aug09-harvestquilt7

Last year while completing our Harvest Activities we made 10″ square batik quilt blocks each month with the intent to make a quilt showcasing the kids artwork. This project got buried in the craft cabinet during the holidays and never resurfaced. Recently, I’ve been working on another quilt project and all of the kids have been begging to help. That project is not one that I can have the kids help on but I remembered the lost harvest blocks. Today has been a rainy day and it seemed like a good time to pull the Harvest Quilt.

aug09-harvestquilt1

I cut out some additional 10″ squares of fabric that seemed to go with the harvest theme. Then we laid out the pieces in a random manner. The only thing I planned was that the kids blocks stayed in one row so they could each sew up their row.

aug09-harvestquilt2

aug09-harvestquilt3

The kids took turns pinning and then sewing up their rows (with mommy’s help of course). They love getting to use my sewing machine ;).

aug09-harvestquilt4

I then sewed all the rows together to form the quilt top and ironed the seams.

aug09-harvestquilt5

During nap/quiet time, I found a piece of muslin (the only fabric I had large enough laying around for the backing) and some batting. I sewed up the quilt (layer it batting, backing right side up, top right side down… I messed up this order once in high school and still have a quilt mocking me in my closet that is finished with the batting on the outside. I’ve never had the energy to seam rip all the way around that queen sized quilt. LOL) leaving a 6″ opening.

aug09-harvestquilt6

I trimmed the edges, flipped the quilt right side out, hand stitched the opening closed, and then iron the side seams for a finish edge. I pinned the quilt and then tied the corners with a thick cotten thread.

aug09-harvestquilt8

And we now have a Harvest Quilt that showcases some of the kids art work. It makes a fun lap quilt/play mat that the kids are very proud to say they made.

aug09-harvestquilt9