Quilters re-imagine kinder art

Two Greywolf Elementary students recently saw their refrigerator art become cloth keepsakes.

Lydia Nelson and Ilise Osier, members of the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club, earlier this year asked for help to participate in their club’s annual Challenge Quilt contest “Through the Eyes of a Child” featured at their show during Lavender Weekend. Their task — base a quilt on a piece of art from a child under 12 using various techniques with three layers and a few other standards.

Nelson and Osier said they didn’t know any younger children since Ilise’s youngest grandchild is 17 and Nelson doesn’t have children. So through the grapevine, they connected with Greywolf kindergarten teacher Patty Sullivan and her two former students Colby Waters, 7, and Brynlee Dearinger, 6, now first-graders in Leigh Ann Koenig’s first-grade class.

Colby and Brynlee drew the quilters two pictures for their quilts — a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a snow girl.

From there the quilters could use a number of techniques such as embroidery and appliqué. They were elated for the task.

“I giggled the whole time,” Nelson said.

Osier said she had to look up what a T-Rex exactly looked like but she enjoyed the challenge a lot.

On Nov. 5, the quilters got the chance to thank the students for their help by surprising them with the quilts.

“I felt like we had to give it back,” Osier said. “It’s not our art.”

The students gleefully accepted the quilts in front of their old kindergarten classroom and both said they had good places in their minds where to hang the quilts in their rooms.

The quilters said they didn’t win any awards at the annual show for their work but that was the least of their concerns.

“Doing this quilt made me feel like I won,” Nelson said.