Squirrels for my Girl

My daughter is very fond of squirrels. And I have to admit, so am I. Their shape. Their fluffy tails. Their posturing. And those cute little beady eyes.

When Erin received a wooden hope chest for Christmas from her grandparents, I immediately wanted to quilt a cover to protect the top. But she was not really keen on the idea.

The top of the chest measures 17.5" x 40". And I designed the cover to have a piece fitted around the edges of the topper to keep it from sliding around. And yes. That is a blue Skittle on the floor.

Squirrels that are still in need of some eyes

As seen in my last Sunday Stash post here, the Kona cotton solids from that purchase were compared, and I decided to go with the Kona Earth and Biscuit for the making these playful squirrels. I had considered using a turquoise background, but in the end a Peapod green won out. Logically, these little guys are playing on the grass not hanging in the sky. So.....

The squirrels are meant to match this collection of pillows which were my influence in leaning toward using a turquoise background. I made these pillows for Erin as a gift this past Christmas. She has them piled up on her hope chest. I asked if she would like me to quilt her a little something to keep the top of the chest from getting scratched or otherwise messed up. She was reluctant at first. That is until I came up with the squirrel design. That was a different matter! She is certainly nuts for squirrels.

Collection of pillows

The backing is a large piece of Shadow Leaves by Cynthia Coulter for Wilmington Prints that I found in my stash. I love this print and feel it blends well with the Kona cotton solids used in making the patchwork squirrels. I had plenty of this print. Enough to use it for the backing...

The binding...

And the ruffle.

And there was even enough left over to make one more pillow.  This one is 13" x 20".

The quilting was done in organic wavy lines with my walking foot using Superior Threads' Poly Quilter #331 in Lemon Chiffon thread in the top and Gütermann all purpose polyester thread in the bobbin. The variegated thread and quilting method provide a nice texture, which reminds me of fresh blades of grass.

I am really pleased with how everything came together. And - more importantly - so is my daughter! All I need to do now is find the right buttons for those squirrels' eyes.

UPDATE:  Yes! I found the perfect buttons for their beady little eyes!

This Quilted Squirrels hope chest cover was the 40th use of my 100 labels ordered from

MyOwnQuiltLabels.

You can design your own labels, too!  Click here!

I have added the pattern for Erin's Squirrels to my pattern store here. This pattern has instructions for making four squirrel blocks as individual blocks and also includes instructions for making a runner the same size as the one I made.  Go NUTS!

Linking up to Finish it up Friday with 

Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts

Keep On Quilting On!

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