Seriously..I think it needs stitches.: panda quilt block tutorial

Hi there! I hope you're all staying healthy!

I'm still catching up with my National Days quilt blocks, and tutorials, and now I'm up to March 16th, National Panda Day, also known as the first day that school was canceled for the rest of the year. We've now been in some form of lockdown here in CA for nine weeks, but my county is in the early stages of phase two of reopening. Nothing like a PANDA-emic to throw everything off right? 😉🐼

Really, though, I'm not making light of it.. It's been hard on everyone, esp. those who have lost loved one or have been ill themselves. I seem to go back and forth from feeling okay to feeling utterly depressed, from being happy to stay home to going stir crazy. But anyway, I'm trying to get life back on track, so in honor of missing National Panda Day, here is my panda quilt block tutorial for my scrap quilt!

This guy is a three color block with just a couple of tiny pieces. (Those eyes!) But before we start, here are just a few fun Panda facts. Because now I'm curious about them.. and.. google. 🤷

Newborn pandas are tiny, blind and pink with very little hair.
Pandas eat for 12 hrs. a day, and can eat 12 kilos of bamboo per day. That's more than 25 pounds!
They live to be about 30 yrs. old.
They don't hibernate!
They're endangered.

They kind of sound like big, adorable, lazy overeaters, right? 😄 I found these facts over on the National Geographic Kids site. Oh! Side note! If your kids are doing distance learning and you think they might be interested in grizzly bears, wolves, raptors, and river otters, the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center is doing short live videos/Q&A on their FB page every Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday at 3:30 MST. It's a really cool place just outside of Yellowstone National Park. My son's in 7th and finds it pretty interesting still. Although, I think once they reopen they won't be doing the live videos anymore.

I got sidetracked! Proof of my wandering attention span. haha! Off to the stitching!

Fabric A (background):

(8) 1 1/2" sq. (*)

(2) 2" sq. (+)

(1) 1 1/2 x 3 1/2" (***)

Fabric B (white):

(2) 1" sq. (~)

(8) 1 1/2" sq. (*)

(1) 1 1/2 x 2 1/2" (**)

(1) 1 1/2 x 3 1/2" (***)

(2) 2" sq. (+)

(3) 2 x 3 1/2"

(2) 3 x 3 1/2"

Fabric C (black):

(2) 1" sq. (~)
(2) 1 x 1 1/2" (>)
(2) 1 1/2 x 2 1/2" (**)
(3) 2 x 2 1/2"
(2) 3" sq.

Double Upper Corners

1. Place a square at the left end or left upper corner of a rectangle or larger square, right sides together.
2. Stitch from right upper to left lower corner.
3. Clip, flip & press.
4. Place a square at the right end or right upper corner of a rectangle or larger square, right sides together.
5. Stitch from left upper corner to right lower corner.
6. Clip, flip & press.

Using the above technique, (2) 1 1/2" sq. of Fabric A and a 3" sq. of Fabric C, make one double upper corner clip and flip unit. Repeat for total of two of these units.

Flip these units over. For each unit, repeat this technique, using a 1 1/2" sq. of Fabric A and a 2" sq. of Fabric B. It doesn't matter which corner you place your squares in. You will end up with two of the units pictured below. *important to clip and flip first stitched corner before moving onto stitching the next corner.

Using this same technique, (2) 1 1/2" sq. of Fabric B and a 2 x 2 1/2" rect. of Fabric C-long edge at the top, make one unit. Repeat for total of three of these units.

..............................

Left Lower Clip & Flip

1. Place square at lower end or left lower corner of rectangle or larger square, right sides together.
2. Stitch from left upper to right lower corner.
3. Clip, flip & press.

Using the above technique, (1) 1 1/2" sq. of Fabric A and a 2 x 3 1/2" rect. of Fabric B-long edge at the top, make one unit.

Repeat using a 1 1/2" sq. of Fabric B and a 1 1/2 x 2 1/2" rect. of Fabric C-long edge at the top.

Repeat using a 2" sq. of Fabric A and a 3 x 3 1/2" rect. of Fabric B-long edge at the top.

.............................

Right Lower Clip & Flip

1. Place square at lower end or right lower corner of rectangle or larger square, right sides together.
2. Stitch from right upper to left lower corner.
3. Clip, flip & press.

Using the above technique, (1) 1 1/2" sq. of Fabric A and a 2 x 3 1/2" rect. of Fabric B-long edge at the top, make one unit.

Repeat using a 1 1/2" sq. of Fabric B and a 1 1/2 x 2 1/2" rect. of Fabric C-long edge at the top.

Repeat using a 2" sq. of Fabric A and a 3 x 3 1/2" rect. of Fabric B-long edge at the top.

.............................

Assemble as shown below. You'll have an 8 1/2" (8" finished) Panda! 🐼

.....................

Thanks for popping in to check out my panda block. I haven't stitched him yet, I'm still trying to just get caught up with posting a few of them before I sit down to stitch. It's so much fun to see people stitching through their UFO piles and burning through their stash, but I've had such a short attention span, and a hard time concentrating during this thing! So many things going through my brain, that I've hardly gotten anything sewn this whole time. 😑
Adding to my overwhelm during this Panda-emic (I'm think I'll call it that from now on because it's more cheery!) are two things.. one is the huge increase in hard copy pattern orders from Checker Distributors, meaning lots of running out of copies, reordering copies, stuffing all the patterns, shipping all the things, etc.! I'm shocked! I figured sales would slow since many shops were closed, but they must be doing great with online sales. So if you're supporting your local quilt shops online, I'd like to say a huge thank you!🎕 The other is that my fabric and accessories with Riley Blake came out the very month this started happening, along with needing to have three new patterns done for some of their other lines. All the while my brain was trying to process all these real life things! I probably said all that before. It's just been hard keeping up with all of this, and a lot of the time, I feel like I should be doing more. But please know, I'm trying!

I'm going to give this a good proof read before hitting publish, though and huge thanks to the couple of people who caught a tweak that needed to be made to the Pi block! I super appreciate it!

This is block #38, and the first 37 blocks and their tutorials can bed found on the National Days quilt blocks page, *HERE*, or by clicking that button in the right side bar if you're just finding these blocks.

I'll meet you back here SOON with another block! I hope you're all well, and have a great weekend!

xoxo,