Love with a Twist: Classy Crocodile

What a Load of Croc! Colour & Inspiration Tuesday

“Never Smile at a Crocodile, Oh, you can’t get friendly with a Crocodile….. “

What a load of croc! Classy Crocodile will be your friend any day. He even promises not to nibble at your edges. He has no idea why you would not want to be BFFs with him, so the least you can do is give him a grin!

Do you know what else is a load of crock?! October! Well, not October per se, but the fact that it’s here already. Not goooooood! Where’d September go anyway? I’m thinking the last half of September is probably still around here somewhere…. under a pile of papers perhaps? I can even prove that I didn’t use up all of September, because I am still standing here holding a crocodile balloon pattern. And the crocodile balloon is our second September balloon for Love with a Twist, so the month is clearly not done! As a temporary measure, while I work out where the time leak is, I declare today to be the 31st of September and we’ll sneak in that Classy Croc.

Classy Crocodile is our second option for Block 10 of the Love with a Twist quilt along, competing with our elephants for your affections. If you leave him off the quilt though, be aware that there will be floods of crocodile tears! And you must never disappoint a Crocodile; that much is good advice! Keep reading today to download your balloon crocodile pdf pattern and find out how to put him together. And then join in our usual Colour & Inspiration Tuesday party. All the best parties have animal balloons! 😀

About the Love with a Twist Balloon Crocodile Appliqué Block

Today’s Classy Crocodile balloon appliqué is the second option for Block 10 of the throw size versions of Love with a Twist. Of course, you will also need to collect our rockin’ croc pattern if you are making the full twin-size quilt. Block 10B sits in the bottom right corner of the Throw quilt, and directly above the koala and swan on the left side of the Twin quilt.

Things to remember as you sew along with Love with a Twist

• There are two throw versions of this quilt, which can be re-mixed into a twin size quilt. The instructions to cut and construct the throw quilts can be found here and for the twin quilt, here.
• Today’s Classy Crocodile is Block 10B of Love with a Twist, and our twenty first download to date. Block 10B can be interchanged with Block 10A, which was the Excellent Elephants.
• We have also already had the Dippy Dog and Pretty Poodle blocks in January. The Lasting Love and Pretty Pig in February. The Kuddly Koala and Graceful Glider swan in March. The Toddling Turtle and Bonny Butterfly in April. The Responsible Rabbit bonus, the Rascally Rabbit and the Fabulous Fish blocks in May. The Qwazy Quacker duck and Jolly Jumper frog in June. The Wonder Wader flamingo and two Nifty Neck giraffes in July. And the Magic Monkey and the Omniscient Owl in August.
• The appliqué templates provided are drawn in red lines and black lines. If you are doing raw-edge appliqué, ignore the line colours and simply work with the shapes supplied. If you want to do turned-edge appliqué, you will need to add a seam allowance to the black edges only. The red edges are where the shapes overlap and extra fabric allowance has already been added.

Download your Classy Crocodile balloon pdf pattern here

The cheesy-grinned balloon crocodile appliqué pattern can be downloaded here. Clicking on the balloon crocodile appliqué picture directly below will download in a new tab. Using the red button will open the pdf right here under your nose.

**** It is really important that you print this pdf at 100%, otherwise your pattern pieces will be the wrong size for the quilt blocks. Turn off any “fit to page” options in your printer dialog and ensure that the printout size is set to 100%. There are check boxes supplied in the document. If your printout is successful, these will measure 1″ square. The document is designed to fit on US Letter and A4 paper. ****

What you will need to make the (raw-edge appliqué) Classy Croc block:

If you have not pre-constructed your quilt top, you will need background fabric for your appliqué:

• If you are making Block 10B for the throw size quit you will need a background fabric piece of 25.5″ x 10.5″. This measurement does not include any trimming allowance.
• To make Block 10B for the twin size quilt you will need a background fabric piece of 27″ x 9.5″. Again, this measurement does not include any trimming allowance.
• So, if you use a piece of fabric 28″ x 11″ or larger, you will keep your options open and have a small trimming allowance 🙂

You will also need:

• one main fabric for the crocodile’s body, approx. 10″ x 13″, and a second fabric for his bumps of 8″ x 3″. My crocodile was made from Island Batik fabrics from the Ditty collection, given to me by Island Batik.
• scraps of white and black fabrics for the eyes and teeth.
• fusible paper-backed fabric adhesive , approx. 10″ x 16″
• thin batting for trapunto or your favourite stabiliser for stitching (optional)
• general tools and notions: sewing machine, iron etc, teflon ironing sheet or non-stick paper, small sharp scissors, pencil, quilting pins, grease-proof/tracing paper, machine embroidery or sewing threads for appliqué and embroidery

How to put together the Classy Crocodile Balloon Appliqué

Trace your appliqué shapes directly onto the backing paper of your fusible adhesive. Fuse the shapes to the back of your fabric, according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer. Then cut out each shape and remove the backing papers. They go together as follows:

Step 1

Assemble the 4-page layout diagram supplied and cover with an ironing sheet/non-stick paper. Position appliqué pieces C1 and C5 and tooth C2 in place and secure them temporarily by touching them briefly with the tip of a hot iron (or tack down with a small appliqué iron).

Step 2

Likewise, add the head piece C3 and the main body C6.

Step 3

Time for tooth C10 and body piece C7.

Step 4

Add the first four bumps to the body in order C16, C18, C20 and C22. Also add leg C8 and tooth C11.

Step 5

Add eye socket C26, tooth C12 and bump C24.

Step 6

Finish the crocs dental work with teeth C13, C14 and C15. Also finish his bumps with pieces C17, C19, C21, C23 and C25.

Step 7

Add the last body piece C27. Start the top eye.

Step 8

Finish the eyes and give your snappy new friend a grin!

Step 9

Give your appliqué a thorough pressing and fuse to your background fabric.

Then stitch your appliqué crocodile down using your favourite method. The sample I have shown uses free-motion straight stitching over a low-loft polyester batting. I layer my appliqué over the polyester batting and secure with quilting pins. Then I stitch around my shapes 5-6 times to secure them thoroughly. And finish by removing the excess batting with curved blade scissors/snips.

Have you started your Love with a Twist quilt yet?

Share your Love with a Twist blocks with me! You can fill the Chameleon and me with joy by sharing your Love with a Twist blocks via email, or on Instagram (mention @cleverchameleon or tag #lovewithatwistquilt). Or by posting on my Clever Chameleon Facebook page. Or by adding your beautiful work to the Chameleon’s Colour & Inspiration party right here on any Tuesday. Like today!

But first let’s look at a couple of last week’s link ups. Two quilt posts with thoughts from the authors about important construction decisions that make both helpful and bewitching reading……

Susan’s getting in the mood for halloween with her newest pattern Just Batty at Quilt Fabrication. While halloween and dressing up are not my thing, the Chameleon is always one for a costume party. And there are a lot of things I like about this post besides… Firstly, Susan managed to supply a flyaway shot like I wanted for my Dandelion quilt. But more importantly, Susan shared how she adapted a quilting pantograph to better suit her needs and the feel of the quilt. I like her adjusted quilting design very much, go take a peek.

And Ann of Laughing Gas quilts linked up this magnificent finish – a wedding present for her daughter’s friend. There were a lot of start-overs and re-thinks on this project, rescue fabric was shipped in (from Australia of all places!) and this not-to-be-a-bed-size quilt grew to 102″ square. I love all of Anne’s final choices, and the final result, and the fun had in the photo shoot. Yay to beautiful quilts that bring people together.

Now your turn to dress up – Join in the Party!

Tell us – what are you working on, or have recently finished in your sewing room? We want to know so we can visit and be inspired. Link up a blog post, an IG post or simply a photo from your computer.  See if you can get the Chameleon to turn quilted with happiness. We’d love to see your quilting colours!

• Link up your latest or recent quilt/sewing excitement. All quilt construction stages welcome – finished quilts, quilt blocks – even fabric pulls! Or inspiration sources!
• You have 50 characters in the link description…. tell us who you are and what your fantastic project is.
• URL links are not necessary to link up…. non-bloggers 100% welcome! If you don’t have a URL, you can link up with just a photo.
• Take a moment to visit some friends who came to the party – leave a little love and make their day. And a link back to Clever Chameleon is always appreciated.
• Do it now……. before you forget!

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The Chameleon turns rainbow with pleasure when he hears from you. I am more reserved, so I will respond in gratitude by email instead. Now that it’s your turn…. Scroll right to the end, leave me a comment and tell me, what do you think? Thanks for connecting!

Would you like to keep in touch with Clever Chameleon and the fun quilty ideas I design as well as find all over the internet? You can follow directly for email updates, or through Bloglovin’, Pinterest, IG or FB. All your follow options can be found here. Don’t forget to link up all your current quilting projects on Tuesdays at our Colour & Inspiration Linky parties!