Crows and Thanks and Summer, oh my!

Today was my daughter's last day of second grade. Every year her class does an expedition, or in depth study on a topic, and this year her expedition was crows and ravens. Fascinating creatures-- although they are all around us, I never realized how little I knew about them until now! Of, course, we made a thank you gift for her teacher that incorporates crows...

Her teacher is from Hawaii, like my family, so I experimented with a Hawaiian style quilt with hand-appliqued crows. I love the crisp contrast of the black birds against the white background. I did hand quilt it, which was a first. I love the look of the quilting, wonky and all.

My daughter loved studying crows, since they are so easy to observe. Her class wrote poems, built nests, and read tales about crows from around the world. I learned that crows are believed to be messengers of creativity in many cultures, which makes sense with how inspired I was to make this quilt! My daughter consulted with me on every step of the design, and when it was done, she wrote a special thank you to her teacher on the label.

This piece stretched my skills in design, applique and hand-quilting. I really enjoyed making it and hope it is always treasured. Now that I've finished all the handwork, I'm looking forward to finishing up a bunch of the quilts in progress that I've been neglecting in the meantime. But only after the sun goes down- I don't want to waste that summer light indoors!