Brasier house little hands quilt finish...

Diane from Brasier House blog  made this super sweet quilt for her friends daughter's preschool teacher! (How nice is she? I have never made a quilt for even my own kids teachers!) Isn't it darling?  I should make one of these for my Mom with her 36 or so grand children (I have lost count), wouldn't that be fun? Diane makes  really cute quilts! She blogs about her family and quilting, make sure to stop by and say Hi!

I've been working on this quilt for the last couple of weeks with my friend Rachelle.

It's a gift for her daughter's preschool teacher.  She thought some little hand prints on the wall for her would be sweet.

I think she's right.  They are SO sweet.

This is my favorite block.  Maybe it's the red.  But probably it's the little person behind the hand!

I am loving this little quilt so much!  

I'm going to be quilting this up today.  I'm planning to quilt-in-the-ditch in each seam on the hand print blocks, and then do my loopy quilting in the grey areas.

All super-pinned and ready to go!

I'm happy to say that this little cutie is finished!

I have to say that it turned out so adorable!

I had to take a picture under my favorite Rose Tree of China bush.  I like the way the flower petals dusted over the top of the quilt.

While we were there, we had some little visitors--the cutest little fat bumblebees were collecting pollen on it.    Probably 5 or 6 of them.  Yes, this picture is doctored up, but I love how the brighter colors accentuate the little bee.  The colors on the bee are more true to life now, though.  I love that little bright orange stripe on his back!

Anyway, that little yellow hand on the right hand side of the quilt is so light that it's hard to see in the pictures.  It's the smallest handprint on the quilt and so cute.  It's sad that it's not quite as bright as the others.  Something to remember for next time!

I've never made wonky blocks before, and so I didn't think about the fact that when I cut the blocks, it would be exposing the bias of the grey.  Even though I was being careful with them, I couldn't figure out why some blocks were starting to get slightly stretched (as I was unpicking seams), until I realized that they were on the bias.  Luckily, all went together well. 

The binding and backing fabric are from Masquerade by Henry Glass.  The grey is Kona Coal.

I LOVE the binding and how it pops against the grey.  I used it also around the red handprint.

I quilted in the ditch around the white block and then around the colored border of each block.  I quilted the grey in my looping quilting pattern.

This little quilt measures about 36" X 43."  Perfect for a little wall at the preschool, I think!

A bigger view of the quilting. 

I left the handprint blocks alone, and let them speak for themselves!

I have to add a note here and say that this quilt was NOT my idea.  My friend Rachelle wanted to make a quilt as a gift for her daughter's preschool teacher with all the kids' handprints on it.  

I happened upon her at our LQS and she told me what she was thinking about.  I offered to help her make it, since Rachelle doesn't sew.

We designed it and chose fabric together and then I pieced and quilted it.  I'm honored that she trusted me to work on this special quilt that she is giving to someone that means a lot to her.

I so enjoyed creating and finishing this little quilt.  I know that there's a lucky preschool teacher out there that's going to be so surprised and happy with such a special, meaningful gift!