A chance to let 62 kids handle and work with fabric? Thereby infecting them all with appreciation of quilts and the satisfaction of making something impressive for their parents? And get paid for it? Am I the only one who would jump on this idea?

Zigzag the edges. Forget the pocket, most parents inhale coffee or soft drinks. Let the wee darlings explain what its for. Have fun, you lucky dog.

I would cut strips of backing and batting a ittsy bittsy wider than the rugs. Pin or use adhesive to secure the rugs onto the strips and do a continuous zigzag or serging. Do the other side. Cut apart and chain feed them through the zigzag process. Crank your zigzag down to almost a satin stitch or what your machine is comfortable with. I did twenty five postcards this way in an hour and the quilting group was so amazed. Uh, you did ask for suggestions, not opinions?

Let the kids do them, make them from their pic. they color or use colored construction paper, with a small piece of lightweight cardboard then laminate them. You could still include the poem about what they are for, and add a tea bag in the gift pkg. I'm a retired 1st grade teacher and I always had my students make their own Mother's Day gifts and Christmas gifts. They may be strange looking or perhaps a little crude to some, but I always loved whatever my own two children made and gave me, whether from school or Sunday School at Church. They meant so much because my children did them, and I still have many of their gifts and cards, youngest is 37 and oldest is 40 now. Children like to do their own things and are always so proud of what they do. Each one would always think theirs looked the best in the class. Just a suggestion. You could supervise, but let the children do the work. They may be too young to get into the sewing, but they could weave placemats, or the mug rugs with construction paper. When they are laminated, they will hold up for a short time, but the kids will feel like it is truly a gift from them, and not something the teacher did for the mother. Just my opinion.

That sounds about right! :)

let each child put their hand print on a piece of fabric

I love this idea.

As a retired 2nd grade teacher of 31 years, add 10 of being the room mom, just learn to say, "no." The idea is that a Mother's Day gift should be something the kid made. So go with the muslin idea...they can draw on it with markers or crayons (put newsprint over the crayon and iron to set the crayon). OR...go to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Target, Ikea, the $ store and pick up cheap undecorated wooden frames for a buck apiece and let the kid draw of picture of Mom for inside the frame and write with markers "I love you" around the frame. This should be the KID'S work, not YOURS. Your teacher is way out of line to ask you to do such a thing. I know where she's coming from...parents request the teacher that produces nice "gifts" and stuff, but it will end up biting her in the backside. Ask me how I know.

As a mother and now grandmother to seven I can tell you that I treasure the things my little ones made for me. If they were school projects I know that there was an organizer and some needed direction. Though you could probably do 62 all by yourself, why? Let the children do the bulk of it and you just finish up.

FINALLY!!!!! A voice of reason!! Why all the negative and critical talk??? She just asked for ideas!!??!! Keeping it simple and letting the kids decorate them is a wonderful idea!! Have a talk with the principal and let her know they won't be done as nicely as yours but the moms will love them with their children's artistic talents shining forth. Bless you for taking it on! Kids love to get involved and be a part of something like this, even if they don't think so at first! Many a bad attitude has changed through knowing that someone cares about their input.

As a volunteer I do sewing projects for our large church pre-school. I know and appreciate that teachers do lots of "extras" to enhance the children's experiences at school. However, I would not be too happy to learn that school funds had been used to pay someone to make Mother's Day gifts. It would make me question the financial management and other expenditures of the administration.

Who's paying for the supplies and your time? Obviously your boss had no idea of the amount of time required or the potential cost. I would decline and remind the boss that the children's mothers would rather have something actually made by their children, not a teacher.

Use muslin for the front, get some old broken crayons and SCRAPE little bits of different colored crayons onto the muslin, them top with a nonstick sheet of baking paper or foil from your kitchen and iron it to melt the crayons. If it looks like a flower or something specific, add a few stems, leaves, or whatever and iron again. If it doesn't look like much add some dots, bubbles, or something silly and iron again. These are cute, simple, and need some imagination from the "artist" to decide what they look like. Add a layer of batting, sew around 3 1/2 sides leaving an opening for turning. Turn right side out, turn the opening edges to the inside and stitch all around the outside edge about 1/4 inch in and you are finished! Have the artist sign the back and mom will love it!

I'm still thinking about what kind of wine........ha ha.

Any art project, be it made out of paper or clay or whatever is paid for with school funds! That is how schools operate. I think it is a terrific idea, especially the handprint!

YES, the children should be making them!! It's kind of sad that the teacher has resorted to you, the out of classroom source. And since she has, I do hope you are getting paid for your time, efforts and materials!

This is the best idea yet! Hand prints would way too large. With this, the children are actually making the design, whatever that may be, and adults are helping with the ironing.
But I wouldn't bother with the turning. Let the children sandwich the three pieces with glue (with help), and then just sew around the outer edge 1/4 inch from the edge and leave the edges raw. Pinking here would be great.
Parents want something their children had a hand in that shows, like a scribble or sprinkle that they made themselves.

Do a hand print and date.

I saw this poem online, maybe here on QB and thought it was cute.

Mug Rug Poem

Hope you enjoy this little rug.
It's meant to fit a cup or a mug.
So when you're having your coffee or tea,
I hope you'll smile and think of me.

When I was room mother for my son's first grade, their teacher was getting married. I decided a quilt from the kids would be something she'd always remember. I bought (with their money) white cotton and some "fabric" markers and cut squares for each child to draw a picture and sign it. I took them home, added sashing and put the quilt together. She was so surprised; and to this day, she still has the quilt. That was about 32 years ago.

I like the hand print idea, if the kids are young enough then it would fit great!

I have found, as a head start helper, that the mothers are just as proud of a scribble as they are of a masterpiece. I think letting the children do the coloring or using markers on plain muslin is a great idea and letting them "sign" their name on the back and you can date them. Then put them together and fray the edges instead of binding them. Much simpler and the kids will be so proud of themselves.

Oh yes, by all means include a poem about what a mug rug is so that mom will know what she is getting.

Personally, I would have declined. For Mother's Day?? They aren't my Mother and while that may seem mean spirited, I thought of Mother's Day was for the CHILD to honor their Mother, not the teachers. Also, I don't really have a problem with the teachers helping, but again, personally, I would rather see teachers teaching.

I think it is a nice idea, and I am sure that you will enjoy doing it and feel like you gave of yourself. That always makes things feel rewarding. I do hope you let the kids do something on the back muslin, something that would make them feel like they gave too. Have fun with it. Oh and how about just a crazy patch pattern on the front or a D9P?

I love the idea that you are doing this. I thinks its wonderful. Of course I use to do the same thing--asked to do the impossible- but loved it. Thank You for doing it.

This reasoning is why every child gets a trophy when they don't do anything to earn it.

I think most everyone missed the fact that ideas for mug rugs, etc was requested. She was willing to do the project and was getting paid and fabric was being paid for. She just wants ideas for gifts. I second the idea of plain muslin squares cut with pinking shears and colored by the kids. Any crayon will do if set with a hot iron. I helped my grand daughters color some blocks and I made them into a quilt when they were pre K and the youngest is 16 now and still uses the quilt and the crayon pix are still good.

I, too, think it would be fast & easy to just do a plain color fabric on top & a patterned fabric on the bottom & just sew around 1/4 or 1/2 inch in & let it fray. Let the kids do the decorating on the plain fabric side. This side could be pastel colors & let the kids do what they want. Plus they could do a little clipping to make them fray more. If the tops were different pastel colors, the kids could pick the color they want after you put them together. You could even use flannel for the batting & would make a nicer fray.

What I understood from your post, this is a project for you and the kids aren't suppose to mess it up with a lot of hands on participation and you want ideas what that participation could be. I would let the child pick a mug rug and pick one or two establishments to glue to it.

I agree, the rest of the staff should be involved, especially the boss, so she or he will know what is involved in doing projects and not be so anxious to have others do it all.

Smile and say...oh I wish I could and walk away!
It is SO frustrating to me that people think we can wave a majic wand and these beautiful TIME CONSUMING projects will appear.
Just say NO.

Well if the principal is paying for your time and the supplies, that would be fine for you. Me personally, I would have something that the children could do themselves. I have worked as a pre-school teacher for many years and always had them make gifts for their Mom's themselves. At least incorporate their pictures, even if they are scribbled. It is very important for the children to feel their work is worthy of being a gift for their Mom.

I would buy precuts or cut in right size squares, have the kids use school glue and put the sandwich together, use a craft paint and do a hand print in favorite color front or back uf color used for front, or parents fav. color, surge edges and iron to set paint and kids did a lot, parents will have hand print for many years to come and easy on you.

I saw the "coaster" in this photo up in New York and the owner said it was a project of their church as a fundraiser. It looked really nice and would be pretty easy to do with good pinking shears and thin batting. Theirs appeared to be hand stitched, but this is not required.

Ok, I'm going to put in my 2 cents worth....
1. Boss isn't thinking TIME commitment on your part... but it's dooable
2. Have students color a simple picture with their name MIRROR image (so that when you iron onto muslin it's the right orientation)
3. You then have the TEACHER/BOSS help iron on these precious pics onto the muslin.
4. BOSS and you can then sandwich the three layers and do simple quilting
5. Use bias fold tape to finish off..
Boss now has an idea of how much time is involved in a "simple" project.

*highfive*

Make it Malbec for me!

This sounds like a great idea - better yet invest in a pinking blade for your rotary cutter and production will even be faster. Good luck!

How about a string mug rug. Easy to put together, it quilts as you go and you don't have to do binding. Just cut with pinking shears. GOOD LUCK!!!

I'd do something that the kids could do themselves, and save your talents for if they ever have auctions as fund-raisers. You could make something to have auctioned off.