Penguin and Fish eyes

I'm not sure why this step gave me so many problems. Okay that's a lie. This step gave me lots of problems because I've never done applique and for my first time doing it I decided to do pieces the size of buttons on the cuffs of dress shirts. I had originally planned to do a satin stitch around the edge of the eyes, but I discovered that of the many stitches my new sewing machine does a plain ordinary satin stitch is not one of them. Then I tried using a blanket stitch, but it didn't work with those stupid tiny pieces with my limited experience. Finally while watching Fons and Porter they did an episode with applique using a darning foot and a simple straight stitch.

After a month trying to figure out how to do the eyes it took about an hour to do the stitching on all of my eyes. I prefer working with smaller pieces so I added the eyes before assembling the blocks. It takes a little more attention when completing the blocks, but only one fish was mutated in the process.

 It is optional to do the eyes before or after assembling the blocks. The penguin beaks however are pieced and need to be added prior to sewing up the penguin blocks. I cut small squares, drew a line down the middle, and  sewed to the shallow side of the line. I struggled to get my beaks to line up when folded so I nudged the edge a bit over the side of the penguin blocks and then trimmed the excess.

I've known all along that my drunkard's path blocks would produce penguins and fish, but there's a certain level of excitement that comes from seeing the finished blocks and knowing that my plan actually worked.

Some of the ladies in my quilt guild are encouraging me to write up this pattern. I think once the quilt is finished I'll work to create a pattern for a baby quilt. It probably won't be ready in time for the May quilt show, but when I have it finished I'll be sure to share it here.

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