I have been designing patterns as Critter Pattern Works for 22 years. In that time, I have become friends with many of my customers. Each year when I see them at shows, they beg me to design a pattern of their favorite critter. This Foxes quilt pattern grew out of a friend's obsession with foxes. Her enthusiasm inspired me.
This quilt is fused raw edge applique, with some thread painting, and drawing with machine stitching. The hand embroidery is pearl cotton, and the flower and tree drawings are built on the foundation I started in my two most recent quilts, Crazy Sheep and Sheep Wannabees.
If you printed out the whole PDF pattern (downloadble or CD), it would be thirty-six 8 1/2" x 11" pages. I always assume that you don't know how to do any of the techniques needed to make up one of my patterns.There are color photos on every page (except the pages with the line drawings which make up the patterns for the Foxes and Chickens).. My thinking is that you only need to print out the line drawings, and leave the rest of the pattern to refer to on your computer. When you cut up your patterns to make the appliques for the details, you always have a complete set of drawings in your computer. I foiled the gremlins once again. (Don't you have gremlins taking your stuff at your house, too?)
The printed pattern which is snail mailed to you, has 24 pages. (There are many more colored photos in the PDF.) This is like a normal pattern: with 11 pages of instructions, and 13 pages of drawings of foxes, chicken faces and poke weed border quilting design, AND 2 sided colored cover, with the full quilt on the front and detail photos of the quilt on the reverse. The CD form of this pattern is the same as the downloadable PDF but is on a disk and snail mailed.
When you purchase a PDF pattern, the location for the download will be emailed to you within 24 hours. Some people would prefer to get the pattern mailed, so we will try offering this as an option.
The finished size of the quilt in the photos is 35" wide x 32" high. Yours could be different by changing the size of the "empty" or non-appliqued blocks or adding borders. I don't tell you to make the blocks a specific size in the instructions. You need to leave about 2" or more around the fox appliques. You can combine the blocks any way you want. You are not expected to follow my arrangement unless you want to.
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. That way everybody's quilt comes out differently.
We have How to Applique videos on our website if you learn visually. Watch our designer, Debora Konchinsky, take you through all the steps to make a Critter Pattern Works quilt. The second one shows how to raw edge stitch.
