Welcome to another fun day on the I Spy blog hop! I am so excited to be one of the designers sharing about the new book from Kimie and Missy of On Williams Street! I love their design style, and this is their very first book! I jumped at the chance to make something from the book for the blog hop!
I knew I wouldn't be able to make the whole quilt with the timing of the blog hop, but I did want to make something fun! The blocks in the book are grouped by type, so I thought about doing the trains, planes, and automobiles, then I thought about making all the winter and Christmas blocks. But then I had an aha moment! I could group the blocks in a way to represent books! Like One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish! That led me down a fun brainstorming session that landed at Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
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Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar tells the story of a caterpillar who eats through lots of foods, gets a tummy ache, eats through a leaf, then builds a cocoon, and finally becomes a butterfly! It's a story my boys love, and they were excited to help pick out the blocks I'd make.
The I Spy book has patterns for ONE HUNDRED 4" foundation paper pieced blocks! There is such a wonderful variety of blocks, that the number of projects is really endless! Make just a few blocks for placemats, reading pillows, or a playmat, or make all the blocks in a fun 100 day project! Each block has a difficulty rating of 1 to 3, and I found them to be very quick and easy to put together. Right now, you can use the code ISPYBLOGHOP to get 10% off the book!
Solid fabrics are a great choice for the blocks, as the fabric isn't directional. The blocks also don't have to match in a certain color palette, so it's great as a scrap quilt! I gathered an assortment of Kona cotton solids from my stash and put in a neutral Aurifil 50wt thread.
The blocks went together quickly, and I was able to remove the paper during breakfast!
There's just something so cute about tiny things, and these 4" blocks really make me smile!
I cut 1 1/2" strips from my background fabric (Kona White) to make sashing between the blocks as well as a border.
Here's a peek behind the seams!
I used some colorful jumbo polka dot fabric that I got on sale (it's actually 108" wide!) for the backing, a scrap of Warm & Natural batting that was just big enough, and pin basted them with the top on my cutting mat.
Using Aurifil 50wt #2021 Natural White and my walking foot, I quilted straight lines diagonally across the top. I spaced them the smallest distance that my guide arm can go, which is exactly 3/4".
Once finished, I turned the quilt and quilted the other direction to create a cross-hatch design!
I trimmed it to 16" square, then cut two pieces of the polka dot fabric about 12" x 16" to create a pocket pillow back. One of the pieces, I just turned over one raw edge and hemmed it. For the other, I made some red bias tape to sew along its edge.
A quick sew around the edge, and the pillow was done!
The pillow back works as a pocket to hold the book too!
This is such a fun pillow! I think a couple more might be in my future so each boy can get one of their own!
I was very impressed with the quality of the book and the simplicity of the blocks.
Instead of being time consuming, they were quick and easy, which made the project fun from start to finish!
All of my boys absolutely love this pillow! It's so fun to see their excitement over projects like this!
They've already started submitting their own requests for more!
Check out the amazing quilt that is on the cover of the book! So cool! Be sure to use the code ISPYBLOGHOP to get 10% off the book HERE! The code expires 12/16/20, so don't wait! (Following two photos courtesy of On Williams Street.)
Be sure to hop to all of the other bloggers on the hop to see what projects they made with blocks from the book! There are so many great ones!
December 11 - Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts <--- That's me!
I just love your idea making the pillow to go with the book. I’m go8ng to be a first time gran and this is on my todo list.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea and I love that the boys participated and each want a pillow of their own.
ReplyDeleteWhat great items you picked to go with the Very Hungry Caterpillar!! Such a fun idea!
ReplyDeleteThis is adorable. So fun that the boys were part of the process.
ReplyDeleteI love the Exploding Heart quilt. Happy New Year Laura.
ReplyDelete