qbquilts

Hi everyone,

The homeschool group at my church has asked me to be a part of their pioneer day later this month and present quilting. I'm still finalizing the details, but my friend believes about 2 dozen kids will take part.
Preschool - 1
Kindergarten - 4
First - 2
Third - 5
Fourth - 3
Fifth - 2
Sixth - 1
Seventh - 2
Eighth - 1
Ninth - 1
High School (Junior?) - 1

I was thinking about having 4-patches available for the kids to practice piecing as well as a small top in a frame so that they could practice quilting. I'll have quite a few needles prepped with thread and ready to use. I was also going to have color sheets available for the kids to color a quilt.

So can anyone point me to some resources about pioneer quilting? For the fabrics for the 4-patches and the quilt sandwiches, I was going to pick up some shirtings and Civil War prints from my LQS. Do you think those fabrics would be okay? For the color sheets, I was going to have both 4-patch and 9-patch quilts. I was planning on doing at least two versions of the color sheets (one for the preschool - first grades, one for third and up, maybe even a third for the grades 7 and up). I figure that the preschool - first grades need bigger blocks and less complex quilts to color. I thought that I'd also have a fact sheet of common quilt terms and history for the third grade and up kids.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Different fabrics? Different types of blocks? Maybe a different or additional activity?

Also - should I dress up in a pioneer outfit? Would a white blouse and a long gathered cotton skirt work? Maybe with a bonnet and an apron? I'm not sure that I would have time to sew a skirt, apron, or even bonnet, but I may give it a try.

Thanks everyone!