A Waddle of Penguins

I am so excited about this finish!  For Stash Bee this year, I asked for the fabulous penguin block designed by Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts.  (I did ask her permission to use it for Stash Bee.) I absolutely love Lorna's designs and have used many of her patterns before.  This is one of the free block tutorials on her website and I asked my Hive for the 12" version, plus a border to make it a 16" block.   

And boy did my hive mates deliver!  Aren't these guys fabulous??!!!  Many folks named their penguin, which was super fun.  One hive member made three (!) penguins and named them after each of her brothers. I also got a bonus penguin from a hive crash of one of the Bee Mamas, giving me enough for a 4 by 4 layout. This quilt is huge!  I planned it to be twin sized but it fits pretty well on a full bed as well. 

not a great photo, but you can see it fits on a full-size bed (it's not yet quilted here)

Since it's bed-sized, I donated this to the Carolina Hurricane Quilts project, coordinated by the amazing Carole of From My Carolina Home.  She's been collecting quilts for most of 2019 to be donated to folks who lost everything in Hurricane Florence last fall.  Carole specifically asked for bed-sized quilts, so even though I dislike wrangling large quilts, I decided these penguins would put a smile on someone's face.  I know Carole also wants quilts for any age, but I admit that I am someone that doesn't think an animal quilt has to be for a kid!  Based on the number of animal quilt patterns out there, I think lots of adults enjoy quilts with an animal theme.

It's so big, my adult male quilt holder is completely hidden save for a tiny bit of visible fingers

 The sashing in Kona Marine.  I quilted with a line of my machine's serpentine stitch every 5 inches. 

Did you know the collective noun for penguins is different if the penguins are on land versus in water?  These penguins are on land, so they are a waddle.  If I were to take them on a houseboat, they would be a raft of penguins. 

Thanks so much, Hive 4!  This is my fourth year in Stash Bee but only my first finished quilt!  I guess I need to get working on the others!  The Waddle of Penguins was #1 on my list of Q3 goals for the Finish Along and is on my list of projects needed for my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Quilting Gail.  I'm also linking up with Tish of Tish in Wonderland for her UFO party and will use this as my completed UFO for the UFO & WIP challenge hosted by Julie of The Crafty Quilter.