Animal Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks

8/26/07 All 12 blocks are sewn together and I am working on the border blocks.

8/25/07 - I have finished 12 animal blocks. Now I must decide what to do with all of them. I am inclined to just sew them all together and add a 6-inch border, which will make a 48 x 60-inch quilt.

Pig Block (Added 8/25/07)

Polar Bear (Added 8/25/07)

Penguin (Added 8/25/07)

Camel (Added 8/25/07)

the color is off on this one. Those plain blocks are the same light gold color as in many of the other blocks, not green as they look here. This block is really irritating me. It was one of those that was not 4 inches and you had to add borders to make it 4". I thought I would add it all at the bottom so it looked like desert sand. Not a good decision! I should have added equal amounts to the top and bottom. Actually the author should have done all of that for me. This is a good example of when I said the book had one flaw....the author did not make all of the blocks the same size. If she had done it, I would not have messed it up by adding my own. If I wanted to design my own, I would not have bought the book.

Giraffe Block (Added 8/19/07)

Leopard Block (added 8/19/07)

Lion Block (added 8/18/07)

Donkey Block (added 8/12/07)


Rhinoceros Block

Monkey Block

Elephant Block

Last night I was in the mood to sew and made the little 4-inch elephant center. I wasn't sure what to do with him. After a little thought I decided he'd make a fine center for a star block.

I can see a safari themed baby quilt....maybe a different African animal in each center.

There is one little problem... I don't have a baby.

Maybe I could turn it into a tote bag. I think I would carry a fun tote bag with an elephant on it for something like library books.........I have never actually made a tote bag so I am not all that sure how to make a good sturdy one.

Hmmm....I will have to think on this on bit more.

Update: New block added (my battery died last night and I had to wait to take the pic). Lostroses, this one makes me think of you. :) (just recently lostroses got a magnificent big light-up flamingo for her yard. It's a beauty, too. Click here to see it for yourself.).

Patti asked me about the elephant pattern. Yes, it's from Margaret Rolfe's book. The book is called A Quilter's Ark and has over 50 little animal patterns. The book does not give you the star patterns. They are from a Carol Doak book, Simply Sensational 9-Patch Stars.

In my humble opinion, the Rolfe book has one irritating flaw. All of the blocks are not the same size. Like this flamingo. Instead of taking the time to design it at 4 inches, she tells you to add a little strip to the side to make it four inches. I hate that straight line. I think that the author should have made them all 4 inches. (The straight seam would look a bit better IF I had sewn it on the same grain, but my fabric was too short in that direction.) This one may be relegated to the potholder pile.