There are 18 full sized drawings of llamas and alpacas, with instructions for raw edge appliqué, machine quilting, binding the quilt, and signing your name freehand on the sewing machine. You can arrange the critters any way you like, such as in a single scene or rearrange the blocks. I did a lot of thread painting on the dense fur around the necks and legs with variegated threads: black/gray/white, and shades of brown. This is just straight stitching back and forth, drawing the dreadlocks. The quilt on the pattern cover is 34” wide x 36” high.

We have made several quilts with this pattern and they all come out with different measurements because the arrangement of the blocks has been different.  Should you leave out a block the whole configuration changes.  If you make one block twice (reversing the design and using in a different fabric) the whole configuration changes.  Also, if you used all the designs in this pattern twice, the quilt could be really big.  Combining this pattern with other Critter Pattern Works patterns will vary the size of the finished quilt even more. 

How do we combine blocks of different sizes?  If you have a long block and a shorter one and you want them to go together, add a strip of fabric in a different value (darker or lighter than the ones around it) to the shorter one.  Sew those two fabrics to the longer applique block and square them up on the outside edges.  This is now a unit.  Make more units.  If the units don't fit exactly together, add more strips to make them work together.  When all your units sewn together and are big enough to make it the quilt size you desire, add a border and quilt it.

Check out the detail photos of the Woolly Sheep quilt I made with wool suiting fabrics and hand embroidery stitches. The Llamas and Alpacas could also be done with felting to make them more 3-D.  You could use llama or alpaca fibers for a realistic look.  Where would you get these fibers?  Google it.  The new quilt with the wools is called Crazy Sheep.  That quilt won first prize in innovative quilts at Road to CA.  A new wool quilt is being worked on with a different layout.  This one will be called Sheep Wannabees.  You can see this quilt on my blog www.critterpat.blogspot.com in my early February 2010 entry.

Within 24 hours of placing your order for the PDF version of this pattern, you will receive an email with a link directing you to the download location.

We have How to Applique videos if you learn visually.  Watch our designer, Debora Konchinsky take you through all the steps to make a Critter Pattern Works quilt.