100 Squares

Kids in preschool and the primary grades often make a big deal of the 100th day of school.  Bringing in collections of 100 pennies or 100 macaroni noodles or such things.  When Noah was in preschool and I was taking a year off from teaching because Avi was a baby, I decided to do something extra cool with him.  It turned out to be one of my favorite projects.  I had so many remnants from previous quilts at that point that I figured we could probably come up with nearly 100 small scraps of different fabrics.  So we embarked on choosing the 100 pieces.  He would choose and I'd cut out a square and then he'd line up 10 in a row until we got close to 100.  I decided to buy a couple colors in the end to supplement our supply to help with the rainbow effect, since I was heavier on some colors than on others, but we otherwise we would have had the full 100.  After cutting out all the squares, Noah helped arrange them in a rainbow pattern and then he would bring them to me one at a time in order while I sewed the rows together.  He also enjoyed sitting on my lap and feeding them through the machine or pressing the peddle to make it go.  when the top was all completed, he went with me to find a backing and binding.  Though I wouldn't ever have gravitated to the fabric we used for the back, in retrospect I think it really works.  He was so proud of this quilt, and still is I think.  He was just 4 when we did it, but he took it to school again in 1st grade to share on the 100th day of school.  I like the simplicity of the 10x10rows which makes the concept of 100 square so visually clear.

100 squares of color

bright and black go well together for back and binding