Back to School

Hi Fellow Quilters,

Sharon here today.  Please say it isn’t so!  School starts soon, but I’m not quite ready.  Summer is SO relaxing, and my to-do list isn’t finished yet.  My dear husband loves to tease me about back to school time, and he ADORES singing along to this commercial from Staples:

This will be my 20th year of full-time teaching, and (all kidding aside) I’m actually excited about going back again.  I’m almost ready to meet my students, who will join me in the classroom on August 27 to begin learning about forensic science OR engineering design and problem-solving.  We teachers have already returned to work, attending meetings, making plans, and getting our classrooms all ready for the first day of school!

After so many years of service, several of my plastic folders for student paper storage are totally worn out and ready to be retired.  (And, yes, some days I can totally identify with those worn-out folders, LOL.)  I decided to make some pretty fabric folders for my classroom.  I predict that they will see a LOT of use this year!

The folders were REALLY easy to make, and I was able to complete all three of them in about an hour, using the instructions from this video.  Each folder is large enough to hold a set of homework papers.  (Homework?  What homework?  I didn’t know there was homework!)  If you have someone who is attending (or teaching) school, this project would make a quick and easy gift that you could personalize for them.  Back-to-school is SO much better when you have some uber-cool new folders.  

Here are a few more ideas to make extra-special folders!  

My fourth folder is personalized by inserting our foundation  paper pieced football block on the back side.  You could use any of our 7″ by 7″ square block patterns instead of the football, if you prefer.  I had to modify the original instructions slightly, so here’s how I did it:

1. I framed my 7″ square block by adding 1″ strips to the sides, top, and bottom.  This increased the finished block size to 8″ square, plus seam allowances.
2. I cut two strips of fabric, 3″ by 8″, and sewed them to the sides of my block to make it 13″ wide.
3. I cut rectangles, one at 3″ by 13″ and one at 10″ by 13″.  I sewed the 3″ by 13″ piece to the top of my block.  I sewed the 10″ by 13″ piece to the bottom of my block to make it 20″ long.
4. And then I followed the instructions from the video to finish my fun fabric folder.

And, of course, I simply had to have a folder with this cute applique puppy dog design!  

If you’re using an applique design instead of a pieced block, you can choose to insert your block as described above, or just center the design on the main fabric piece, about 3″ to 4″ from the top edge, and then finish the applique before you fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of your fabric.  Easy, peasy, and SEW cute!  I’m absolutely sure that I can find a good use for five fabulous fabric folders.

If you like the football or puppy dog, both patterns are available for purchase here on our website.  You can find them by clicking the images above.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope that you enjoyed seeing my projects.  Are you ready for back to school?  

Happy quilting,

Sharon