Baby Blocks

Blocks, view 1: fabric from Aunt Marlene's pillow, Grandma's shirt, Aunt Courtney's skirt

This project was so fun to put together. I was looking for something new to try as a gift for my niece or nephew who will be born in June. Before starting, I read several different tutorials online for various types and sizes of fabric blocks and then set out to make a set of my own. I used a wide variety of fabrics that were left over from previous projects-- items of clothing, upholstery, quilting, weaving, etc.  I started by sorting through my fabric stash and then pulled from Mom's stash as well. There are all sorts of patterns, textures, and colors mixed in to the blocks. Some blocks were fussy cut to get a specific pattern, some were pieced from multiple scraps, and others were just eked out of a smaller scrap.

Pile of fabric waiting to become blocks

The blocks were sewn together on my Bernina 717. This machine handled the range of fabrics beautifully. Ten of the twelve seams on each block were machine were sewn. The last two were left open so that I could put in the foam later. I intended to leave myself fabrics that would be friendly for hand sewing at the end, but I did forget and leave one leather/lace piece that would have benefitted from being sewn by machine.
I had planned to purchase foam from Joann's, but when I went to check out their selection one of the sales people said that she was sure I could get a better price online. They had very large sheets of foam, 3-6' in each direction, and it was going to be costly to cut off the smaller size I would need. I was able to find a smaller piece of foam online and it was sent to me in about 4 days.
When the foam arrived a friend offered to share her electric knife so that I could cut it into blocks.

Classic avocado green

The blocks were measured at about 3 7/8" square so that they would fit in the 4" cubes. The knife cut the foam like butter and I was able to get 9 full blocks cut with some partial pieces leftover. After inserting the foam into the block cases, I finished the last two seams on each block by hand. Most of these fabrics have a story or project associated with them and I had great time with the memories they invoked. It will be some time before my niece or nephew is able to appreciate the fabric stories but hopefully, he or she will enjoy the colors, patterns, and textures before then.

Blocks, view 2

Some of the fabrics included above: denim from Dad's jeans, Grandma's pants, sleeve placket from Grandpa's plaid shirt, chick from Aunt Courtney's sewing machine cover.

Blocks, view 3

More fabrics included: Uncle Phil's boxers, Aunt Marlene's upholstery fabric, Aunt Courtney's dress