5th Grade Raffle Quilt Update: All Blocks Quilted, On to the Borders

I just wanted to post a few quick photos of the 5th grade class raffle quilt that I've been frantically working on for the past few weeks.  The original due date is TOMORROW, but I have an extension until next Friday (whew!).  The actual raffle or silent auction or whatever isn't until May 15th and 16th. 

50/3 Mettler in Upper Left, 40 wt YLI Variegated Thread Everywhere Else

I finally got all 22 blocks quilted and I've just started stippling the borders.  I know that I originally said I was going to just do "minimal quilting or tie the quilt," but I lied.  I did free motion quilting in each block, outlining the shapes and figures in each child's painting (the paintings were scanned and printed directly onto fabric using EQ inkjet printer fabric sheets and an Epson inkjet printer) and then I filled the backgrounds with a variety of free motion quilting patterns to make each student's artwork more dimensional.  Hopefully everyone likes how I "decorated" his or her block, because my seam ripper is put away in the drawer and it is STAYING THERE!

 

I played around with a lot of different fill patterns and threads, sticking with a gray Aurifil 50/2 in the bobbin to save time and switching between 60/2, 50/3, 40/3 and 30/3 cotton threads for the needle.  At first I thought I wanted lighter weight thread that would blend into the fabric and disappear, but the heavier variegated threads really grew on me for this project -- I think they are a nice complement to the bold lines of the students' artwork.

I found a great Kaffe Fassett print for my border, and I'm stippling around the little "fireworks" print thingys with variegated YLI machine quilting thread:

Back to my quilting!  I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Charlie Chaplin in "City Lights," with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra

Charlie Chaplin and Virginia Cherrill in City Lights, 1931

Last night we all climbed into the TARDIS (which is bigger on the inside) and traveled back in time to 1931 to watch City Lights, a silent Charlie Chaplin film on the silver screen, accompanied by a live orchestra and a live audience roaring with laughter (because silent films were not, in fact, silent at all).  All of which is totally and completely true, except for the part about the TARDIS (we've been watching a lot of Dr. Who reruns as well). 

Actually, the film was screened at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in 2014 with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra performing the original score to the silent film, just as original audiences would have experienced the film back in 1931 when it was a new release.  Jacomo Rafael Bairos, the energetic young conductor whom our sons remember from his tenure with the CSO Lollipops family concert series when they were much younger, led the orchestra in a rousing rendition of Chaplin's original score.  It was absolutely fantastic.  We loved it, the kids loved it, and I wish this wasn't just a one-time thing. 

Also, I had not known that Charlie Chaplin not only starred in his films, but also wrote the films, directed the films, AND composed his own musical scores.  Note to self: Find a Charlie Chaplin biography next time I'm at the book store.

That's all you get -- a quilt is calling me from across the room!