At the
Seattle Modern Quilt Guild, we have "Sew & Tell" at the end of every meeting. I am always inspired by the work of my guild-mates! One night, as my friend Louise/
I'm Feelin' Crafty, sat down next to me, I saw she'd brought something to share. She caught me a little off-guard when she told me, "I brought
my 'gator quilt." This girl's a master at paper-piecing and had created a pattern for
the cutest 'gator ever!!
Well, I am not as comfortable with paper piecing as Louise, but I couldn't resist when she called out for testers for her new pattern!! I agreed to do 1 'gator (there are 3 sizes included in the pattern), and got right to work!
I happened to have a big piece of crazy-pieced greens left over from
a previous crazy-piecing frenzy, and thought it would be perfect for my 'gator. I made the small gator, which measures 9"x21". You can see there are some tiny pieces, but that's one area paper-piecing really shines. I can't say I had any trouble piecing this guy
at all. Louise has him split up into several sections that went together just great. The pattern was easy to follow - though basic paper-piecing skills are assumed - and before long I had a full 'gator!
Since I was making just 1 'gator, I thought he would be perfect for an oblong pillow. I quilted the blue background to give the feel of water and really had alot of fun with that. I used
Sew Katie Did's invisible zipper tutorial, which worked like a charm. It had been years since I had inserted one, so I was pleased how easy it was. Just fyi, I used a 20-22" invisible zipper, and my pillow form was 12"x30".
So the 'Gator Blog Hop is just starting! Be sure and see Louise's
Release Party post, and check back in over the next 10 days to see all the other 'gators!
The 'Gator Quilt pattern is available on Craftsy! I know you'll have as much fun with it as I did! And isn't Louise's full 'gator quilt great?!
