Three months ago, 10-year-old Chloe Lemon tried her hand at quilting, but didn’t finish the project.

On Feb. 12, the Cedar Grove Elementary School fifth-grader went all the way when she and her a dozen classmates completed a quilt as a Black History Month project.

It took the Discovery Learning class – who worked with quilter Mildred Bethel from the Threshing Floor Academy Children’s Art Gallery in Atlanta – two hours to create patches honoring important people in their lives.

Bethel, a quilter for more than 40 years, is going to sew the pieces together and create a quilt that will be displayed at the downtown Atlanta gallery Feb. 27 to March 14.

In class, Chloe dedicated her piece to her uncle, Doug Dew, who died February 2008.

“I chose him because he really encouraged me to always be responsible,” she said. “On my pattern I made a military jacket, his name tag, a national flag and baseball, because he really loved baseball.”

Instead of making quilts about historical African-American figures such as Fredrick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, the students honored their grandparents, parents, siblings and other important people in their lives.

Teacher Valerie Shorter said the quilting project is a different take on Black History Month for the class.

“It gives them a chance to see how people right in their own circle, right in their own families, actually make contributions that we don’t see every day,” said Shorter, a teacher for 16 years.

During the session Bethel, who started quilting at age 10, taught the students how to place their drawings on the quilting fabric and she also told them a little bit about the history of quilting.

“It’s very relaxing and it’s something that can be used to record their family histories,” she said. “So down through the generations they can show their grandchildren and maybe great-grandchildren what they did.”

“I told them that it is very important to pass things down through the generations,” Bethel added.

Sophie Valladares, 10, made a quilt piece in honor of her grandfather, Edward Cargile, who is an electronic technician and former military officer. She drew a picture of her grandfather and a football, which was his favorite sport.

Sophie said that her grandfather was an inspiration to her, too.

“Someone you love or precious types of things can crafted onto the quilt,” she said.

Jonathan Tuff, 10, said he thought the class would be studying a famous African American this month but he preferred making a quilt patch honoring his grandmother, Anne Barker.

“I thought that this would be very fun and easy,” he said. “I knew I had someone to write about.”

Meisha Card, Threshing Floor Academy’s founding director, that they did the quilting project because they wanted kids to have conversations with their family members about individuals in their own family who have done significant things.

“So often, during Black History Month, we celebrate the lives and accomplishments of a limited number of African Americans that have gone down in history as accomplishing extraordinary things, failing to research and recognize the accomplishments of individuals within our own families and communities,” she said.

Card said the quilt will be returned to the school when the gallery exhibition ends.

Shorter said it will be really special to see the finished quilt representing the students’ family members.

Ten-year-old Jordan Cherry said he is just happy that his 18-year-old brother, Michael Jackson, is represented on the quilt.

“I think he’ll be surprised,” he said. “I look up to him.”