Lincoln Memorial Mini Quilt

While my son has been on his Washington, DC class trip, the chaperones have been posting updates and pictures for us at home to stay connected. The pictures in particular really made a difference for me. There are close to 300 students on this trip and looking through the many photos is a bit like Where's Waldo.  But finding your child looking well and accounted for is a great feeling.

Lincoln Memorial Mini Quilt

After seeing the day 2 of 3 morning photos, I was feeling particularly appreciative and began to consider some sort of thank you gift. I considered food items, gift cards, and sewing something. I first thought of a mug rug. They are mini quilts which are designed to be the perfect size for a hot beverage and a couple cookies, like a snack sized placemat. 

I have made mug rugs for teachers before, usually finding out their favorite colors ahead of time. Because I didn't know their colors or even who beyond their two main chaperones they were exactly,  I considered different themes for the mini quilt.  Making them flag like with wonky stripes was close in the running. Then I remembered the enthusiasm the principal showed when talking to the parents about this trip. He loves this trip, the places they visit, the restaurants, and especially the illumination tour of the monuments. I started looking at logos for Washington, DC and noted that the Lincoln Memorial would be easy to represent with its flat roof and straight columns.

I started planning out the representation with ivory columns opposite yellow strips of fabric for the lights. Finally framing the entire things in black for the night. 

After looking at images of the Lincoln Memorial and counting twelve columns on the front, I opted for six. Instead of making many stairs, I used a 2" strip and sewed straight lines to depict the stairs. Straight line quilting was also used on the columns. On the top, I used a decorative stitch. 

From my notes:
ivory columns are cut at 1" by 4"
yellow "lights" are cut at 1.5" by 4"
Top ivory is cut at 8.5" by 1.5"
smaller top is cut at 6.5" by 1.5"
bottom ivory is cut at 9.5" by 2"
black strips cut at 2" and 1.5" fill in around memorial
bound by bringing 1" from back to front and top stitching

Step 1, sew columns and yellow together.  I sewed long strips together and then cut into 4" sections.  Then sewing the pairings together to form 6 ivory with 5 yellow

Quilt Back with year

Step 2, add first white topper
Step 3, sew 2" black strips on either side
Step 4, add black strips to upper ivory piece and lower ivory piece
Step 5, sew topper and bottom onto middle piece forming memorial
Step 6, add 2" black strips to top and bottom
Step 7, form quilt sandwich
Step 8, quilt decorative stitching for columns and steps
Step 9, trim batting, trim back to extend 1" all the way around
Step 10, form binding and top stitch
finished size is 11" x 11"



 A new batch of Pumpkin Cake Balls were made too and everything is ready for gifting!  Hopefully the chaperones will enjoy the quilted depiction of the Lincoln Memorial and it will have a home on their desks or on a classroom wall.

Cake balls with chcolate coating yielding 50 balls has the following nutritional info.