Learning …

Ok, so sewing is one skill I never developed as a girl, but I’m working on it now.  I’ve used the amazing “Wonder Under” before to make the “Incredibles” Logo on C and my shirts for Halloween two years ago, and I thought, “Well, what more to applique is there than Wonder Under and sewing around the edges?”

What more indeed.

If you look too closely, this Triceratops has been mauled.  His rear legs are in a horrible state.  I’m not sure he’ll make it through the night.

And the Allosaurus might finish him off for me, if not for the fact that he has no teeth … and no claws.  Yep, the claws were way too detailed for me to handle.  And I probably should have found another pic to do, because when I look at this one now, I realize his right hip is out of place.  So the Triceratops will die a slow, agonizing death because the Allosaurus can’t help him out.

This one was easier.  The lines were straighter.  I left most of the rigging off, which I was planning on putting on … but it was proving to be more than I could manage.

(Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with all 20 squares. )

And there I stopped.  For two weeks all the fabric sat on my sewing machine in the corner, and I bemoaned the fact that it wasn’t turning out like the vision I had in my head.

Then I faced the fact that the only way left to go was forward.

And I made this one.  I was rather pleased with it. (BTW, I think this is the only animal on the whole quilt who got to be his “normal” color.)

Then I made this:

This was the square I was dreading most of all.  What if I butchered my sweet little boy’s face?!!!  Thanks to a miracle, it turned out nicely.  I even got the poky hairs on the back of his head.  I decided, if I could get this one done, I could finish the rest.

I made C help me choose the tank, because I know he knows more about them than me.  Then, when I realized my lack of skills with applique, I dashed his choice to the side and chose the one that I thought would be easiest to make.  (Did you guess a Tiger?  Good, because I had to ask C again which one I’d ended up with.)

I was very particular about the airplanes.  J has two grandpas who have been pilots, and I wanted to use planes they’d flown.  Then, as with the others, I had trouble finding silhouettes.  This is what we ended up with.

Cessna.  Easy.  Quick.  And Grandpa O teaches people to fly in them.

C-47, because Great-Grandpa M flew one in WWII.  (My propellers came out a little wonky on this one, because I decided to try making them differently than I had on other ones … and it didn’t really turn out … which is why this next one lacks propellers …

See?  No propellers.  But I think the C-130 turned out the best.

I laid the squares out on my front room carpet last night, and I think I’m pleased enough with how it turned out.  Now I just have to piece it together and take it down to my mom’s.  I’m hoping she and my Grandma will help me quilt it … or at least around the squares … then I can finish it off with a quilting hoop, once it’s tacked down.