Wow! I had such an amazing response to my Waddling Penguins quilt at The Festival of quilts, Birmingham, UK. I really wanted to bring some attention to my penguins because the puffins have been taking most of the limelight for a while. Although, as you all know, I am puffin crazy too. I knew the quilt had to be quirky, to suit the penguins' personalities, and then it came to me; They must be waddling!
This is an easy quilt to make, and so much fun! You could probably use foundation piecing to make this but I'm keeping it simple.
The finished topper, minus the border, measures 30 x 30 inches.
To make the quilt topper blocks you will need:
5 fat quarters I used Sea Parrot Seashore bundle no.4 which has a blue-grey palette. https://www.seaparrot.co.uk/products/seashore-fat-quarter-bundle-4-5-designs-blue-and-grey-palette
36 penguin animal squares I used 3 Sea Parrot penguin panels https://www.seaparrot.co.uk/products/penguin-panel-12-images
A piece of paper, pencil and ruler.
Plus the usual thread, wadding, backing, border and binding fabric.
To make the Waddling penguin topper:
1. If you are going to wash your quilt in the future, wash your fabrics before sewing because shrinkage is likely to occur. When washing Sea Parrot fabrics for the first time, wash light and dark colours separately because colours may bleed. It is probably best to hand wash Sea Parrot fabrics, at 30 degrees with a mild detergent. If machine washing, use a gentle cycle and place fabrics in a tied up cotton bag or pillow case. This will reduce fraying.
2. Iron your fabrics. It is best to iron the fabrics when they are still slightly damp. Always iron on the reverse to prevent staining.
3. Cut the penguin squares down from approximately 4 x 4 inches to accurate 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch squares, making sure that the penguin image is in the centre. I have had some new acrylic 'Square Up' templates made to make this easier. It works best with a small rotary cutter but you could draw around it and cut with scissors. https://www.seaparrot.co.uk/products/3-1-2-inch-square-acrylic-template
4. Next, cut the 5 fat quarters into 2 inch strips. The most efficient way is to cut parallel to the selvedge. The direction of the fabric doesn't matter because the strips are going to go all round the square and then be angled anyway. 
5. Take a penguin and a strip of fabric. Cut two pieces of the strip just longer than the top and bottom of the penguin square (Just longer than 3 1/2 inches). Pin one strip, right sides together, to the top of the penguin square and one strip, right sides together, to the bottom of the penguin square.
6. Sew the strips to the central square using a 1/4 inch seam.
7. Press the seams away from the central square.
8. Trim the excess fabric from each side in line with the central penguin square.
9. Now cut two strips of the same fabric, just longer than each side of the sewn penguin piece and pin one, right sides together, to the righthand side and one, right sides together to the lefthand side. 
10. Sew with a 1/4 inch seam. 
11. Press the seams away from the central square.
12. Draw an accurate square 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches on the piece of paper and cut it out. Then pin it to the front of the sewn block at a jaunty angle.
13. Trim off the excess fabric.
14. Take the paper off to reveal your waddling penguin! 
15. Repeat for the other 35 penguins, making sure you vary the direction and angle of jauntiness. There are 36 penguins and 5 fabrics so each fabric design should make 7-8 penguin squares. Therefore, there will be repeats of penguin species-fabric combos.
16. Lay out your blocks in a 6 x 6 block square. Sew the sides of each block together in each row. Press seams on alternate rows in different directions. Then sew the rows together, trying to match the seams that join the blocks together as closely as possible. Press seams open. For a more detailed explanation, go to my Quilting Basics 1 tutorial.
17. I sewed strips of light blue fabric, 5 1/2 inches wide, to make a border around the topper but you can use whatever colour and width you like.
18. Quilt and bind as usual. See Quilting Basics 2 and 3.