Hive 4 January Tutorial - Penguins

Happy New Year!  I'm Emily and this is my fourth year in Stash Bee and third year as a Hive Mama.  I'm excited to be spending the year with Hive 4!  I started quilting in college in the fall of 1997.  I'm a librarian at a community college in North Carolina where I live with my husband and our 5-year-old son.

This month, we are making penguins!  This is a block by Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts, used for this bee with her permission.  We'll be making the 12" penguin and adding borders (not in Lorna's original tutorial) to make a 16" finished block.  Here's the link to her tutorial:
https://sewfreshquilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Penguin-Pyramid.pdf
Note that you want pages 2-3 for the 12" block.

Your penguin may be fairly classic.

The quilt made from these blocks will be donated to my local chapter of Project Linus, where I am an active volunteer. Project Linus quilts go to kids from birth to age 18 who need a blanket hug.  The Charlotte chapter sends quilts to 45 organizations in a 5-county region, including hospitals, police departments, shelters, and more.

Or perhaps your penguin will be a bit more flashy.

My first test block took me an hour and ten minutes to make, with twenty minutes of that total time for cutting out the pieces. Tip for saving time: I take the units for several steps with me to the machine.  Step 1 (the bow tie) is very fiddly.  By also working on the other sub-units, I got less frustrated at the fiddly parts and felt like I was making progress. It also meant a lot less up and down to my iron. Note: This is fun quilt, not a show quilt.  If things are a little off, especially in the fiddly bow tie, do not worry about it!!!!

You will need 5 different fabrics for this block:

Background: light to medium blues, pretty much anything will work here 
Black/penguin body: black solid, tone-on-tone, or fabric w/ black background & other colors in it
White/penguin belly: white solid, tone-on-tone, or fabric w/ white background & other colors in it
Feet/beak: yellow or orange either solid, tone-on-tone, or with pattern as long as it reads yellow or orange
Bow Tie: any bright color that you like.  I prefer solid for this but if you don't have one, tone-on-tone is okay.  The pieces are so small that any pattern will be lost.

pieces cut out

Fabric to Cut

Background: (1) 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangle, (3) 2 1/2" squares, (4) 4 1/2" squares, (1) 5" square, (2) 2 1/2 x 12 1/2" rectangles, (2) 2 1/2" x 16 1/2" rectangles
It's fine if you need to piece together the longer border strips.  I did this in a few of my test blocks.

Black/Penguin Body: (2) 1 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles, (1) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles, (1) 5" square

White/Penguin Body: (4) 1 1/4" squares, (1) 2 1/2" square, (2) 1" x 1 1/4" rectangle, (1) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle

Yellow/Orange/Penguin Feet & Beak: (2) 2" x 2 1/2" rectangles, (3) 2 1/2" squares

Bow Tie: (1) 1" square, (2) 1 1/4" x 2 1/2" rectangles

Lorna's tutorial will take you through the penguin but does not include borders.  When you finish with her instructions, your penguin will look like this:

Now take your two background pieces that are 2 1/2" x 12 1/2" and attach to each side of your block.  It will look like this:

Next, take your two background pieces that are 2 1/2" x 16 1/2" and attach to the top and bottom of your block.  You're done!  Your block should look like this:

I'm so excited to see all the penguins!  Did you know that the collective noun for penguins is a waddle?  That's if they are on land.  If the penguins are at sea, it's a raft of penguins.  I'm on land, so we'll make a waddle of penguins!