“For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.”
Anonymous
A few years ago, I made a quilted dinosaur large pillow for my grandson . He was a dinosaur enthusiast who could rattle off names and facts about dinosaurs. I made dinosaur stencils to trace on batiks; and then appliqued them. Every baby needs a dinosaur quilt, and since there is now a one year old grandson in the family, I needed to get started on a new dinosaur project.
I was looking at different possibilities, when I ran across a dinosaur pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. It seemed like a fun idea to try making this sampler quilt, so I purchased the pattern. My friend, Joy, at the Mesquite Bean helped me choose the fabric online. I chose light and dark primary colors with designs. When I finally opened the pattern booklet of 34 detailed pages, I suddenly thought I may have made a mistake.🙄 The directions are excellent, and complete with photos; however, I was totally overwhelmed. Organization is not exactly my specialty. There are so many pieces for each dinosaur and plant, some as small as 1″x 1″. There are quite a few diagonal seams, but basically all simple techniques. The organizational suggestion in the book is to cut and prepare all of the pieces and place them in labeled bags. This may work for some people, but not for me. I knew organization would be the key, but I had to make it fit my working style.
I started out by cutting and making the plants first. The large trays I had purchased at the Dollar Tree for crafting, came in handy for organizing the pieces. I then went on to make two of the same dinosaurs at one time. This organization saved me so much time and made the process fun and easy.
I added another appliance to facilitate my piecing. Tierney had posted about buying a cordless iron, so I looked into buying one for myself. I purchased a Martisan cordless iron, and it works beautifully. Not only is it convenient, it also presses seams very nicely. I now have a quilting ironing board that my DIL made me. It is located near my sewing machine, so I am able to stitch and press just by turning around. It made it so easy to press the bajillion seams for each dinosaur.
For the backing, I decided to purchase some dinosaur print Minky fabric. I hope it arrives soon.
With all the hours I earned because of my organization, I am ready to tackle new projects. 😉
Looks so good 👍
Thank you.
Those are the cutest dinos ever. I also agree with you about the idea of cutting out all the pieces first. I would have lost or destroyed half of them by the time I got to them. I usually read over a pattern or set of directions and then decide for myself how to manage it, as you did. This is why sewing clothes made me insane at times, having to cut out all the pieces at first. Which of course you have to, but it wasn’t the way my mind worked. Anyway, glad to see you and your work. I am also thinking about a cordless iron a la Tierney and now you!
The T-Rex is especially and that is why I chose this pattern. During my college days, I sewed my own clothes. A few years ago, I tried making a dress. I had so much trouble fitting the pattern I just gave up. The cordless iron is perfect fir pressing the seams.
What a cute quilt
Good for you! Those quilts that require a lot of organization usually take me years, literally!
I wanted to get it to my grandson before he was too old for dinosaurs.😁
Are you working on a temperature quilt? I have my January strip completed and I like the way it looks so far.
This looks fantastic! x
Thank you.
What a fun quilt – I am impressed by all that dinosaur piecing!
When I first read the pattern book, I was ready to put the pattern and the fabric in the What -Was-I-Thinking bin. I’m happy I stuck with it.
Ha – yes – the what was I thinking bin – we’ve all had stuff we want to throw in there!