How would you do this?
 

I bought the two largish panels of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (two life phases) and want somehow to focus them in a baby quilt with something suggesting the progression from one phase to the next. I was thinking to put the caterpillar at the bottom left and the butterfly top right and somehow make a wandering dotted line between them. The colors are bright primary ones, and I am also at a loss as to how to design the rest of the quilt front. Maybe white frames around the panels and some wandering geese or half square triangles or... All I have found looking for 'panel quilt' is a single panel.

The book this comes from is apparently 40+ years old, but I can photograph the panels if that would help you imagine.

Think I need to upload a picture.

I made this quilt for my daughter's preschool. I had the panel with the caterpillar but I think it was larger than yours. It had some of the food around the caterpillar. I cut it apart so the food was in strips and sewed them together so that they ran across the quilt. Had co-ordinating fabric also that I used. Don't remember exactly cause it has been a while.

Are you lookig for a design of this quilt? Search on hungry caterpillar quilts in Google and you will see some.

Your idea sounds just fine. Have confidence in yourself and go for it.

I made a quilt with Hungry Caterpillar fabric for my grandchildren a couple years ago. If you can find it, there are some really cute coordinating fabrics that go with those panels. I don't have a pic of the quilt I made, but here is link to one just like it. The pattern was in a magazine.

Link didn't work. Will try again.

Here is a pic of a quilt like I made.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]417153[/ATTACH]

Both are awesome. Hugs

Lee those squares are very cute.

Why not do some winding flying geese from one stage to the next, kinda like an arrow.

That's an idea I will consider. I wanted a winding 'path' and maybe I will have to do an applique tree branch to do that. Do you think brown bias tape would work? I have never worked with curves on a quilt top.

I bought some of the multi-dot that is the first sash. Otherwise will use bright primary solids I think.

I have 2 patterns (1 for the 3 panel and 1 for the 2 panel) that I copied from the Andover site. Don't know if they are still available. But here's the site www.andoverfabrics.com

Thank you for this link! I still think I want to do something different, 'quieter', and will experiment with bias tape to make a twig-like link, maybe even with a cocoon, between worm and butterfly. I do have a yard of the busiest dot fabric to work with, too. Thank you for taking the time to look this up for me.

This looks very much like the one I made my niece for her daughter several years ago. Is it the design that the fabric company put out? As a side note: my niece and her husband have another child now, and the Very Hungry Caterpillar quit shows up in almost every photo of the kids playing! I'm tickled they love it!

I first saw the busy dot fabric on Amazon, and then the site recommended the 2-panel to coordinate. That is my full experience with this, tho the original book came out when my boys were reading-to age, so maybe I just forgot. All other quilt patterns I have seen for it came thru this blog. I am glad to hear the quilts are such a success.

SherriB, your quilt is amazing!!!! When my kids were small, this was a favorite book at storytime. Thanks for reminding me about those special moments.

I am sure whatever you come up with will be cherished. My first thought was some rick rack to wandering path to the butterfly. I do like the idea of the curved flying geese, just have never tried to make those.

I love what you are doing, the panels are darling, if it were me, I think I would put the catapiller on the top left and the butterfly on the bottom right, it speaks more of a progression. Maybe something flowing between them like your dots maybe shades of color.

This is the quilt my daughter designed using the Hungry Caterpillar panel.[ATTACH=CONFIG]417509[/ATTACH]

http://www.andoverfabrics.com/Quilts...r%20Encore.jpgThis is the pattern from Andover Fabric too bad all of my grand are too big for this quilt. I can wait few years for greats!

When I make a quilt referring to a book, I give the book with it. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is still available. It has been a HUGE favorite with children for years. My youngest grandson memorized it by the time he was 3, because he had us read it to him so often.

I did end up buying the book to go with the quilt. My quilt ended up two-sided with asymmetrical sides, so quilting was a bear, and in fact I mostly used ties (hundreds of them it seemed like!). I used bias tape with leaves to travel from the caterpillar, via cocoon, to the butterfly. I was so excited when the glue dots on the ties finally dried that I mailed it off without a picture! Here is the last one I got before sandwiching the two sides.

Okay maybe I am wrong, but shouldn't the caterpillar be first? He did come before the butterfly right? They are very cute though. Great for a baby or child's quilt!

The caterpillar is on one side and the vine thing connects him, via the cocoon, to the butterfly on the other side.

Lee, I love it! You said you wanted the quilt to be "quiet" and you did it so wonderfully!! It has just enough color and movement to capture a child's attention without being overwhelming. Your vine is a great way to connect the two sides. Great job!!

I would add some things the caterpillar feeds off of and then what the butterfly feeds off of and then add a line of connection.

Thank you so much for your kind words -- people have had mixed reactions to the whole thing. I will say it was probably the hardest quilt I have ever made, in that there was no pattern and I am not original at all. I tore out and redid almost everything except the original two panels. Now I'm off doing the polka dot star quilt I have been itching to get started on!