Gator-Aide

Alli-Gator has finally been stitched, pressed, sandwiched , quilted, and bound… I think I have tamed the beast ! Anyone that has read the previous posts on this little quilt know that it’s been a real learning curve for me. Yup, this project required a lot of Gator-Aide.

The colour in these outdoor pictures isn’t very good; winter lighting conditions leave a lot to be desired. The animal print in this project is an obvious favourite as I used it for the inner border, the backing and the binding… too much ?

His ferocious teeth have been toned down somewhat because they blend in so well with the background  😉  wouldn’t want to scare any littles now would I !

I went with organic wavy lines for the quilting – fitting for a reptile, eh ?

This little crib quilt measures in at approximately 35″ x 39″, in case you are wondering.

While there are things I would like to do differently if I made another one I think I will move on… hmmm, what next ? So many projects, so much fabric… so little time 🙂

Thanks for having a look, have a great weekend.

See ya later alligator, getting wild crocodile !

Linking up with Amanda at CrazyMomQuilts for Finish it up Friday.

 

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$8.78

Whew, this almost didn’t happen !

I’ve been away a bunch this week. My Mom hasn’t been well and I went to help out.

So, friday rolls around and I was feelin kinda sad because I didn’t have anything finished to blog about. I love seeing what other people are up to so at lunch time I dropped by Amanda’s. Lo and behold she had this super cute little project she had whipped up. “Only takes an hour”, she said ! Well, it took me an hour to pick out the fabric and get it cut out but then I am really slow 🙂

I can certainly see why she says she wants to make 100 of them… and she probably will !

I think there will be more in my future too.

The free tutorial is called Pixie Basket, it is fun and very well written by Heidi Staples.

This little project not only yielded a sweet little basket but I also took the twill tape off (gasp !) a bundle of fat quarters to make the loops. Aaand, I used a pressing sleeve for the first time that I bought at Eaton’s, a large Canadian department store chain that closed in 1999 after operating for 130 years. The price tag was still on it, it was on sale for $8.78 – what a bargain, I knew I would need it someday, lol !

The main fabric is from the Cotton and Steel Homebody line, I had a chuckle when I saw the selvage – how appropriate !

The next photo was taken in my sewing room as the sun was going down. You can see the trees groaning under the heavy snow that came down this morning.

My son is on his way to Lake Louise in the Rocky Mountains to enjoy some skiing with his friends this weekend. Hope the highways are o.k.

Thanks for dropping by !

Linking up to CrazyMomQuilts Finish it up Friday.

 

 

Surgery

After last weeks  intense wrestle with the alligator, I rewarded myself by purchasing Nicole’s paper piecing pattern “Love Story”. (Anybody remember the chemistry between Ryan O’Neil and Ali McGraw in the movie by the same name ?… the theme song has taken up residence in my head, arghhhh.)

The above picture is the first one I made; the middle square measures a little over 5″ before adding the frame. The fabric that makes up the heart is Bonnie and Camille’s Vintage Picnic that is just showing up in stores now. I had won a mini charm pack last year and when I saw Nicole’s pattern I knew just what I was going to use. The fabric used to frame the heart is by Lori Holt.

The pattern includes two design variations and three block sizes. I think there are 37 pages of instruction, notes and tips, pattern pieces and colouring pages. It was a real pleasure to work with such a complete, well thought out pattern. Here is a link to her blog post introducing the pattern and have a look at the beautiful  Undercover Maker Mat that is a free tutorial.  I purchased the pattern on my own and am just including these links because I really enjoy celebrating smart women and creativity !

The above is the second block I made. I haven’t done anything further with the second block…but the first one I turned into a potholder !

In other news…

It’s true that farmers have to wear many hats, this week I have become a plastic surgeon to that noncompliant alligator I wrote about last friday. I decided that one of his flaws that would probably bother me too much to leave was the transition line along his lower jaw. The pattern pieces were very vague and I didn’t realize that I was supposed to put a sliver of background fabric under the first section of his lower jaw to angle it. I thought about appliqué -ing some grass underneath him and just covering it up but I went the difficult route !

Hopefully you can see what I’m talking about because I don’t know how to digitally draw on the picture to indicate it.

It sure would have been easier to do this before I sewed all the sections together ! On my  first try I added in too much background and got this :

The second try was more what I had intended:

So, there he is, even though there is one or two other problem areas, I think I am done and can get the quilt sandwich started. ( the alligator and background section measure about 16″ x 26″, the top including the borders is crib sized)

Hope you all have a lovely weekend that may involve chocolates and flowers !

I’m off on a road trip so I guess I’ll have to buy my own 🙂

Happy Valentines Day everyone !

linking up with CrazyMomQuilts for Finish it Up Friday.

 

 

 

 

Wrestling an Alligator

This is what part of my work area looked like earlier this week as I tried to make sense of some paper piecing I was working on.

After much fussing and fighting this is what emerged.

The pattern is from Penny Layman’s Paper Pieced Home book and the above portion measures about 16″ x 26″. There are 8 letter sized pages to print and then the sections within are cut up into smaller sections for piecing. There are very minimal directions and no pictures of the process. Obviously this project was above my paygrade as I really struggled with it, made many mistakes and tore my hair out as I went back picking out those wicked little stitches as I tried to make things right. At one point my son came to ask me a question about our business and after hearing my explanation as to why I looked like I was loosing my mind he made the helpful suggestion that I should just throw it in the garbage.

Being quite stubborn, I wasn’t going to let the Alligator get the best of me.

This is where I declared a draw and it was with great relief that I stitched the first border on.

A sense of calmness began to creep back into my sewing room as I finished up the second border.

The top is done and far from perfect… I can see why some people hate paper piecing, about 2/3 rds through this project I had crossed over and joined them ! Now I’ve got this annoying little voice in my head telling me that I’ve got it all sorted out now and I could really nail the next one. 😦

Unfortunately you cannot see the part that I am most happy with and that is the fabric selection. We have been having some overcast weather so picture taking doesn’t yield the best results. We have also had a lot of hoar frost that has dressed the yard in spectacular beauty !

Enjoy your weekend !

Linking up with CrazyMomQuilts for Finish It Up Friday.