Tommy the Turtle. Pattern Released!

Today Tommy the Turtle was released into the wild!

My husband and I both have a quilt to curl up under on the couch and chair, and recently our toddler son has decided to remove these blankets when we are using them and curl up under them himself and a lot of the time he won't share with us. As a result, I decided he needed his own quilt for the lounge. 

He loves Turtles and I tried to find a pattern with a turtle. No such luck so I cranked out the crayons and drew one - which my son then pointed to said "Tur-Tol" and promptly drew over top of it with his own crayon. It didn't matter - he was happy and I had enough to work with. When he went to have his afternoon nap, I fired up EQ8 and started working with my sketch to turn it into a 12" Foundation Pieced Pattern which I have called Tommy the Turtle. 

My plan was to make a Bale of Tommy Turtles crawling on the sand or swimming in the sea, with one facing a different direction to the others. 

So far though - I got sidetracked and have only made one and it is another Work in Progress:

I recognized quite quickly that there is a bit of a gap in the quilt pattern market here. Lots of quilt patterns and no easily discoverable Foundation Pieced Turtle Patterns? My suspicions were confirmed from the response I got when I posted my planned pattern on Instagram asking for testers. I got more people than I needed to test and felt really bad about having to turn a few of them away. 

Here are some of the great turtles that were made by my testers:

This version was sewn by Lisa Lee from Coffee and Fabric. Lisa made Tommy a Tula Turtle and I think he looks great with those bold greens! This was also the first time that Lisa had tested a pattern. Lisa has started her own quilty-blog and has been sharing her adventures. Totally worth reading and following Lisa on Instagram!

I hadn't thought of using Brown for the Shell until I saw this version by Kait from @beautifulthingsinacrappyshed. Kait made her turtle for her son, who also loves turtles. I cannot thank her enough.  Kait has also recently made my Wally Whale Pattern. You can find more of her work on Instagram.

Another version that I thought was just Beautiful was this lovely Green and Purple Tommy Turtle. Vickie got lots of positive feedback from her followers on Instagram for her version, and you can see why with such a pretty turtle! Follow Vickie on Instagram here

Donna wanted to make her version for her Grandson who loves Turtles. She had a very affectionate helper who became more of a hindrance at times...

 

So I will keep working on my Turtle Quilt for my sone and in the meantime, you can make one too! The Tommy the Turtle pattern is now available to purchase in my Etsy store.

Happy Piecing!
RJ