Stitch in time

OK, hello everyone I’m back. ( booo!!!!!!!!!) OK then. So for this project we learned about the fall of Rome and the rise of the Middle Ages. We looked at the reason the most powerful empire in the world fell, bad cash flow. We also looked at the rise of the Anglo Saxon’s, the Frank’s, and the Viking’s civilizations after the fall of Rome.

Life in the Middle Ages was really not very nice! Life was really hard for most, but especially hard if you were a peasant. There were different levels in society, and peasants were at the bottom. If you were a peasant, the influences of the religious understanding at the time and the political power of the church meant that you were always praying or working. No leisure activities or outside interests, no time for fun. Not if you wanted to survive, that is. But working and praying didn’t necessarily guarantee that you lived. The Bubonic Plague also happened during this time and it played a big part in changing society as it wiped out a huge percentage of the population. Once again, the peasants were the hardest hit.

To further explore the Middle Ages we read a book, called The Book of the Lion, which is about a serf who becomes a squire and goes on the Crusades. We also learned a lot about art, and how artists tell a story through their paintings, pictures, and quilts. We had many discussions about what we thought about the book. Below is a example of one of the worksheets that we filled out during one of our discussions.

 

Well, knowing Miss Willemse, if she shows us something amazing we will probably have to do it. So we got to make a nonfiction story about the Crusades. Luckily, I was not alone as I had a great group: Jordyn Grace and Emerson.

We made our story using a quilt block planner. This was a planner that we used to translate our story line into pictures that represented blocks on a story quilt. Story quilts were a form of art that combined needle work with story telling. Below is our planner.

So after we finished our story planner, we made a quilt that illustrated our story. The quilt that we made is very abstract. You can see the rough draft quilt blocks in the planner above, and the images below are the finished product.

 

And here is a video of us putting our quilt together (don’t worry it’s sped up!). I’m really proud of how it turned out and all our hard work as a group.

After exploring life post-Rome, I can understand why the Middle Ages were also referred to as the Dark Ages. Death, plague, an oppressive society, and no time for any fun. In fact, the Knights on Crusade were the only ones who seemed to be having a good time, and it wasn’t all rainbows and lollipops. I’m looking forward to the Renaissance! Thanks for reading my blog!