Teacher Gifts Revisited: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Minky Baby Quilt

So my fellow quilt blogging friend Val's Archives Linky Party theme for this week is teacher gifts.   Rather than link up an archived post, I'm doing a new, separate post today because the post I wrote about this project when I finished it back in 2010 was eaten by the Blogger Goblins or accidentally deleted or something.  Let me start out by saying that my goal today is BREVITY.  My last blog post ran on much longer than anyone could possibly have felt like reading it.  Hopefully I can manage to be concise this time!  And now, without further ado, I bring you The Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt:

Very Hungry Caterpillar Baby Quilt, for Anders' First Grade Teacher

My best teacher gift ever that I actually have a picture of is the Very Hungry Caterpillar baby quilt I made for Anders' first grade teacher when she had her first baby.  It's the second baby quilt that I ever used Minky backing on, and it's the first quilt I ever free motion quilted, on my Bernina Artista 200/730.

Minky Backing + Satin Binding

My First Ever Free Motion Quilting Project!

I LOVE my kids' teachers, without exception.  From preschool through today, I can honestly say that although there were a few who weren't good personality fits for one boy or the other, each and every one of their teachers cared passionately about teaching, cared about my kids, and went out of their way to accommodate their various quirks and to encourage their intellectual curiosity and love of learning.  And you know, when your kids are first starting school, you feel like your naked heart has left your body, climbed onto a yellow school bus, and is running around in a minefield somewhere that you can't protect it anymore...  So when your first grader gets a teacher who really "gets" him, who makes him feel loved and safe and excited about coming to school every day, that teacher is like a guardian angel sent down from heaven.  I wanted to do something really special for her when I found out she was expecting.

I chose the iconic Very Hungry Caterpillar panel print because reading was such a huge focus in her classroom that year.  I knew she would be reading this book to her baby, and I even personalized the quilt with a customized monogram.

Machine Embroidered Monogram

Another first with this project is that it was the first time I embroidered the "quilt label" information directly to the FRONT of the quilt, which I ended up liking quite a bit.

Machine Embroidered Quilt "Label" with Jewel Satin Blanket Binding

I like to sign my quilts on the FRONT.  :-). By the way, I've been asked about where I sourced that cool ombre satin binding for this project.  It's Wright's Satin Blanket Binding and the green/purple/blue color is called "Jewel."  I'm not sure whether it's still a current color offering or not, but I was able to locate it from an Etsy seller who still has some here (affiliate link).

Anyway, the quilt was a big hit with the teacher, and they even ended up doing a Hungry Caterpillar theme for the baby's first birthday because of it. 

So, I just realized that baby is almost 7 years old now.  He is probably a first grader himself this school year!!  Wow.  I hope that this baby quilt has been loved to pieces by now.  And I hope his teacher is every bit as wonderful to him as his mother was to my little boy.  Happy birthday, Gage, wherever you are!