FernFolio

Students in one of our Grade 3 classes recently completed a quilt which they have donated to Design Hope Toronto, who raise money and awareness for local organizations who help Toronto’s homeless. The quilt will be auctioned off at Design Hope Toronto’s Gala on Friday, February 8th at the Modern Weave, 160 King Street East.

The inspiration for making a quilt came from our classroom lessons and research about early settlers of Upper Canada. We discussed the idea that quilts are created through the joining together of community members using scrapes of otherwise useless fabric. We were influenced by several books, Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt, by Barbara Smucker illustrated by Janet Wilson; The Quilt Makers Gift, by Jeff Brumbeau and Gail de Marcken; The Patchwork Path A Quilt Map To Freedom Bettye Stroud, illustrated by Erin Susanne Bennett. These books wrote of the history and symbolism of quilts. We also had help from the school’s art and drama specialist, who helped us solve some of our artistic problems.

Quilts are pieces of homeless fabric coming together through community to create a useful blanket of warmth and memories. The red square in the centre of a quilt has traditionally represented the hearth in a log home. Historically African Americans escaping slavery, used quilt patterns as a secret code to map out the underground railway. Thus the symbol of a quilt became a natural choice for this project as it reflects how our community can join together to help other find purpose and usefulness. Through community we all gain warmth and freedom.

Students worked in six small groups of three or four. Each group chose fabric for a quilt square. Using a template they traced four Bear Paw patterns onto fabric, cut out the fabric and placed it on a quilting square. The six squares where then joined together on a background fabric and framed.