June is a fun month!! Pauline McArthur from Funky Friends Factory has partnered with Island Batik and each ambassador is to make a Funky Friend. We could choose from a LOT of Funky Friend patterns. I have made several Funky Friends in the past. This year, I chose to make Sue the Squirrel. Squirrels are famous in the quilting world … all the distractions of new projects are called ‘squirrels,’ This BLOG POST talks more about squirrels. I figured I needed a ‘real’ squirrel in my sewing area!
Sue the Squirrel is an Instant Download and you could start making yours today! See HERE.
Funky Friends patterns come with very clear directions. Sue the Squirrel also has a photo tutorial to help if you find the directions confusing! The link is in the pattern.
After I received the pattern from Funky Friends. I pressed my fabric with my Oliso M3Pro Iron (which I LOVE). and then started cutting. I decided to make 2 squirrels, a brown and a purple one.
- Island Batik Fabrics Used:
- Purple Squirrel:
- Lavender (part of the Playful Purples – always available)
- unknown purple from my scraps
- Brown Squirrel:
- Earthly Stories – (2) 10″ squares from a 10″ stack (a collection released this year).
- Weave – Brownie (a blender – always available)
- Purple Squirrel:
It is super important to mark all of the edges, so when the directions say, “Sew from F to G,” you don’t have to go back to the original pattern to figure out where F and G are. I use a Frixion pen and make sure that I mark only within the seam allowance. Normally I highly dislike Frixion pens because they can leave small white lines on the fabric. However, they are perfect to use in the seam allowance!
With a Schmetz Needle and Aurifil Thread in my machine, I started sewing. Here are some progress pictures: (the ears // arms // and the face with safety eyes already inserted)
Once they were made and stuffed, Sue (purple) and Sam (brown) agreed to a photo shoot. The first one is in the sewing room with their Simply Stuffing from Hobbs Batting. It’s wonderful and they said they really liked it! They wanted to go outside. They were really good until they decided to hide in the maple tree.
Then we went into the backyard and they posed really nicely with Daphne (our grand dog). Then they scampered away and were climbing the tree. Daphne told them “Get down!”
That was enough of their misbehaving! ** Until ** we went on a trip and they snuck into the truck! They were good travellers! But they really liked the window seats best!
Sue and Sam were really good at my sister’s and enjoyed Brûlée (a real cutie!), until they started to climb around!
We went shopping at Emmaline Bags in Spruce Grove and Sam and Sue very politely asked if they could sit in the Adirondack chairs in their Canadian display. The chairs were a perfect fit, but they were not for sale. Sam was a bit grumpy that he couldn’t take a chair home, but Sue told him that he would be better off sitting on the couch than sitting in a wooden chair!
As we headed home, they asked if they could have their picture taken at the Jasper sign. As soon as the picture was taken, they scampered off and ran up the trail towards the town. I did manage to catch up and caught a few pictures of the 2 of them …
Sam sat on a rock, enjoying the scenery while Sue sat on the bench.
And their final portrait …
Here’s a peek at my previous Funky Friend projects: Randy the Rhino, Alice Alpaca, Ella Elephant, Gregory Gorilla, and Taylor the Tiger.
Thank you!
Thank you to the generosity of Island Batik (Lumin Fabrics) and Industry partners! They have supplied the products for free as my role as an Island Batik Ambassador! Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting, Schmetz Needles, Oliso Iron, and Funky Friends.
Island Batik Ambassadors
Visit the other Island Batik Ambassadors to see the Funky Friends they made this month:
- Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs
- Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting
- Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio
- Tina Dillard – Quilting Affection Designs
- Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany
- Kimberly Flannagan – Kimberly Quilts
- Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
- Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts
- Kim Jamieson-Hirst ~ Chatterbox Quilts
- Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
- Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River
- Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
- Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery
- Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
- Susan Michaels – Dragonfly Fiberart Patterns
- Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
- Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique
- Gail Sheppard – you are HERE!!!
- Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color
- Solomae Stoycoff – Cuddle Cat Quiltworks Blog
- Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
- Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt
Don’t Forget:
I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.
Quilting Gail 