Fly Away Fun!

Just me and my scrap pile once again :) I had this idea about a kite block and had to see if it would actually work. I think I’ll work a few of these blocks into a baby quilt, but this was my trial run through, so I thought I would share!

I started with four different kite fabrics and a length of rick-rack. I have a nice chunk of background fabric, but I think you could get by with a half-yard for this whole project.

First, cut two of the four kite fabrics into one 4½” x 4½” square each. From the other two kite fabrics, cut one 4½” x 6½” rectangle each. 

Cut matching white background squares and rectangles for each of the kite fabrics. Lay them on top of the colored fabrics and draw a line across each block from point to point. You can also use a Hera marker to crease a line instead of using a pen. See this blog post for different fabric marking ideas including this Hera marker. 

For the 4½” square blocks sew ¼” on either side of the line, then cut on the line to yield two half-square triangles each. 

For the rectangle pairs, cut along the line first, then rearrange the cut wedge pieces to make four half rectangle pairs as shown here. Sew the two halves of each rectangle block together.

Press the seams open on both the square and rectangle blocks.

Lay out the pieces, as shown, to make two kite blocks. I only used one for this project, but I’ll make more and use them all in an upcoming quilt.

Sew the top right square to the bottom right rectangle. This will make up the right half of the kite. The seam angles are slightly different, so I peeled back the two pieces to match up the seam at the ¼” mark. Repeat this process with the left half of the kite.

Press the seam on one side up and down on the other side. This allows the center of the kite to nest where the seams come together. Sew the center seam and press it open.

Here you see, two kite blocks done in no time! They are about 8” x 10” at this stage.

I thought I'd make one of these kite blocks into a pillow, so I needed to add more background. I cut two big 12½” x 12½” squares of background and cut them once diagonally.

This looks a little oversized and sloppy, but I figured I could always trim it down. 

I sewed the two side triangles in place first, then trimmed the points off the ends on both sides.

Now add the bottom and top triangle…. and this is where I added the rick-rack. I tucked it right into the seam at the base of the kite and pinned it in place while I sewed the seam.

Here it is all pressed out and trimmed up with that rick-rack kite tail just flying away. 

I quilted it on my long arm, folding the kite tail out of the way of the quilting lines and then back over them when I got through that area. I switched my thread color to red and stitched down the kite tail in a gentle curve.  

Here you see the pillow top all quilted and trimmed. I trimmed it down to fit a 16” pillow form and quilted up a cute piece of turquoise plaid for the back. 

And just like that, a fun summer inspired pillow was born! And, a cute and easy quilt block too 🙂

Happy Sunday everyone and Happy Memorial Day too!

Krista

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