Quilting Unit Study

Some of you may recall that I put together a Quilting Unit Study for R12 this year. The other half of her year will be spent with Above and Beyond Five in a Row- Hitty the First Hundred Years. This unit study has a few pieces to it and we've adjusted things as we've gone along, but so far it's been a great study.

One of R12's classes at co-op this semester was Machine Quilting. We have a bunch of very creative moms who love to teach sewing, crafting, and all sorts of things. It's always a treat to take one of these classes.

She chose to make her nine-patch quilt from batik scraps. We've been collecting from the local reuse sewing shop and she used a length from JoAnn's for the plain squares.

R12 laid this out to make a choice on the final two rows to be sewn together. We did make a change so the royal blue square would be split up from the other two bold squares in the same column. Can you see the change below? Great move!

R12's quilt on display at co-op night last week.

Aren't they all lovely?

What else is happening in our Quilting Study? 

• We are taking the Craftsy class Re-Piecing the Past with Kaye England- this one fits in perfectly of our study of history with quilting. We are making 12 traditional quilt blocks which are inspired by the stories of strong women from the Civil War era. If you've never tried out Craftsy, I recommend the classes highly. You get video instruction from great crafters and designers from the comfort of your home and working space. They are available to watch any time and you never lose access to the classes! I always wait for a sale. Often you can get the classes you want for $19.99. 
• Biographies- another piece to the unit study is to read about women from the past and learn about who they were and what life was like back then. As many times as R12 has read the Little House books and despite her general knowledge of Laura Ingalls Wilder, we found some books she has not read about Ms. Wilder and she is anxious to read them. We'll keep moving along reading about different women like Harriet Beecher Stowe and others.
• History- R12 actually worked on finding out when quilts as we know them started to rise in popularity and it was interesting to learn that early on only wealthy people had them (how often do we associate the quilts we imagine with wealth) because poor people used their fabric scraps for patching another clothing necessities.

Along the way I'm sure we'll discover some new goals. I have been reading with great interest Project Based Learning by Lori Pickert. I'm excited to put some of the newer ideas for me to use in our projects. As I read, I am delighted to realize that we already have so many of the pieces of a great project based learning home. R12's Quilting Study is just one of the many vibrant activities we have going on right now.

I have a lot of homeschooling moments to post here on Blog, She Wrote. Stay tuned for some more updates!