Giant Pencil Quilt for Craft Hope We are Kenya

I did it! I managed to squeak in the pencil quilt in the midst of Halloween costume and swap madness.
The giant pencil quilt is my contribution for Craft Hope Project 25 and will be donated to We Are Kenya for a school dormitory.

And boy do I love it.  I will admit I started having some second thoughts when I saw the other quilts popping up on facebook.  They are really complicated works of piecing.  The pencils look simple, but man those points were a complicated math problem!

This pencil quilt is what I saw on pinterest that started my brain ticking on this idea.  However, I quickly discovered that despite having a really fantastic quilt idea they do not have a great web presence with it.  I couldn't find a pattern or any sort of directions and after about 2 days I managed to find their etsy shop where they used to sell a kit for that quilt. It was then that I realized the one I had been looking at was a MINI quilt.  One of my favorite things about quilting is playing with scale (and mixing patterns!) so I went big.

Before washing:

After washing:

I used lined notebook paper fabric on the edges to help me gain some width.

I was really worried about the size because there was a lot of shrinkage after washing, but seeing it next to Grant I think it is plenty big!

Some notes:
*I used a flat sheet for the backing this time. It was economical and I *hope* it will withstand the environment it is going to better. Its a 300 thread count something or other from Target.
*I wanted colors that would be suitable for a boy! I was afraid most of the donated quilts would be girly.
*I chose brown for the back which was my second choice because again, I think it will be best suited to life on a kid's bed in a dorm.
*Dave drafted the pattern for the points for me. I had a tantrum over it when I could NOT get it right. It took him plenty of hours. Thanks to Dave! 
*This is my first quilt to go to a home different than ours.
*I added a label since this one is going so far away. Of course my binding is not perfectly matched RIGHT ABOVE MY LABEL! For some reason my navy binding was really narrow right there and it was a make it work moment.
*This was also the first time I have gone into the fabric store and bought nearly every single fabric I needed for a quilt. I tend to be a stash quilter, or a vintage fabric quilter. It was sort of fun actually and I am quite pleased with the pattern/color combo I ended up with.
*I pieced the binding. I was going to make a new binding when I realized I had a TON of binding pieces left from other quilts in my scrap jar that would work just fine. I guess I tend to gravitate to the same colors every time after all. :-)
*I quilted the points differently than the pencils.
*My pencils are as long as my fabric was wide. I think my shortest width was 42 inches, so they are all 42 inches long.
*I think I prefer quilts that are sort of loosey goosey in the planning - like this or the yellow brick road - as opposed to the one I am trying right now. Too much perfection is really not for me.

Now I really want one of these for our house too!

Have a happy life little quilt, I hope you are able to wrap a small child in love for many years to come.