Wild Animal Quilt

Take a walk on the wild side with this fun quilt - Sue Martin



I'm fortunate to live in San Diego, and my favorite place to to walking and take photos is at the Wild Animal Park. A couple of months ago, seven baby lion cubs were born, so I headed out to take some photos.

I'm making this wall hanging quilt using four of my favorite photos. When it's completely finished and quilted, I'll post another photo. The white border around the perimiter is not actually a part of the quilt, only a delineator from the black background of this page.

What you need:

1. Four printable fabric sheets (I used Printed Treasures)
2. Complementary jungle fabric; 1/2 yard each (I found seven different prints at a variety of quilting stores)
3. Black fabric, two yards
4. Sewing machine (all seams are 1/4 inch)

Do it yourself:

1. Print photos on 8.5x11-inch fabric sheets
2. Cut eight strips of black fabric into 8.5 x 2-inch strips
3. Cut eight strips of black fabric into 14x 2-inch strips
4. Cut two strips of each jungle fabric into 11.5 x 1-inch strips, using four different prints
5. Cut two strips of each jungle fabric into 15 x 1-inch strips, using the same four different prints above
6. Cut four strips of black fabric into 12.5 x 3-inch strips
7. Cut three strips of black fabric into 20x3-inch strips
8. Cut 10 strips of fabric from each of the printed fabrics. Cut strips the width of the fabric (45") and at random sizes varying from 1" wide to 2" wide
9. Cut four strips of black fabric into 45 x 2.5-inch strips (cut on a 45 degree angle to be used for binding)
10. Cut a 36 x 40 piece of black fabric for back
11. Cut a 36 x 40 piece of batting
12. Sew the 8.5 x 2-inch black strips onto the short ends of each photo
13. Press seam toward the darker fabric after each seam is sewn
14. Sew the 12 x 2-inch black strips onto the long ends of each photo
15. Sew two matching 11 x 5 x 1-inch jungle print strips onto the short ends of each photo
16. Sew two matching 15 x 5 x 1-inch jungle print strips onto the long ends of each photo
17. Sew the 12.5 x 3-inch black strips onto the short ends of each photo
18. Sew the 20 x 3-inch black strips onto the long ends of each photo strip, joining them all together
19. Sew the 70 strips of printed fabric into one large piece. Cut this into two-inch vertical pieces, to make the striped border
20. Add border to the black border
21. Layer backing, batting, and top of quilt and pin well.
22. Sew four binding strips together, end to end.
23. Sew binding strip, right sides together onto front of quilt.
24. Fold binding over raw edge of quilt and press.
25. Turn under seam allowance on back of quilt and slip-stitch to finish

For more creative photography and printing ideas, check out my book, Digital Delights for Scrapbooking.