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Celebrate Seuss

I ran across the latest Celebrate Seuss at my favorite local quilt shop and just knew I had to have it! Since I’m a shade older than average-age Seuss fans, it seemed more appropriate to use it for my “grand” niece Maggie’s first birthday. This is definitely larger than your normal baby quilt but I wanted to make it a size she could “grow” into. I think every child goes through a Dr. Seuss phase particularly as they are learning to read. I remember reading most of these titles to my baby sister when she was Maggie’s age and then watching her read them to herself (although by then she pretty much had them memorized).

I designed this pattern specifically for the Celebrate Seuss panel. The Celebrate Seuss panel features 10 book covers of the Dr. Seuss series. I chose to make the layout using 13 book covers because I preferred the symmetry of  the finished blocks on the top. Recognizing that some might not want to buy a second panel for just 3 book covers, I also designed a layout using 10 covers.

The rectangle inside the block frame measures at 7” x 10”. Its size was determined by the size of the book covers on the Celebrate Seuss panel. Although it was designed specifically for those panels, it can be used for any print you choose to highlight. This two-block quilt goes together quickly and is a wonderful way to highlight favorite characters for kiddie quilts.

Finished Measurements:

Layout 1: Finished Size: 50” x 65” (13 book covers)
Layout 2: Finished Size: 56” x 58” (10 book covers)

Price: $9.50

(this pattern is a PDF download)

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Quilting the quilt

It was a lot of fun to quiltI normally use cotton batting but decided to try out polyester for its lighter weight….easier for Maggie to drag around if she wanted. But I really must say I prefer cotton to polyester when it comes to quilting. I had a lot of shifting resulting in some puckering on the back (which drives me nuts).

Quilting the quilt

This is a two-block pattern with this block linking the framed book covers to each other. I integrated the four frame colors into the linking block.

Layout 1 - finished

I like the look of the starting and ending rows having three book covers. And I also like starting and ending with The Cat in the Hat….would have been perfect if the panel had included The Cat In the Hat Comes Back….ha.

Seuss Layout 2

Layout 2 has one less row of covers and has an added border.

00-IMG_2399

I had enough fabric left over to do the scrappy binding from the frame color fabrics. Overall, I’m happy with the results. Only thing left to do is add a label on the back and launder to soften it up. Maggie’s birthday is later this month so I’ll find out soon if it passed muster.

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13 Comments

  1. This may be my favorite pattern for panels. Lovely job! Curious which poly batting you use. I’ve used Quilter’s Dream Poly and it behaves very well. I assume you quilted that on your Charm?

    1. Thank you. I did quilt it on my Charm….love that baby. 🙂 To be honest, I don’t remember what the brand of the poly batting…it was a package I had on hand that I bought locally probably from Hancock’s. I don’t use poly often but think next time I’ll try Hobbs and Quilter’s Dream.

    1. There is not a kit available. I used Moda’s essential dots for three of the four frames and intersecting blocks (yellow wasn’t available), a small print yellow for the fourth frame color, and Moda’s Basic Grey Vanilla grunge for the background white. Any solid or small print will work. Red, kelly green, and royal blue would also work as frame colors…so many colors to choose from in the book covers.

  2. I can’t seem to buy you Dr Suess partttern. On Craftsy it says you can’t buy there but doesn’t say we’re to buy it so I came here and put it in cart, clicked pay with Amazon and it’s telling me I need billing name and address but there is no place to add it!!

    1. Hi Karen. I’m so sorry for your frustrations.

      I’m not sure what the issue is with Craftsy. The pattern is selling well on their site. However, I believe there are some issues with their Craftsy app being allowed to make purchases. If you use a standard browser, it should work.

      However, I do see you found the name/address fields and purchased here using Amazon. I wish the shopping cart allowed me to move the Amazon button lower on the page to eliminate that confusion.

      I hope you enjoy the pattern. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

    2. I bought mine on amazon.com; bought my backing fabric there too (although it was sent by fabric.com). I am quilting the panel borders right now.

  3. I’m excited to make your adorable Dr. Suess quilt! I usually sew projects with someone in mind to gift it to, but I like this one so much that I’m making it just because I like it! I’ve made a couple of quilts but am just a beginner, really. So, do you recommend cutting the polka dot strips on the crosswise grain or on the lengthwise grain? I have 1/2 yard each of the polka dot fabrics per instructions. If I cut on the crosswise grain, I can get only one 10 1/2″ strip per cut with 7″ to 8″ left over (one 10 1/2″ length strips on 18″ wide fabric). But if I cut on the lengthwise grain I can get four 10 1/2″ strips per length of fabric (four 10 1/2″ long strip on 43″ length fabric). Cutting on the lengthwise grain uses the fabric more efficiently but I’m not sure if the grain direction matters. Thanks so much for your help.

    1. Hi Teresa,

      I had to read a couple of times to make sure I understood you. Actually, when describing fabric, crosswise is considered selvage to selvage. Lengthwise is the running yardage you ordered. So the 1/2 length is the lengthwise portion. The 43 inches is the crosswise part of the fabric. I know that seems weird but that’s only because of the small yardage requirements for each fabric in the case of the Seuss pattern.

      As a general rule, patterns will usually specifically tell you when you should cut lengthwise. Normal cuttting is crosswise. That’s how Celebrate Seuss is set up…to cut crosswise (the 43” width). And in this case, definitely more efficient.

      Generally grain direction doesn’t matter. However sometimes you might want to buck norms with a directional print that you want to go a certain way in the quilt. Then you need to manually calculate to see how much fabric you need.

      Hope this helps.

      I love your reasoning for buying the pattern. That was my reasoning for buying the Seuss fabric. Then I designed the pattern. Just a bit backwards. ????

  4. Like the quilt. Not too familiar with creating the second block, can you advise on how much material or size of second block.

  5. Love this pattern. Instructions very well written and easy to follow for a beginner like me. Thank you.

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