V's Version

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Mrs. Sanders is retiring. My vision for Parker’s teacher is that, in her retirement, she is able to curl up with the books she has put off reading. My vision for Parker’s teacher is that, while curled up with her books, she is wrapped in a quilt. My vision for Parker’s teacher is that her quilt expresses the love and gratitude that we all feel.

Mrs. Sanders is easily the best elementary teacher that I have ever known (besides my own sister!). Maybe the best teacher of any kind. She is amazing and we have been blessed to have her in this, her last year of teaching.

I wanted to do this quilt on behalf of Parker. His attitude toward education has been forever altered and I couldn’t have asked for a better situation going into this last round of chemo. I wanted to do this quilt on behalf of every child for whom she has come in on a Saturday to help one-on-one, every child who has been on the other side of her patience and humor. I wanted to thank her on behalf of every parent with whom she has sat, discussing education and life. I wanted to thank her on behalf of every educator who has been influenced by her enthusiasm.

I want to quilt the heck out of it. I want to put in thousands of stitches. And even so – it will never be enough. I want the stitches to represent every kind deed of hers, every softball game she has attended just because she wanted to, every letter of recommendation she has written, every hug she has given, every student council meeting, every hour of yard duty, every loving finger touch on her nose to remind a child to focus. I can only hope to give back a fraction of the love she has given the children in her years of teaching.

The quilt theme is "Mrs. Sanders Loves Birds." She does love birds. And she loves books and baseball and mice and children. It's all in the quilt. Some of the parents made quilt squares with their children, some did them without the kids. A couple of the squares were done by staff members. Of the 49 10-inch squares, 13 were made by others and they each have a story. The rest, I have made with the sponsorship of the other parents who generously let me run with the art. I found antique fabric with life-like naturalist drawings of birds - like the plates in one of Mrs. Sanders' ornithology books. There are those 5 birds on white fabric in the center of the quilt. Most of the other squares are red - many of them with birds drawn or stitched into them. There are song birds, ducks, chickens, 2 phoenix (phoenixes?), 3 cranes and a few parrots.

After sneaking into the third grade art class, I came out with children's hand prints, their drawings of birds, of hearts, of smiling faces and flowers and mice. I cut them into cloth and appliqued them onto a variety of red fabrics. I even stole the baby socks off the wall so that her favorite baseball team could be represented. Then, in the way that I do, I put pictures into the quilt. Pictures of red things from her classroom (which will be dismantled over the summer.) Forever captured in cloth are the little red reading chair, the red star that holds pennies for counting, the box of beloved rubber balls, the collection of stuffed beanie birds, the nutcracker from the play.

When I was almost finished with the quilt, Parker came home with the sad news of Mrs. Sanders’ father’s death. Knowing what I do about death and grief, I could not let this passage go unmarked. I incorporated a heart and made it a memorial with forget-me-not flowers and a symbolic swallow flying upward.

I hope she likes it. I hope she isn’t mad about the socks. I hope I get it done in time. The thing is that we can never repay her. But that’s not what this is about. It’s about letting her know that she has made a difference. Her life’s work matters and we will be forever grateful that she followed this path.


check out the quilt at www.alotoflife.com