Final Thoughts on Independent Learning Project!

Week 14! Wow! Where has this semester gone? I am amazed how quickly that we are wrapping up this semester, our Independent Learning Projects and how the year of 2018 is coming to a close.

I am excited to show off my finished quilt top! I finished sewing my last borders to my quilt this week and also sewed the binding to this quilt. I will be able to attach the binding to the quilt once I get the quilt top back from the machine quilter. The last stages of my project went pretty smoothly. I was excited to actually see the finish line in this quilt. I am still in love with my color choice and it has been fun to see these colors work together and how they complement each other nicely. I also have enjoyed seeing the small squares and strips be cut and sewn into something bigger and beautiful. It has also been my goal to label my finished projects. For this quilt, I will label it “Independent Learning Project, Digital Literacy Class, Fall 2018.” This quilt already has special meaning for me, as this was part of my teacher education courses.

Just like with any thing in life, there will be challenges and triumphs and  I experienced both in my Independent Learning Project. To begin, some of the challenges were cutting some fabric wrong or not enough of one color. I also missed read on sewing some blocks, so I had to rip out my mistake and start over. At sometime times during this semester, some weeks were harder for me to find the time to sew. I had other obligations of school work, family or substituting at the school,  so my free time was spent on working on my Independent Learning Project. For areas of triumphs, for one I finished the quilt top! I think that is an accomplishment in itself! I do have many projects that I have started and not finished. I also learned some new sewing techniques like chain piecing to make the simple piecing go together quicker.

I found that sewing and quilting to be an easy motivate for me to get downstairs to sew. It was nice that we were able to choose our own project to create. If it was something that I didn’t have an interest in, I think it would have been harder for me to finish. For one, I want to make more quilts and projects and I was eager to tackle this quilt. In addition, I want to teach my daughters how to sew some day and learn how to create things with their hands. To be all honest, I didn’t get to spend as much time as I was hoping with them on this project. However, the more I think about it, it will be okay in the long run. I had more time to improve my sewing skills so I will be able to better explain or teach my daughter how to sew if they so desire. It is my goal and hope that over Christmas break, my daughters and I will be able to sew a project or start a new quilt together. During this break time, we can take our time and I will be able to let them sit at the sewing machine and experience and learn for themselves.

As a future teacher, I am excited for the opportunity to introduce Independent Learning Projects to my classrooms! I love the idea of allowing students to find something that they are excited about or what to learn more about and help them learn in new ways. Yes, it will be challenging to meet the needs of all my students, however, I think if we work together and set realistic goals, we can accomplish this task.

I would also like to to thank the readers of my blog for following me along this project. I have appreciated your encouragement in this process. I hope that I have inspired you to create something, like a quilt someday too.