New Critter Redux: Cirrus the Turkey

I just uploaded a new pattern for Cirrus the Sundrop Turkey to my website: http://sundropdesigns.net/ .  Cirrus will be free through Thanksgiving Day.

Cirrus is one of the original Sundrop Critters that I created in 2001-2002.  Here's what he originally looked like:

In 2005, I redesigned him to look like this:

While I'm quite happy with this 2005 version, I really wanted a pattern for a fairly simple turkey in profile.  You can blame Missouri Star Quilt Company's Thankful Wall Hanging (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8HFbhlcCk&t=1316s) for that!  I love that wall hanging and hope to make one someday.  But, instead of making three 6" Dresden turkeys, I want to make three 6" Sundrop turkeys that all look different.  So now I have three different Sundrop turkeys to use under the 10" Dresden turkey that Jenny Doan shows in the video.

Sundrop Critter Redux: Splash the Beaver

Splash the Beaver just had a gentle make-over and the pattern is free on my website (sundropdesigns.net) until October 15.  I have to admit that I didn't do more than tweak a few things. Even if you were great at solving the Find the Differences puzzles in Highlights magazine, you might not find the four little changes that I made to Splash.

Perhaps the most obvious change is that I made his (or her) teeth bigger.  A beaver's teeth continually grow, so it's only proper that after 17 years that Splash should have bigger teeth!  I also made the nose a bit bigger, moved the nose and eyes a little higher up on the face, and moved the tail a smidgen closer to the body so there's no longer a tiny gap between the two.  And there are two changes that you can't really see from the pictures: I shortened the pattern piece for the foreleg that's in the background (i.e., Splash's right foreleg), and I made the pattern lines thicker and easier to see.  I hope you have fun incorporating Splash into a special project.

Ideas for the Misty the Mouse Block

The sunny weather here has been replaced by more typical rainy weather, so I used my scanner to take photos of my work in progress for my Misty the Mouse project.  This project is too large for my scanner, but the Electric Quilt images will help fill in the whole story.  Here's the EQ version:

And here's what I have done so far:

The mouse and Churn Dash blocks are 6" square each (finished size).  They are framed by a 1" finished (1.5" cut) yellow border.  The 4-patch borders are made of 2.5" cut squares, then the entire top is framed by a 2" finished (2.5" cut) yellow border with a blue binding.  You can find instructions for the Churn Dash block here: https://www.generations-quilt-patterns.com/churn-dash-quilt-block.html
The finished project will measure aprox. 32.5" x 20.5".  It will make a cute wall hanging, but mine will go on a small console table where I keep my landline phone.

If you need a larger wall hanging or baby quilt, cut a stack of 2.5" squares, sew a bunch of 4-patch blocks and add rows of 4-patch blocks to the bottom until you get the length you want.  Then add 2" and/or 4" outer borders to get the size of quilt you want.  On the virtual quilt below, I added 5 more rows of 4-patch blocks, then a 2" yellow border and a 4" green border.

Or, if you need a nursery rhyme themed baby quilt, make 3 applique blocks for a Three Blind Mice inspired baby quilt that might look something like the virtual quilt below, which has three 6" mouse blocks and four plain 6" blocks with 4-patch blocks made from 3.5" cut squares.  I added a 3" strip of background fabric above the mice before adding a 1" blue border and a 3" neutral border.

Mice are cute and I have a lot of fun playing with mice, as long as they're not real!  If mice of any kind give you the creeps, substitute another critter block in these pattern ideas.