Nichols Middle School Sewing Club Obama Inauguration Quilts, Evanston, IL

In honor of the historic election of Barack Obama in 2008, Nichols Sewing Club students learned to silk screen their own Obama blocks. Later they transformed them into quilts just in time for an exhibit celebrating his inauguration in January of 2009. Students pieced their printed blocks with patriotic fabric for borders and learned how to assemble the layers and machine quilt them to create mini-quilts. Evanston Public Library agreed to host an exhibit and asked that library patrons be included. Maggie printed many blocks for interested patrons to pick up at the check out desk. The project culminated in a field trip to the main branch of the Evanston Library for the Sewing Club, where they were able to see their work on display, along with the quilts contributed by many other library patrons. Student work used red, white and blue fabrics in the borders while library patrons used all different colors. For sewing club members this was their first ever quilt and quilt exhibition!