Happy Mail! { Modern Building Blocks }

Don’t you love when the postman delivers fabric? It’s even better when it comes as a gift!

My very kind and generous mother-in-law ordered me this Modern Building Blocks Quilt kit from the Fat Quarter Shop, and even though it had to travel across the pacific, it arrived in less than two weeks. Add that to the many reasons I love the FQS.  Of course, I dug right in, ooing and awwing at all the pretty solids and reading over the pattern.

I’m especially grateful for the timing of this kit, because I didn’t have anything else to make with me as we still haven’t received the rest of our belongings.  I miss my fabric stash!

Naturally, I got started right away with Block #1, a massive 36″ x 36″ beauty.  I’m pretty sure this is the largest block I’ve ever made.  I’m already envisioning recreating it as a super adorable modern baby quilt. Yes?

I laid the pattern on top to get some perspective.  Massive, I tell ya! You should have seen my husbands face when I told him I had 37 more blocks to go.  I guess I should have mentioned that they aren’t all the same size…oops!

Speaking of the pattern, this is the cutest little booklet ever.  Each “page” has the finished block, and cutting instructions as shown.  I haven’t made this particular block yet, but I wanted to show the same pattern that Moda uses as an example so that I don’t run into copyright issues.

Each block has its own cutting instructions, which I imagine is awesome if you’re pulling from your stash or scrap busing.  Since I’m working with the kit, I decided to rewrite the pattern a bit so that its organized by fabric, rather than block.  That way I can cut efficiently.  It was a lot of extra work (3 hoursish?) but after doing the same thing with my Butterfly quilt, I think its super helpful.  I don’t like wasting fabric so efficiency is key for this engineer’s brain!

I know this quilt was super popular when it first came out and kits sold out quickly.  I’ve certainly had it on my wish list since then so I’m thrilled to finally get the chance to make it.  For those of you that have made it, any tips/tricks?