The Crayon Quilt For Jami

Hello all you wonderful people out there in blog world! Remember when I told you that I still sew? That I do things other than talk about my pets? Well.....now I can prove it! I'm sooooo excited to finally be able to show you this project. I made this quilt for a friend of mine who's fighting Ovarian Cancer right now. And she's only 33 yrs young! Cancer is really getting on my last nerve these days! (Take a peek at this post if you don't know why I'm so annoyed with stupid cancer!) Anyway, I came up with the idea to send a square of white fabric to each of Jami's family and friends, have them draw a picture with crayons and then I sewed it into a quilt.
The response was amazing! I ended up with about 75 squares so I was able to make a HUGE quilt. And I'm seriously stunned by what people were able to do with crayons. Look at these - they're amazing!
And this gorgeous painted pony.....
And this sweet mama and baby bird.....
And this beautiful ocean scene was done by a very talented 14 yr old....
And this adorable dog was done by a part-time artist.....
Oh, and please know that my sewing isn't that crooked! Some weird camera angles and the way the quilt was draped made the squares look so wonky. Seriously. My seams were perfectly straight. Well.....maybe not perfectly straight.....but a lot straighter than they look in the close-up photos!

You'll see that I did a very simple, plain border. I had plans for a much fancier border. But, honestly, I just ran out of time. A few people were....hmmm.....shall we say a little late getting their squares back to me. And Jami's almost done with chemo and I obviously wanted to give her the quilt while she was still in the hospital. So a simple border was my only option.

And if you're wondering - Jami loves her quilt. I think it really showed her how many people she has who are cheering for her through this fight.

I also think this type of quilt would be a great idea for a new baby or a wedding or an anniversary or a landmark birthday. So, if you're interested in making one here's how I did it.....

-I used Moda Bella Solids Bleached White as my fabric. You'll get 24 squares out of each half yard of fabric. And I highly recommend you get twice as much fabric as you think you'll need. Hmmm.....some people might want a practice square......or two.....or three. I cut about 150 squares.....and about 75 made it back to me!

-While working in sections about the size of a fat quarter I ironed freezer paper to the fabric. Use a hot iron, no steam and apply the rough side of the freezer paper to the fabric. This temporarily adheres the paper to the fabric. The freezer paper makes it sooooo much easier to color with crayons on the fabric.

-Cut the fabric/paper into 5" squares. Lots and lots and lots of 5" squares.....
-Tell everyone to color a picture using plain old Crayola Crayons. No special fabric crayons needed. And give everyone a deadline. And make sure that deadline is actually two weeks before you really, truly want the squares back!

-Now you have to heat set the crayon into the fabric. Remove the freezer paper if it hasn't already fallen off. A lot of the squares lost their freezer paper while they were being colored on. Place the square crayon side up on the ugly ironing board cover......
(And yes, that's a margarita. Every quilt needs a margarita with a slice of lime!)

-Place a paper towel on top of the fabric crayon masterpiece. The paper towel will protect your iron and it will also help you know when the crayon is fully set (more on that in a moment!). Now, using a hot iron with no steam you will do your heat setting. Place the iron on the paper towel for about 15 seconds. Then, lift up the paper towel and you'll probably see a little bit of color has transferred to the paper towel. Move to a fresh section of paper towel and iron again. Keep doing this until no color is transferred to the paper towel. It took two passes for most of my squares. Some of the ones with a lot of dark, saturated colors took 3 passes.
-Then I cut 1 1/2" sashing strips and put the quilt together. I also used the 1 1/2" sashing strips as my border. Again, I wish I would have had more time to make a fancier, prettier border. It took about 2 yds of fabric for the sashing, border and binding. And it took about 3 1/2 yds for the backing. Obviously, those fabric requirements are for a quilt that's about the same size as mine!

O.K. I think that's everything. Let me know if you have any questions about this! I'm gonna get back to sewing now so I can continue to prove to you that I still make things!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny