Love with a Twist: Qwazy Quacker

“A duck walked up to the lemonade stand…..”

Last post, Denise commented that my balloon duck appliqué has attitude. 😀 As unintentional as that actually was, I agree. And in light of that comment, my duck appliqué suddenly reminded me some of the duck from The Duck Song by Bryant Oden.

….. and he said to the man running the stand, “Hey! bup bup bup…..”

“Got any Grapes?! “

Bahahahaha. That legendary song has helped my family through countless moments/hours of boredom over the years. Driving a long way? No worries, play The Duck Song. Waiting at the doctors? No worries, play The Duck Song. My kids have even added extra verses of their own on occasion. If you thought the Rubber Duckie earworm from Tuesday was cruel, get a load of The Duck Song stuck between your ears! What is it about ducks that causes them to be the subject of annoying songs anyway?

Your reward for smiling and nodding while I go on about duck songs is the next free pattern from the Love with a Twist series. Also in this post, a couple of housekeeping items…. we announce the winner of the Forest Fairy Crafts ebook and also remind you about a correction to the Fabulous Fish block pattern from May.

Ummm… do you know The Duck Song? If you have no idea what I am talking about you can play it here….. then keep scrolling to collect your duck pattern. Crank up the “music”, grab yourself a drink and a fruit snack, and get appliquéing.

About the Love with a Twist Duck Balloon Appliqué Block

Today’s duck balloon (Qwazy Quacker) appliqué is the first option for Block 4 of the throw size versions of Love with a Twist. Of course, you will also need to collect Qwazy Quacker if you are making the full twin-size quilt. Block 4A sits to the left of the LOVE centre block on the throw quilt, and on the bottom row of the twin quilt (between the swan and the rabbits).

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 Qwazy Quacker is Block 4A of Love with a Twist, and our twelveth download to date. It can be interchanged with Block 4B when it arrives, which will be a frog.
• 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. And the Responsible Rabbit bonus, the Rascally Rabbit and the Fabulous Fish blocks in May.
• 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 Qwazy Quacker balloon pdf pattern here

The impertinent duckie balloon appliqué pattern can be downloaded here. Clicking on the balloon duck 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) Qwazy Quacker block:

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

• If you are making Block 4A for the throw size quit you will need a background fabric piece of 9.5″ x 11.5″. This measurement does not include any trimming allowance.
• To make Block 4A for the twin size quilt you will need a background fabric piece of 10.5″ x 11″. Again, this measurement does not include any trimming allowance.
• So, if you use a piece of fabric 11″ x 12″ or larger, you will keep your options open and have a small trimming allowance 🙂

You will also need:

• one main fabric for the duck’s body, approx. 10″ x 5″, and a second fabric for the legs and beak (5″ x 5″). My first duck was made from Island Batik fabrics from the Ditty collection, given to me by Island Batik.
• scraps of white, light yellow and black fabrics for the face and eye
• fusible paper-backed fabric adhesive , approx. 15″ x 5″
• 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 Duck 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

Place the layout diagram supplied under an ironing sheet/non-stick paper. Position appliqué pieces Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 and Q5 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

Add pieces Q6, Q7 and Q10.

Step 3

Add pieces Q8 and Q11.

Step 4

Add the duck’s head (piece Q9) and the second leg (piece Q12)

Step 5

Finish off the duck with the face, wing and remainder of the foot. These are pieces Q13, Q14, Q15 and Q16.

Step 6

Add the eye. Add a couple of tiny black spots for nostrils or mark them for embroidery.

Use tracing paper to mark the positions of the eye and nostrils as described in the tutorial for the balloon poodle (step 6) if you need help getting them into place.

Step 7

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

Stitch your appliqué duck down using your favourite method. The samples I have shown use 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.

Enjoy! Got any grapes?!

A Problem with the Fabulous Fish file from May…..

As I wrote in Tuesday’s post, there was a missing page in the original pdf for the Fabulous Fish block. If you downloaded the Fabulous Fish appliqué pattern last month straight after it was released, you will need to download it again. Sorry. The original pdf had an omission of the second page of appliqué pieces – that has been corrected. Thanks Helma for picking that up so quickly! If you downloaded within the last 10 days, your file is the new one.

And We have a Winner

The winner of the Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons ebook by Lenka Vodicka-Paredes and Asia Currie is Tonya, with her suggestion of “Moonbeam Mouserider” as the name for my new fairy. The judge, my daughter, really loved that name. “Mush, Mush!” was her delighted response. Congratulations Tonya.

If you didn’t win this time, but would love to make some of the projects you saw from Forest Fairy Crafts, the book is available here (affiliate link). The original book “Forest Fairy Crafts” is also still available. Thank you to everyone who entered my little competition.

This post contains affiliate links. If you should choose to make a purchase via such links, I will get a small commission to help cover blog running costs, at no extra cost to you. The Chameleon thanks you for your support.

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.

Hope to hear from you soon!

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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!

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