Pieces by Polly: "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" Quilt Tutorial

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

"Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" Quilt Tutorial

I've been wanting to make this Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus for a long time. So I was really excited when it was time to help my daughter's kindergarten class with making a quilt, this was the option out of several that her teacher chose.

And as always a big thank you to Fairfield World for providing me with the American Spirit Luxury Blend batting and compensating me for this project. Shannon Fabrics also provided some super soft Cuddle 3 for the backing and binding. Their generosity made it possible for my daughter's class to donate this quilt to a child in need in our community. This post contains affiliate links.

The full instructions, supply list, and tutorial for this Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Quilt can be found on the Fairfield site here.

Our family absolutely LOVES Mo Willems books...especially The Pigeon and the Elephant and Piggie Books. If you have little ones, you absolutely have to head to your local library and check them out. The gist of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, is that a bus driving tells the reader to keep an eye on his bus while he leaves for a bit. Then the pigeon tries to convince the reader to let him drive a bus with all sort of arguments your child will recognize because he/she uses those arguments themselves. The books are funny, not too long, and have wonderful illustrations.

One of the things I love about this quilt is that it's a great scrapbuster for those green prints you have that just didn't fit quite right into another project. Besides the green scraps, you'll also need about 3/4 yard of black or grey fabric for the roads as well as The Pigeon Fabric from Cloud 9 Fabrics. This is my first Pigeon quilt, but we made some driving quilts a couple years ago. Driving quilts are among my favorite for donating to children in hospitals because besides getting a comforting blanket, it's also something to play with. (My favorite place to donate quilts is to Seattle Children's Hospital through Katie's Comforters.)

Now when I donate these quilts, besides sending them on with a few matchbox cars, they'll also get a copy of Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus.

I love the Cuddle 3 in Ash from Shannon Fabrics for the backing...both because it's soft and because it shows off the quilting lines and roads so well on the back.