A thank you for a great kindergarten teacher

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at Charlotte's school (at least I think so -- I kind of deleted the email that the administration sent about it and couldn't find it again).  Charlotte's kindergarten teacher is awesome.  You would never know this is her first year as a classroom teacher and that she was probably born in the 1990s.  She has a really calm and gentle manner, and I think it rubs off on her students because I'm consistently amazed at how well-behaved they are when I volunteer in the classroom.  I can hardly get MY six-year-old to do anything I ask her, and somehow this teacher gets 21 of them to do whatever she asks.  If anyone deserved a nice thank you present, it is definitely this woman!

Anyway, I made her this table topper in a herringbone pattern (I think that's the right term, right?) by just sort of winging it.  I didn't get the idea from anyplace specific.  I have a ton of green scraps in my scrap bin, so green seemed like the logical choice.  Charlotte's teacher went to Michigan State (yet another reason we love her), so I knew she would like the tiny bit of MSU fabric thrown in there as well.

Some of the seams line up, and some don't.  Overall, there is a general sense of it all coming close at least.  Just keep a good distance away from it and it works.  I tried to be as consistent as I could, but I probably should have starched all of the fabrics first.  It's kind of fun working with scraps, because it's like a trip down project memory lane.

The backing/wrap-around binding is a black linen from my stash.  I found a tutorial that results in better corners with the wrap-around binding from Cluck Cluck Sew, and I was happy with the results even with using the bulky linen.  I cut each piece on the top to be 2" x 7" and sewed them at 30-degree angles and 60-degree angles onto 4" wide strips of muslin.  Then, I spray basted it to some felt and added the backing/binding.  I didn't do any quilting because I was terrified to screw it up.