Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the Monarch Quilt Project?
The Monarch Quilt Project is a collaborative quilt block exchange project which was first initiated by Erin Shirhall, a New Jersey teacher.
2. What does the project involve?
The project involves students creating quilt blocks to exchange with other students through the mail. Previous years have involved exchanges between Ontario, Manitoba, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Delaware teachers. The scope of the project will continue to broaden as the project grows.
3. Can any classroom participate?
Any teacher who is a member of the Monarch Teacher Network is welcome to participate.
4. How do teachers become members of the Monarch Teacher Network?
Teachers become members of the network by attending a "Teaching and Learning with Monarch Butterflies" workshop held each summer across several states (including New Jersey, Delaware and Connecticut) and several provinces (including Ontario and Manitoba).
5. How does the quilt block exchange work?
Once you have signed up for the project, your name will be teamed with other teachers who also would like to participate. Our goal is for each group to have quilters from a variety of Canadian provinces and US states as well as different grade levels. Group members will be emailed contact information for fellow members. Contact information will include mailing addresses for mailing the blocks and email addresses for quick communication. You will receive additional information via email. Classroom teachers will keep some of their students' squares and then mail one square to each of the other participating classrooms within one's group.
6. I am interested! How do I sign up?
Please let us know if you are interested in participating by December 15, 2006. Contact Anne Powers via email at powersa@limestone.on.ca . Include your name, email address, grade, school name / complete school address and number of students in your class. You will hear back from us by email in early January with the names / information of your fellow group members.
7. What is the time frame of the project?
Sign up ends on December 15, 2006. Group notification lists will be sent out in early January 2007. Completed squares should be mailed to fellow team members prior to April 8, 2007. Once you have received all your quilt squares from fellow group members, you may then take as long as you need to complete your quilt.
8. What is the overall design or theme of the quilt squares?
Each quilt square is an original design. The design should reflect student knowledge about monarch butterflies in some respect. For example, blocks could show monarchs in different stages of their life cycle, milkweed plants or monarch migration stories.
9. Does it matter if the quilt blocks do not show monarch butterflies in some respect?
Yes. The intent of the project is to give children a way to celebrate all that they have learned about monarch butterflies through the sharing of their artistic talents. When the quilt squares arrive in your classroom, the most highly favored quilt blocks are always about the monarch's story. Receiving a quilt block without monarchs can be disappointing for students.
10. What kind of fabric is used to make the quilt blocks?
Use white cotton/polyester blends, such as broadcloth or 100% cotton. Do NOT use off-white or knits of any kind. Wash and dry the fabric before cutting out the squares. This will prevent shrinkage.
11. What size should the quilt blocks be?
Each block should be cut to exactly 7.5 inches square. This includes the seam allowance for joining the blocks together. When completed the squares in your quilt will be 7x7 inches. Each quilt block needs to be the same size. Cut carefully. Blocks that are too small cannot be used.
12. How big will this quilt be?
The exact size of the quilt will depend on how many blocks you include and how you finish your quilt. Our goal is for the quilts to be hung on classroom walls across Canada and the United States!
13. Are there any other requirements for the quilt blocks?
Yes.
First, the quilt blocks should be designed and made by CHILDREN.
Secondly, the quilt blocks should not be 3-D in any way. Each block should be a flat 2-D picture. Glitter or sequins are fine as accents but should not be along the edges as this would hamper sewing the blocks together. Please keep in mind that this is a sewing project. Do not make squares that will not lie flat for QUILTING.
14. How do the children put their design on the fabric?
Be creative, but please remember that the end goal is to make a quilt. Teachers use a variety of strategies. In general, the first step is to have each student create a draft on 7.5 x 7.5 inch paper. The design may then be transferred to the fabric in pencil and the students color their design onto the fabric with either fabric crayons or fabric paints. The precut fabric squares can be taped to desks with masking tape to make them more stationary for drawing/painting. Be sure to cover ¼inch (or even ½ inch around the edges for your seam allowance/border. Both fabric paints and fabric crayons have worked well. Some fabric crayons come with directions for "setting" the crayons permanently into the fabric. Wax crayons can also be used. To 'set' (or melt) crayon into fabric, place the picture with the drawing face side up on top of an old towel. Cover the picture completely with a piece of large white paper such as printer paper. Press a hot iron back and forth over the paper to melt the crayon into the fabric (use an old iron for this -sometimes crayon melts through the paper to the iron). The harder the students press down with the crayons, the brighter the melted picture will be.
15. What about using puff paints ?
In the past, some quilt blocks that were made with puff paints arrived damaged. This was because they were folded and the paints on different sides became stuck to each other. When unfolded, the paints ripped.
16. Does each child sign their quilt block?
Well, yes and no. Part of the fun is to look at each finished quilt and to see all the far away places that the quilt blocks came from. Finished blocks could have the artist's first name and/or her/his province/state written along the bottom edge. It is difficult to write names in crayon; use a permanent fabric marker.. Please ensure that you maintain the artistic integrity of the quilt square … some squares have been ruined by the addition of too much print or too large a print Please use some judgment and/or creativity here.
17. When my students are finished making their quilt blocks, then what do I do?
Place your quilt square between sheets of newsprint and mail it in a 9x12 inch envelope addressed to a fellow team member's classroom. Include a note with your square too. Now comes the fun part…..waiting to see the beautiful quilt squares that arrive in the mail!
18. Do I have to quilt to participate in this project?
No, but it does help! If you are not a seamstress, then enlist a parent or community member to do the work. Many people are looking for ways to help out with the schools. As an alternative strategy, you could have the students TUFT or sew the layers together with yarn. Or you could opt to sew the quilt blocks together to make a top and just hang it up as is (the quit blocks are so beautiful … most people don't even notice).
19. Are there any guidelines for how to finish the quilt?
How you sew the quilt squares together and finish the quilt is entirely up to you. Some people choose to insert a batting in the middle and then stitch the layers together either by machine or hand, followed by binding the edges. Some include a border around the edges or lattice work between the blocks. Others simply stitch the blocks together and leave it at that. You could sew on a backing and not put a batting on the inside. Some quilts have an extra block that names the project or the quilt or lists participating schools. The sky is the limit. Have fun!
20. Are my four and five year old students too young to design and create squares?
No, some of the most beautiful squares were created by some four and five year olds. Some useful strategies include facilitating the ideas with a review of what milkweed looks like, what kind/colour of flowers monarchs like to nectar on, providing photographs/pictures of monarch butterflies and limiting the number of colours available for the design. Teacher outlining in black marker and printing province/state is permissable.
21. Would you like to see a photo of our finished quilt?
Yes, send your photos to Anne Powers, Kingston, Ontario (powersa@limestone.on.ca) or Mary Redus, Andover, New Jersey (wgred@earthlink.net) and we will post your quilt photo on this website.
21. Who do I contact if I have additional questions?
Contact Mary Redus at wgred@earthlink.net