As all quiltmakers are aware, quiltmaking and math go hand in hand, and so it was fitting for a sixth grade math teacher to invite a quiltmaker to join her in teaching a unit on problem solving with multiplication. We, math teacher Ruth Pershing and quiltmaker Erma Kirkpatrick, wrote up our experience of the 1991 - 92 school year in Lady'Circle Patchwork Quilts (August 1992 issue) and now we have an update on a similar project during the 1992 - 93 school year.
The classroom visit was essentially a recreation of the one the year before. That is, we brought in quilts with repeated geometric pieced blocks, described them and some of the math required in making them. The class described the quilt patterns mathematecally (a double Nine-Patch, for example, is an array within an array in the language of mathematics) and asked many questions, cuddling in the quilts all the while.
The studends then saparated into groups of three or four and examined one quilt in each group. They selected one shape and figured out how many of that shape would be required to make that particular quilt. A spokesperson for each group reported their results to the whole class and how they had gone about their computations.
Before this special class when Erma visited, students had done some short assignments to tune them into recognizing repeated-block patterns and identifying the basic block in a quilt. After the class session, Ruth assigned students an extended project in which they would:

1. Design a block on a 3x3 grid, using squares an triangles and only 2 colors.
2. Draw an entire quilt on graph paper by repeating the block in an array.
3. Write math sentences showing how many pieces of each shape and color are in the blocks of the finished quilt.

This part of the assignment was the same in both years that students have done the project, but this year their task was a bit more elaborate. Students incorporated a poetry component with the help of their language arts teacher and included some computer work.
As before, the student assignment was to design a block, draw the quilt, and write the mathematical sentences. In addition, they were asked to:

1. Name their quilt block.
2. Word-process their mathematecal sentences using the computer.
3. Write a cinquain about their quilt and word-process it on the computer. (A cinquain is a five-line verse with the following structure: A noun / Two adjectives / Three gerudns / A descriptive phrase / Anoun related to line 1.)

The rusults were very gratifying and we wish that space permitted showing all of the posters in addition to the few illustrated here. Even the names of their blocks hint at the creativity of these sixth graders:
"Squangle," "Illusion," "Eye-Catcher," "Tri-Square," "Geometrical Butterfly," "Striped Hourglass," and "Enthusioasm." Here are a few of the cinquains that were written to accompany their quilt designs:

The project was satisfying to the students as well as to their teachers, as is clear from their letters of thanks written to Erma after her classroom visit. Here are few quotes:
Adam Touw:
"I learned a lot of different names of patterns and that each pattern had at least one array in it. Although we have been talking about arrays in class, I never really looked for them in quilts before."
Nadjib Assami:
"One last thing I also learned that you have to use tons of math to be a quiltist."

As a follow-up to a quilt/math project in 1992-92, quiltmaker Erma Kirkpatrick and math teacher Ruth Pershing completed a similar project this year. Along with quilts and math, students incorporated a poetry component with the help of their language arts teacher. These posters are just a few of those completed by the sixth graders at Phillips Middle School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

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