Thursday, December 29, 2022

Evolution

I've been thinking of making some kiddo blocks for a long time. I've been thinking they would be fun for row quilts in comfort quilts for kids along with rows of other things like pinwheels or stars. 

Well, anyway, the other day a pattern for blocks I kind of liked popped up in Pinterest so I thought I would give it a try and made a couple of test blocks. 

Pinterest linked me up with a 2015 blog post at de Jong Dream House so for my test blocks I followed the pattern exactly as written. But on the boy block I found that the two background pieces that are supposed to be cut at 3.5 x 9 were a little too long and should instead be cut 3.5 x 8.5. 

The blocks finish at 9 x 12. 

Well, I don't really like pants that hang low so I thought on my second trial of blocks I would adjust the pattern so the pants were more up on the boy's waist. And I thought those kids might be called fat heads so I thought I would try corners for the head cut at 1.5 instead of .75

So then the boy's pants looked kind of nerdy and he was still a fat head. Maybe I should try different pants again with longer legs. I did like the 1.5 inch background corners on the head. 

I liked both of the blocks on the third try. 
So, now I'm going to make six or so kiddos each month as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project in 2023. The clothes will be in the color of the month.  I will probably still experiment a little with the clothes. The girl may wear a shift or skirt and blouse. I like this boy the best but I may try giving nerd pants a belt and let some of the boys wear their pants below their waist but I don't want to see any underwear. I wanted to use a variety of grays for the backgrounds but these blocks used more fabric than I thought they would for background so may have to invest in a few grays since I wanted to also use the as the background for the rows of stars and pinwheels too.  I thought gray would work with the variety of skin tone fabrics I have found in my stash so far. 

I went back and fixed all the fat heads so now I have six blocks. I was thinking of five blocks per row. 

And sew on...

 

12 comments:

Elle said...

Cuties. Such fun you're having!!!!

Astrid said...

How fun! Those blocks would look great in a kids quilt.

Melisa- pinkernpunkinquilting said...

Aaah these make me smile. They are so cute and they look like so much fun to make. Happy New Year.

Kathy S. said...

Super cute kids! Love your thought process about the pants and heads. You always make me laugh because I think like that too.

Beth in NH said...

What a great idea for the rainbow challenge. Liked what you have done with the boy's pants.

Astrid Reflux said...

These are awesome. Maybe if one of your jeans-wearing figures had a ponytail...? That's how I lived my whole tomboy childhood, at least! Of course, then you'd have to sort out a hair pattern, but maybe if you get bored of just fat heads, lol!

Nann said...

Your adjustments make the kids more appealing. You'll have fun using novelties for their clothes!

Linda said...

I definitely think you have improved the pattern by getting rid of the fat heads..... they looked like a head covered in a paper bag before! You will have fun making them each month and a row quilt is an excellent idea.

Beth H said...

Excellent adjustments. Thank you for sharing the thought process and the interim blocks. I like where you landed. go for it! Wonderful plan for Rainbow Scrap.

Linda said...

Just looked at your blog post title again. Are you now the Charles Darwin of Quilting? Happy New Year!

gayle said...

Your kids are adorable! (I thought the boys with the 'low-riding' pants were just wearing tee shirts)
Happy New Year!

Quilter Kathy said...

So fun! You made me laugh out loud with the not wanting to see any underwear! Maybe you'll end up making a few underwear blocks! LOL