Silent auction quilt

So, remember the Spoonflower fabric I made with self-portraits of the kids in my daughter's kindergarten class? Remember how I said I needed to use that fabric to make something for a silent auction, but I didn't want to make a quilt?

Well, of course, I made a quilt. I considered a lot of other options, including pillowcases, a big pillow for a reading nook, a tote bag, etc. The problem was I had to make one large item that would entice people to bid high. Somehow, pillowcases or a tote bag just didn't sound like something people would be willing to pay a lot for, even if it was plastered with their kid's face! In the end, my husband was the unlikely one who talked me into a quilt. He said, "As much as I jokingly complain about all the quilts we have in this house, I do think people like them—I mean, who can't use a nice quilt?" Thanks, honey. : )

Of course, I spent so long trying to decide what to make, by the time I bit the bullet and committed myself to a quilt, I had exactly two days to make the thing, from start to finish. Ah, why do I do these things to myself??

But anyway, this is what I ended up with. I think it turned out really cute, in spite of being extremely rushed.

Since I was working under such a tight time frame, I knew I wanted a simple design and a nice easy pattern to follow, so that I wouldn't have to think. : ) Faith's Lemon Squares pattern was perfect! It allowed me to feature some nice big squares of the kids' fabric. I supplemented the kids' print with some colorful fabric from my stash that coordinated with the little artists' palettes.

On the back, I used a nice big piece of the print, to show off all those great drawings. (FYI, some of these pictures were taken before the quilt was bound.)

The quilt ended up selling for $250, which I think is wonderful considering that it was a class project and therefore had a limited pool of bidders—only the parents of the other 20 kids in my daughter's class would be interested in it, after all! I doubt a pair of pillowcases would have gotten even close to that much. And it fetched the highest price of all of the classroom projects (every class had its own). So I'm proud and happy that I could help raise some cash for the school, and I saw the high bidder walking out with it at the end of night, practically hugging it, she was so happy to have won it. That warmed my heart. : )

P.S. Just wanted to note that Heidi of Fabric Mutt has a blog hop starting today called "Girl Friday Sews"—all tutorials designed to freshen up your work space. I love stuff like that! Plus there will be giveaways, of course. : ) So head over there to follow along, and come back on Friday for my tutorial for a fabric-covered memo board!