I made a number of quilts as teacher gifts, but I only have photographs of two of them, both from the 1995 school year. Hard to believe that was 20 years ago!
This quilt was for my youngest son's kindergarten teacher. I made two large "stamp pads" using acrylic paint, wet sponges and disposable plastic plates. The kids in the class took turns stamping their handprints onto pre-cut squares of white 100% cotton fabric. We washed their stamping hand off and then had them write their name on their block. The teacher did a block, too - it's in the center of the quilt. I found a great novelty print fabric featuring kids (click on the picture for a closer view) for the sashing and and borders. The quilt is tied with red and blue embroidery thread.
I made a similar quilt for my oldest son's second grade teacher. Same pre-cut 100% cotton squares, but this time I had the kids draw a self-portrait using fabric crayons. I took the squares home and ironed them to set the pictures. The sashing and borders were made from a neon-print of sea creatures. This one is tied with black embroidery thread.
When we moved to New Orleans I lost touch with most of the folks I knew from those school days, and I don't know what happened to the quilts. My kids' new school was not quite so parent-friendly and I never made another teacher quilt. That's OK, my boys were getting older and probably would have been embarrassed to have their mom making quilts for the teachers or the school!
