So, how did this begin? I somehow acquired a pile of seemingly mismatching charm squares (5” pre-cuts for those not familiar with quilty terms just yet). I’m not one to typically use pre-cuts, but I really like the challenge of figuring out how to make scraps work together that seemingly don’t go together.

After studying them for a bit I realized that while these charm squares were from a variety of different color families (i.e. blue, tan, black, red, etc), they were all similar in their color tone. Color tone refers how much grey has been added to the original pure color hue. So, by recognizing the similarity of the tones, I realized that’s how I could make these pre-cuts play nice with each other. I chose the brightest white I had in my stash, because white can help calm down more saturated colors, as well as offer a place to rest the eye and act as a tread of continuity when working with a variety of colors.

Bonus: since I don’t typically work with pre-cuts, using these also guys seemed like it could be a great way to practice some skill building. Practice makes you better right?

The first question was, “What do I do with these?” And being the researcher I am, I started looking for some blocks I had not made before that could could work with 5” pre-cuts. Which is where I discovered the “Crazy 8” quilt block. I’m not sure why I gravitated towards it for this project other than it looked fun to try.

Given that I only had 5” of fabric to work with to create each block, this also was a lesson/practice in measure 4x, cut once and make it work lol.

So, I’m not going to go into detail here about how I made the “Crazy 8” blocks. You can find that tutorial here.

However, this is a fun little video about why we measure 4x, cut once:

After doing some research on different styles of tribal tattoo lions, I developed and printed out my version of one the size of the quilt top. Next I used an X-acto knife to cut all the holes in the paper that would act as my stencil onto the fabric.

After Leo was all cut out, I next had to figure out how to do an image transfer of the stencil onto the fabric. At first I tried tracing using my favorite water-soluble fabric gel pens, but after 3-4 tracings, I realized it was going to take me FOREVER to trace all the stylized pieces and I was quickly burning through my refills of white gel.

So I decided that instead of tracing, a chalk transfer would be a faster (and cheaper!) alternative. (I was still stuck using an X-acto knife to cut all the pieces out again…) It worked phenomenally well (except for my poor hand hurting for almost a week afterward).

Fun Fact: This is the project that broke me and caused me to buy a cutting machine. You probably would too after 8 hours of X-acto knife cutting…

After I finished appliqueing Leo to the “Crazy 8’s” quilt top, I quilted around him using free-motion to “trace” the image of Leo. A few of the larger pieces of his mane were stuffed to give some more depth and he was finished off with simple black binding.

Leo started life as a skills and technical practice piece that morphed into an artwork of his own. I think that’s the beauty of doing small sampler and testers. You get to practice and master new skills, yet still create something that can be wonderful, unexpected, and fun. Practicing something without intention or and end goal in mind can sometimes lead to more creativity and artistic growth.

I hope the story of Leo inspires you to play and practice learning new skills without intention occasionally. You never know where that path could lead!