After a huge push in September and the beginning of October, Stevie the Crocodile is finished. For those who have been following her progress, I have a special treat: a time lapse video of her making. Thanks to my husband for putting it all together! Just click on the link below to view it at YouTube. You may want to enlarge to full screen. That link in the lower right.

For a better look at the overall piece, visit her very own page here.

Now that Stevie’s all done and out in the world, I’ve also given her a more formal “Latin” name: Crocodylus Smylus, a play on her captivating grin plus the fact that my first thoughts on creating something like this stemmed from reading nature encyclopedias to my pre-school son (who is now a college freshman).

Once I finished collage piecing her, I created a background in the same way, just with larger blocks of fabric instead of those smaller irregular pieces. Still gluing the shapes onto the flannel base.

All along, I was asked how I was going to quilt her. Honestly, I didn’t know. I’ve always free-motion quilted on my home sewing sized Bernina. I asked around for opinions and most were that I needed to go to a long-arm machine. Hmmm. Never done that before.

At just about the last minute a friend invited me to a quilt store about an hour drive away, Whippersnappers in Hallowell, Maine. A week later, the owner Lyn Irish, was tutoring me on her long-arm machine, with my crocodile as my first project. Four days later, quilt was done!

I needed to spread the quilt on my studio floor in order to square up the outer edges. Here I am, with help from Djinni the cat, smoothing out the wrinkles.

With a deep breath I took a rotary cutter to the edges.

Djinni lying in wait for unsuspecting humans, or crocs.

Then it was time to sew on the binding. It wasn’t going to fit on my sewing table, so the floor would have to do. With a little more time, I could have rigged up a more back-friendly sewing option, but the clock was ticking. I did an invisible, “knife edge” binding, not wanting to box Stevie in at all.

The quilt was due at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts by October 19, hanging day for the exhibit “From Insects to Elephants.” Time to bring in the big guns - my mama. She lives next door and is always available to help out. She is truly one of those people who has “forgotten more about sewing than most of us will ever know”. Luckily for me, she loves the trivial act of hand sewing. While I taught the first 2 days of my annual fall quilt retreat (right down the road), she sewed most of the binding to the back, plus the 22 foot hanging sleeve!

Even with the looming deadline, I got done what I wanted to get done - all the fine-tuning and details included. I worked on Stevie off-and-on for two years, though mostly this year, but have been thinking about it and collecting the fabrics for at least five years. In the end, she’s everything I dreamed of and wanted her to be.

She has sparkle and a twinkle in her eye...

... and red toenails.

Plus some mighty red spines for her mighty tail.

Finally, some closeups of the tail and body, highlighting some of the Australia Aboriginal-themed fabrics: kangaroos on her tail and a lizard in her belly. Since saltwater crocodiles are native to Australia, it seemed only fitting that she be made up of some native fauna too!