Turtles for everyone!!!

A couple of days ago I went out my front door on my way to town and my neighbor stopped me and told me that there was a turtle in my yard...

Sure enough, he was right!

I snagged my camera and took some photos.























Here he is in all his glory, hanging out with the only friend that makes him feel better about his "velocity-challenged" self, Mr. Snail.

He was the cutest little turtle that I've ever seen in my yard.
























Here at the shop we have a different sort of Turtle: the Henrietta Turtle, which is a pattern by Heather Bailey.























As you can see, Henrietta Turtle and Mr. In-my-yard Turtle are remarkably similar in size:



















I didn't want to pick up Mr. In-my-yard-turtle, but he didn't seem to mind if I put my hand next to him...

Must have been that lovely engagement ring!

I have wanted to write about the Henrietta Turtles for such a long time, but we have had a bit of a "keeping them in stock" problem with the patterns: meaning I just couldn't keep them in stock.

But now I have gotten wise to the matter and have ordered a generous(er) amount of patterns and feel it is safe to write about them.

Earlier in the Spring I sent out a call for sample sewers and one of the most hotly requested items to sew up for me were these turtles.

In the end, the job went to my friend Michaela who now lives in Detroit.

I sent her a few (I think 9) fat quarters and asked her to just "make however many she felt like."

What I got back was a whole herd of turtles!
























And having a whole herd at my disposal (I think she made almost 20 of them!), I sprinkled them throughout the shop, and that's what caused the Great Turtle Craze of 2010.

Can you blame me?
























Michaela says that these turtles take about an hour each to make.

Don't try and get away without using interfacing: according to Michaela it is a necessary evil to help keep their cute little turtle shape.

Other than that, you just need some fat quarters or scraps and some patience to make these cuties.

Thanks, Michaela for making the herd of turtles for me (great job!) and thanks to my neighbor for pointing out the real thing on my lawn!

Have a great 4th of July weekend... see you again soon-ish!

XO,

Rhea