Hawaii?!

I'm working on an art quilt project with the fourth graders at my kids' school this month. I did this same project last year. You can read all about it by clicking on "kid quilts" in the label section at the bottom of this post. That will bring up all the posts I've written about this project.

One class chose "candy land" as their theme. Here they are working on placing all the different elements on the background.
I've cropped out all their faces since I don't have permission to post them on my blog, but they are smiling! Other classes chose space, hot air balloon festival and Hollywood as their themes.

It has been so much fun! I just love the hour I've been spending with the kids every morning. The tops should be done this week and I'll begin quilting. You'll see the finished art soon!

Quilt Collection

What an amazing collection of quilts these fourth graders created. I was honored to work with them. Here is the entire 2009 series. I'm already looking forward to doing it again in 2010.

Good Morning, Neighborhood!
33x29

Surprising Super Sports
35x28

Radical Rainforest
33x27

Expedition Ocean
33x29

The Fantastic Adventures of the Sea-OstriHorse
35x28

I am also thrilled to tell you that when I was beginning to prepare for this project, I sent a quick email to Pellon asking if they would donate some Wonder Under. The replied immediately and said they would love to! Four bolts of Wonder Under arrived at our school just a few days later. Isn't it fantastic to know that Pellon supports arts in education?

Do You Have a Favorite?

Here are two more kids quilts. I'll post the last one tomorrow. Aren't they so fun?!

I think this one is titled Surprising Sports.

I've edited out the names of the kids on this one. That's why there are some blurry areas.The sports quilt was the first one we added names to and then we decided the names were a bit of a distraction from the design of the quilt. For all of the others, we had the kids each write their name on the label in addition to the quilt title, their teacher's name, the name of the school, our city and the date.

This one is called Expedition Ocean. I love that title.

This is the quilt from Claire's class. She created the blue whale munching on seaweed in this detail.
I love the rainbow! And the narwhal peeking up at the bottom of this detail.I think I'll also repost all the full shots in one post so we can see them all at once with their titles and dimensions. Come back next week to see that.