Alright, let’s celebrate the Oscar! When Rae asked if I wanted to participate in this year’s Celebrate the Boy series on her blog I hopped on board because it’s been about a year that I’ve had a pile of fabric set aside for a lego themed quilt for Oscar and I thought this would be a kick in the pants to get it done.
The boy is no stranger to themed quilts. He started out life driving cars on his racetrack quilt, then I cut up all his baby clothes and made them into the wonkiest but one of my, along with Phoebe’s, most cherished quilts. When we moved into our house we painted his room green and I made him a new vehicle themed quilt to go in his big boy room. This quilt has been off the bed for a year or so and I’ve been waiting for inspiration to hit.
Legos and quilting seem like such a perfect match. I couldn’t resist. I’d have loved to do it way smaller scale but to keep it manageable I went with a 4″ square for a 1×1.
I started out trying to free motion quilt around the bumps and it was just too hard to make it look neat so I stitched in ditch quilted it. I might at some point go back and hand quilt around the bumps.
I used a carvable eraser (mastercarve) to make a lego bump stamp and used permanent ink stamp pads in charcoal to stamp the legos. I used a light gray on the black.
I made a little mock up model of the quilt with legos but once I started cutting out the pieces I realized it was too time consuming to try to follow it exactly so I just cut out 2×2 and 2×3 and 1×1 and 4×4 and 2×8 and 1×8, all with 1/2″ extra for 1/4″ seam allowance on all sides. I put little masking tape diagrams of which piece they were on there to help when I laid it out. It worked out really well. I was surprised. And the stamping went smoothly. And the quilting. Actually the most frustrating part of this whole project was probably cleaning Oscar’s dang disgusting disaster of a room so I could take a photo of the quilt in there.
If you have any other questions about the quilt let me know! Oh, I bought half a yard of each color fabric but should have just got a yard of each. I took a baggie of legos with me to the fabric store to pick the right colors. I wouldn’t try to do it online.
I’m thinking this might be it for him for themed quilts. He can take a lego quilt off to college with him, right?
awesome! our son would’ve loved such a quilt; we had major lego-mania here for many years. 🙂
AMAZING! Would love to make one for my lego-loving boy!!!
OMG! That is awesome!!!! I have a Lego loving boy who would freak out over this quilt!!!! I would love more tips on the stamping part. Was it hard to make the stamp? Can I buy yours from you? J/K! I am so going to make this for him for his birthday so I would love to hear how you made the stamp. I used my Kona color card and ordered Lego colors to make him a quilt so I have the fabrics all lined up. I was going to do a quilt from the Modern Quilt Workshop book, but now I have to do this one! Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!
It’s fantastic!! Who doesn’t love LEGOS?? 🙂
that quilt is awesome. nice work on the lego stamp!
for college, he’ll probably take his concert-tee quilt with him, so i think you have one more themed quilt to go. 🙂
I’m pretty sure my college aged former legomaniac boy would love this quilt. Great job!
love it!
I have loved every one of your quilts, but this one has that big boy “cool” that is hard to capture. WOW!!!
You win 😉
I love this quilt – but I have to be secretive about it.
If my 8 year old son saw it, I would be pressed straight into service to make one, and I still want him to enjoy the space quilt I made him when he was two!
I have a 25 year old who always played with legos – even sent him some when he was deployed for the heck – lol! Really want to make this!!!
I love the Lego quilt! What a great boy quilt!
This is just too perfect! Great Job. My Lego boy would Love to have one. Thanks for the inspiration!
Amazing! Thank you for sharing! I think if I start now there might be 2 Lego Quilts made for my boys just in time for Christmas.
Woah, that’s amazing. If you were to say large solid blocks, you’d think it would be a boring quilt. But Legos!! Brilliant. Now if only the wife will make me one… 🙂
Genius! Best boy quilt ever.
So you used a regular ink pad, not a fabric ink pad? Do you like that better when stamping on fabric?
Never mind little boys – my 32 year old husband would be beyond happy if I ever made a quilt like that for our bed. Well done you!
Ok, this might be the coolest thing EVER. ESPECIALLY because I am pregnant with our first little boy, his ‘fetus name’ is Oscar (maybe his real name?) so this quilt is already named for him, AND my husband is OBSESSED with Legos. I have been waiting and waiting for inspiration to strike for his baby quilt and DONE. I’m totally making this. Maybe I’ll start today!
THANK YOU!!!
This is wonderful! My Lego-mania boy is looking at this with me and saying “I think *I* need a quilt like that!” 😛
You may have started a revolution with this one, Hillary!
awesome. I want to make 1 too. Your ideas are always great inspirations!
This is such a great quilt and thanks for linking back to your racetrack quilt! I’d never seen that one before and I really love it!
Where can I get a carvable eraser? I would love to make this for my son (and my husband would love it, too).
I agree. Could we have more information about how to make the stamp. It looks perfect!
Love this! What does the back look like?
That is one Super Fantastic quilt!!!!!! I bet he will take it to college and be the envy of his dorm. You rock.
Wow! Both my boys would die for that quilt. Yes, he can keep it till college 🙂
You are a genius , I just LOVE this.
it’s awesome! my son had a 7yo freakout when he saw the legos and pikachu, too!
WOW WOW WOW!! It is amazing. My son would LOVE that – so clever.
LOOOOOOVE!
That is perhaps the coolest quilt I have ever seen! I’ve followed your link from Rae and I’m so glad I did – I am in the middle of clearing out my (almost 9 year old) daughter’s baby clothes and was having trouble giving them all away but can’t really justify keeping them ALL. Now I can just make a quilt from them – genius!!
Are you kidding…brillance!!!! What size is your stamp? My 7-year old son is a lego nut…I just found the perfect Christmas gift. Thank you!
This is amazing. My kids, even my husband would love this! LEGO needs to make fabric with actual size LEGOS. 🙂
I might have to make one similar! My son LOVES legos and I made a lego table for him for last Christmas. Thank you for sharing your ideas!!!
This is SO cool! I might have to copy your stunning idea!
I think means I really should Celebrate His Mom while you Celebrate the Boy. Ours has always been a home full of boys so seeing your clever Lego quilt was a trigger for a rush of good times memories. And for the next gen of boys, you have given me a plan!
Happy Mom-ness wishes headed your way.
What a wonderful quilt. I love the Lego and that you shared how you made that. I’m not sure I could of figures it out on my own.
how adorable, every kid deserves one of these. Now to learn to quilt .)
I love how you used the legos as a template! Someday mt quilting will be suitable to try one for my boys.
What a great idea! It would be cool with applique circles for the bumps as well. My son would adore it, but as a previous commenter said, I’m hoping for more mileage out of the quilt I made him a few years ago. (The “Color Wheel” quilt from Last Minute Patchwork Gifts, done in blue and greens, and pitched to him as “King Arthur’s Round Table”).
“He can take a lego quilt off to college with him, right?”
This made me laugh out loud. At work. My husband, turning 26 in a few months, still asks for Legos for Christmas. I definitely think it will last you awhile. And now I need to go make one for our soon-to-be baby boy! Thanks for the inspiration!
One more thing…how many of each size did you use, completed measurements.
Oh my goodness, my six and a half year old son would flip his lid over this!
Amazing! Great stamp idea. Lets hope he loves it until college and doesn’t get even more specific and ask for a lego star wars theme where you would then have to take it a step farther and do a lego death star applique or something. I could see my kid demanding that.
I love it! I bet Oscar does too. Lucky boy 🙂 Cheers to the Celebrate the Boy series!!
dude. you rocked this.
Wow! I wondered–did you do the stamping before you pieced it, or after? Did you have to scrap any mis-stamps at all?
Working on our lego room too. We just mounted 10 green base plates on the wall as a border, using molding for edging paneling. Our quilt is a T-shirt style with 9 different Lego star wars T-shirts with stacks of legos in between. Leftovers made a brick valance. Will be finishing up decorating closet doors with mini-fig stickers from a sticker book.
Fantastic!! It is so graphic and cool and legos are the best. We still play with legos almost every day and my son is 11. Best toy ever. Lego trivia- the little bumps are called studs. I just may have to make one of these!
oh my.. that is amazing.. I love it to bits. I haven’t really tried quilting aside from a doll quilt for a toy cat but if I was going to make anything it would be a lego quilt. I adore what you made it is a fantastic gift for a boy, my son would love a lego quilt.
Love, love, love!
My son would freak! He would totally take it off to college with him. I’ll have to see what my quilting mother-in-law can do for us! Great idea.
Oh my goodness! My husband (and my girls) would LOVE this! His birthday is coming up in May though, this might have to be made if I can sneak it past him. 🙂
I think that a Lego quilt would make him the most popular guy on campus (among other guys). Among the chick set, well, it depends!
I love this SO MUCH. I’m a Lego freak and I totally want to make one of these, now! Thanks for the inspiration!
Impressive!!!
This is so cool! I’ve been trying to think of how I can make a quilt for my son without it seeming too “quilty” (you know?) and this is perfect! Thanks so much for the post!
oh, i luv.
did you do the stamping after you were finished sewing it all together?
My boy’s birthday isn’t till August, surely that will give me enough time….
xoxx s
OMG! I hope you don’t mind, but my Lego boy needs one of these! I might have to copy you!!!!!!!!! <3 It!!
you are a freaking genius! i loooooove this quilt. heck, my daughter would love this quilt (my boys too). adults and children alike would love this! i am inspired to try to make one! 🙂
really, this is just brilliant!
OMG this is BRILLIANT!!!!!!
I had to check it out on your blog! It’s awesome Hillary!!! Love it!!!
Tim is going to scan the template and then I’ll put it up as a PDF you can download. He drew “lego” on the eraser with pencil and I carved it out of my mastercarve block
http://www.misterart.com/crafts/stamps-and-embossing/accessories/staedtler-mastercarve-artist-carving-block.html
this is my first time stamping on fabric and this is what I had on hand
yeah for Oscars!
I used a mastercarve block
http://www.misterart.com/crafts/stamps-and-embossing/accessories/staedtler-mastercarve-artist-carving-block.html
navy dotted fabric, nothing lego related
60″ x 92″
oh yeah. after. that was stupid! I would recommend doing it before for sure!!
yes I did but in retrospect that was a mistake! I’m lucky it worked out ok. stamping before makes much more sense. I didn’t have my stamp made yet when I’d pieced it together.
hey thanks for the lego love guys 🙂 legos is for sure one of the best parts of having a boy. as a girl with a sister and a lego-less childhood it’s really fun to get a chance to play!
Ok, tips and things I should maybe put up in the post but will put here too…
prewash the fabrics
stamp blocks before sewing together
make sure you’re using permanent stamp pad ink and read if you have to treat it to set, like heat set.
I’ll be putting up a pdf template of the 3″ stamp I used.
finished measurements are 60″ x 92″ which fits O’s twin bed.
here’s the carvable eraser block I used, mastercarve
http://www.misterart.com/crafts/stamps-and-embossing/accessories/staedtler-mastercarve-artist-carving-block.html
I think that’s it…
thanks again!
This is amazing!
So cute! And I agree on the difficulty of photographing quilts … I’m not good and thinking of cute ways to fold them up or drape them over chairs and things to make cool pictures of them … any tips you discover would be greatly appreciated!
That.is.awesome.
wowser! i have a lego boy in my midst. this would be amazing for him – he even was a lego brick for halloween. thanks for sharing!
i love it!!! we (me/son) are HUGE lego-maniacs!!
I think you might be my hero – I love everything about this! From the ‘sketch’ using actual Legos to your Lego eraser stamp, it’s so creative and such an inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
Confused…how did you cut each size out of 1/2 yd.? I purchased 1 yd. each and can’t get it, am I doing something wrong? I figured 4 in sq. for 1×1…8 in sq for 2×2 (with seam alllowance, of course) and so forth, right?
I think I may have had 2/3″ yard. I had about 24″ wide and then 40 or so (whatever width of bolt was) long. but yes, 4″ squares with seam allowance so 4.5″ x 4.5″ for a 1×1. that’s right.
As soon as I saw this, I knew I had to make one for my son. Have you uploaded the template for the logo yet?
what an absolutely amazing boy quilt. so super cute- can’t hardly take it! 🙂
meg
Just had my FOURTH boy a few weeks ago.
You just MADE my day. Or my 8 year old’s day!!!
Heidi (boysbuttonsandbutterflies.blogspot.com)
Have you put up the template yet? I just finished one of these blankets for my son and was hoping to give it to him for his birthday, which is sunday March 27, 2011.
You can download it here now:
http://www.weewonderfuls.com/downloads/LegoQuiltStamp.pdf
Thank you so much for this wonderful idea! I just completed my “lego” quilt for my 5-year-old nephew and he loves it. This was my first quilt EVER, and it was a great learning experience.
It’s absolutely FANTASTIC!!! Pure genius! Hugs, Laurraine
This is the best thing I have ever seen for boys!! My almost 10 Year old wants to be a Lego Engineer when he grows up and when I showed him this he simply said ” I want Please!!” Love love love it … thanks for sharing!!!
i SO know what i am making my son for Christmas!!
I’m new at quilt making and must admit I’m not very good. 🙂 Last one I made was stiff and not soft and comfy at all, not sure what I did wrong.
Questions:
1) What kind of material did you use for backing?
and
2) did you stuff it, is there anything inside it?
Thanks and LOVE the quilt!!
My Lego obsessed kids would love it!!
I was also wondering about what kind of material you used for backing and what kind of material you used for the colorful “Lego” pieces. I’m new at this quilting/sewing stuff so I hope you start selling this Lego quilt before I even start to attempt to make it! LOL!
This is a brilliant idea and it looks like it worked out really well too. I would have liked something like this when I was a kid. Perhaps you could sell the idea to Lego and make a fortune.
Love this quilt. Is it possible to purchase a pattern?
hi, sorry no, I don’t make quilt patterns. I just wing em! 🙂