A little something for my students and my classroom....

They repainted the hallways in my school this past spring and while I have a fabulous place to display the student's artwork I won't have a place for the large poster that has one of my favorite quotes.  So instead I thought I would make a 'poster' of my own that was smaller and that could hang on my classroom door.  I have been wanting to make a work of art from fabric since I started teaching, but was stumped for ideas that really got me excited and motivated.  When students ask about my artwork it is a little hard to describe to them how I make my artwork.  An art quilt seemed like a win-win situation.  So here is what I did...

First I had to cut out the basic picture of the flamingoes at work as well as the quote from fabric.  (I debated whether to do flamingoes, kids, myself, or some other sort of animal, but I finally settled on the flamingoes.  If you know me, you know that I love pink and that is what I love most about flamingoes.  They are also fun and whimsical for my K-2 students.)

After I got everything tacked down, it was time to head to the sewing machine.  Not only was I making sure everything was sewn down and wouldn't pop off; I also wanted to add more details with thread that would have been very tedious when trying to cut them out of fabric.  I have never tried thread painting (basically the machine is the brush and the thread is the paint) before and am now a little addicted.  Not only did it add the needed details, but it also added more texture.

All that was left was to add batting and a backing and I was ready to free-motion quilt the background.  And here is the final result....

I couldn't be more pleased and I am ready to see what my students think!