LEGO Star Wars Quilt – the big reveal!

EDIT: Character block patterns are available at payhip.com/quietplay. 

So I have been talking about the epic LEGO Star Wars paper pieced quilt for months now. Literally months as I started this insanity back in June. This project was originally going to be four blocks made into a cushion for my kidlet’s birthday. But each time I had characters ready to go, he’d ask me “What about (insert yet another character’s name here)?”. So back to EQ7 I’d go to draw another character until I finally drew the line at 16 characters blocks + a light saber block for his quilt. And here they are – all together and rather epic if I do say so myself.



I snapped this shot mid flight on my recent trip to space. The lengths I go to for good quilt photos, honestly.



Do you know how difficult it is to hold a camera in zero gravity while trying to make sure your child doesn’t jump into the space buggy and take off without you?



Fortunately our local friendly astronaut was around to catch the quilt before it drifted off into a galaxy far far away.

Ok kidding aside. We recently did a trip to Sydney and I made my long-suffering cousin hold my quilt up at various places around the Powerhouse Museum until I got a photo I was happy with. Don’t feel too sorry for him. My original plan for these quilt photos was to use a life-size statue of Darth Maul that my cousin had in his lounge room (no joke – the thing was freaking terrifying at 6 feet tall). But that cousin of mine… he sold the statue a few years ago. How inconsiderate. He should have considered I’d one day plan a LEGO Star Wars quilt and require it for a prop!! So as penance, I made him be official quilt holder for the day.

Of course two days later, I found an even better prop  - life size LEGO displays of R2D2 and C3PO right in the middle of the LEGO section of Myer. But of course…. I did not take the quilt with me that day. It’s possible my inner 2 year old surfaced at that point and pouted and whinged that it wasn’t fair and why didn’t someone tell me about this display and it’s really not fair. So this is the best you get.



So my friends, forgive the long wait for the big reveal. But after putting so much work into this quilt, I really wanted better photos than my boring hanging-on-the-clothesline shots!

How about some details on the quilt – you know, in case you haven’t heard enough about it yet. All the characters are paper pieced – each block took 2-3 hours each. I used Sketch and Color Weave in all the blocks to add some texture amidst the solids. The flesh tone is Kona Ice Peach and the background is Kona Robin’s Egg Blue. Details/faces  were added with fabric marker :)



Each block is 10” finished. Here’s R2 with his little buddy minifigure (no it's not the real R2D2 minifig, it's another astro mech apparently!) for scale. And Yoda with his minifig too!



My son’s favourite character in LEGO Star Wars is the clone trooper Commander Rex. We don’t have his official minifigure yet – J is getting it for his birthday on Saturday. But here’s the next best thing! Some other blue clone trooper minifigure!



With a rather extensive LEGO collection (and the kid’s not even 6 yet!!!), it took me awhile to find the appropriate minifgures. I’d better not let my boy see these photos or he’ll think I play LEGO all day while he’s at school.



I backed the quilt with red polar fleece so it’s a really snuggly quilt for my kidlet. Red is his favourite colour hence it featuring in the sashing on this quilt. I thought the black binding however pulled it all together nicely and makes for good “Star Wars colours”.



I had a Star Wars panel which I was rather pleased was the perfect size and colouring to use as a label on the back of the quilt. I’m not so great at coming up with labels so this made me happy that it worked just perfectly!



Because it’s always fun to see the original sketch and the finished quilt, here’s the EQ7 version and the fabric version side by side. Not bad hey?



So there it is. The epic LEGO Star Wars paper pieced quilt is complete, and has already been tested by my kidlet. I caved and gave it to him a few days before his birthday. Well it was hard to try to keep it a secret when I was traipsing it around the city on our holiday! He loves it and wants to show everyone. That’s my thanks right there. That and the big hug and my kidlet telling me I’m his best mum. I’m also his only mum, but I’m totally taking that compliment in the spirit it was intended.

If you’re up for earning some major parent brownie points yourself, all these patterns are available free in my shop at payhip.com/quietplay. The awesome LEGO group gave me permission to share the patterns for personal use only (due to copyright, so you can make stuff for the LEGO fans in your life but you can’t sell things made with these patterns).

And one last photo… can’t finish without the traditional clothesline shot hey!

May the force be with you.

I've entered this in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, so if you're so inclined, would love a vote! Just need to click the little heart in the top right corner of the pic of my quilt on this page. If it turns red, you've voted! And thanks! :)