Friday, April 17, 2015

Animal Planet: the quilt (and LOTS of pictures)

About 1 1/2 years ago, I saw the most awesome picture in Dani's instagram feed (@knitty34)--a quilt full of animals, each one made using the drunkard's path block. I knew immediately this was THE quilt for my grandson, Gabe.

Of course I contacted her right away. Soon thereafter, she had added the template to her blog.

A nice highlight was meeting Dani at QuiltCon in February.
 The first version was pretty much a carbon copy of Dani's.
For some reason, I started searching for the original source. By a stroke of luck, I found animodul, a brand of children's clothes and toys.
Be sure to check out their website for lots of cool ideas: Clothing! Cookies! Blocks! These are all images from a fun video. (I immediately bought a set of plain wooden blocks and they are just waiting for some paint.)
 
 
 

Anyway...my friend thought the animal quilt would be a hot seller for the charity auction. And besides, by then I had found some more animals that HAD to be part of Gabe's quilt. The original went to our church quilting group and they are currently hand quilting it with prairie stitching for next April's auction.

It was so much fun sewing this quilt. The one thing I would do differently next time is to add the eyes to each animal block before I sew all the blocks together. Fusing and blanket stitching around each of those dime-sized circles after the quilt top was already together was, well, NOT fun. And the animals really come to life when the eyes are added. Before they have the eyes, it can be kind of tricky to decide what they are.

Before it went out to my friend, Darby, for quilting, Gabe had to try it out.
I was thrilled with Darby's quilting--it is one of my very favorite quilting designs.
And what I love most about the animals is that many of them are open to interpretation. My favorite is this crab.
And the parrot is fun and colorful.
At first I thought this little guy was another version of a turtle. Apparently, he is a frog.
This one has been the subject of the most discussion. I originally called him a whale, until someone pointed out that he obviously was a scorpion. In Gabe's animal world, he most definitely is a FISH. What do YOU think?
And then I saw these two ducks (or is that bottom one a baby chick?) and...well, what do you think the top guy is? Maybe a lizard? Whatever, I will either have to make some pillows. Or start another new quilt!
Anyway, this quilt is probably the one I have had the most fun with. Thanks so much, Dani! Oh, and Gabe is pretty thrilled with it too.

I'm linking to Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF and Confessions of a Craft Addict.

42 comments:

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Kaelyn Angelfoot said... #

Very cute, so glad that your grandson is thrilled with his new quilt!

Juliet @ Tartankiwi said... #

What a wonderful quilt and so fun that it leaves the door open for lots of fun conversations with kids.

dutchcomfort said... #

It’s amazing to see what some simple shapes can do and make for so many different animals! Love the quilt!

Mary said... #

This is a great quilt!

Terri said... #

What a fun quilt! I always wondered where the inspiration for this project came from. And I've been wondering what some of the critters were supposed to be, so I'm glad you cleared them up for me ;)

Amy said... #

Wow, this is a brilliant quilt! Thanks for sharing it with us. (I think that green critter with the ducks is a chameleon. If it were a different green, it could be an iguana. )

Amy said... #

Wow, this is a brilliant quilt! Thanks for sharing it with us. (I think that green critter with the ducks is a chameleon. If it were a different green, it could be an iguana. )

Jayne said... #

Who would have thought a simple block could make all these wonderful animals?! This is amazing. What a fun quilt for a child to explore and use their imagination! So in love!

Ruth said... #

Beautiful quilt! I see a scorpion but maybe be because of the colour!

Anne / Springleaf Studios said... #

I love it!!!! I vote whale. It's more fun and friendly than a scorpion. But I'll let Gabe decide.

Julie Bagamary said... #

So cute!

Jennie {Clover and Violet} said... #

Super cute Cindy! And those curves, they look so perfect!

FlourishingPalms said... #

It's adorable, Cindy! Who in the world thinks up all this clever stuff?! Make me feel like a slug. Now sew THAT into a quilt block! Oh, and I like Gabe's mis-matched socks. Bet he's dressing himself these days. :-)

Terri said... #

Definitely different. DP has been a favorite of mine for decades. Thanks for sharing the pictures and ideas.
Hugs

SuperMomNoCape said... #

What a fun quilt!! And it allows whoever looks at it to use their imagination to see different animals from the same block as well. Too cool!!

Mary on Lake Pulaski said... #

Lucky lucky Gabe - so cute ( him & the quilt)!

Alison V. said... #

Adorable!

Penny from S.C. said... #

I love it! Such a cute quilt. Great idea for a baby quilt. Thanks for sharing!

Sinta Renee said... #

Wow! I love this idea and your version of it is just adorable! I would love to make one too!

Micki @ 2 Dogs Studio said... #

very cool design. love the quilting you did. micki@dogsstudio.us

Laura said... #

That's so fun!

Susan said... #

I love this quilt!!!!! You can certainly have lots of fun with it! I agree with Amy, the green creature is either an iguana or a chameleon!

Leanne said... #

I have long loved these creatures made from quarter circles. Your quilt is fantastic!

Michele said... #

That is really adorable!

Celtic Thistle said... #

Amazing Cindy! Good luck with the auction

Needled Mom said... #

Oh Cindy....it is fabulous! I need to make one of those for one of the grandchildren. What size blocks did you use? I think that green guy is a seahorse lying on its back!

CapitolaQuilter said... #

Wow this is so incredible. I just love them all.

Sue said... #

That's fantastic!!! I absolutely love it - it's so clever!

Archie The Wonder Dog said... #

What a fabulous quilt!!

P.S. I think the black creature is a seal...with three eyes! (Or is one of them a nose?!)

Anonymous said... #

This quilt is adorable.

Unknown said... #

Phantastic!!! I love this.
Thanks for linking up at the TGIFF
Love from Amsterdam

Gretchen Wylegala said... #

This is a great quilt!

SewPsyched! said... #

Cutest quilt EVER!!!!!

OPQuilt said... #

I'm thrilled with it too--love that colorful binding (the perfect ending touch)!

maggiesomewhere said... #

The first place I ever saw cut critters made from parts of circles was in Ed Emberley's Picture Pie, a Circle Drawing Book. he came out with a Picture Pie 2 also. Cutest frogs, pigs, lady bugs, etc.

toyboxplayground said... #

Love this so much! It is on my to do list for this weekend so I'm planning fabric/etc. I know I want the crab, turtle/frog and the yellow duck. But how did you determine sashing size between blocks? I'm still fairly new to quilting so I was a little confused by that part.

Pav said... #

Lovely! What is the blue creature in the fourth photo from top? That creature is between fox and a bird. it has three dots in a triangle.

CJ said... #
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Justin Wade said... #

Since childhood, I firmly believe that anime jewelry are way smarter than we think. And that we human beings, as a species, are just being too arrogant. Scientific evidence proves that our planet is not the epicenter of the solar system, but today it also shows that we are not the only center of intelligence.

ss said... #

Those are SO sweet! I'm sorry I won't have a chance to make it to Disney while they're out, so thanks for sharing more on them to let me live vicariously.Reithelm