I know I’ve been pretty quiet lately. Hopefully you will forgive me when you see what I’ve been up to. I created a dinosaur play mat, complete with a pdf pattern!
AccuQuilt is releasing a new die this week – Dinosaur Medley. I was terribly excited when I found out about it. You see, I received a set of plastic dinosaurs for Christmas, and this was perfect for them! Yes, you read that right. I’ve been asking for a set of dinosaurs for several years, and my husband finally got them for me. I’ve been a big fan of Refe & Susan Tuma for years, and now I can play, too.
The AccuQuilt die inspired me to make a dinosaur play mat. Since I don’t have little kids or grandkids, I just have to own up that all the toys I make and buy are for me. (I pretend it is for Instagram traffic, but really, I like to play with toys.)
Anyway, I got started with a sketch, and then I thought it would be pretty funny to pretend that the dinosaurs made it all themselves. This also excuses my lack of drawing ability – the dinosaurs did it, not me!
I took many, many photos along the way, getting a lot of mileage out of my new dinosaurs. I hope you enjoy the video I created. I think I might even have it printed up as a little book, like the ones I’ve done for family gifts at the holidays.
There is a tutorial on the AccuQuilt blog to make the play mat. You can download the landscape appliqué elements below.
If you want to print out a professional-ish pdf pattern, you can find my Dinosaur Play Mat in my Etsy shop.
I had great fun with this project. I would highly encourage using your imagination in childish, immature ways sometimes. It is silly, and probably a waste of time, but I haven’t smiled this much in a year. My husband was surprised by coming across my dino-work vignettes a few times, and my photos made him laugh, too.
Oscar approves!
Hi Jen! I have a little three-year-old great-nephew who will definitely be into this kind of play mat soon. He calls dinosaurs turtles – I guess they might be related – but he definitely has the ROAR down. It’s so nice to see Oscar approving of the project! ~smile~ Roseanne
That’s so fun! I like turtles, too. Not so much the ones that roar – one snapping turtle encounter in Florida taught me to avoid the big pointy ones.
Totally love it!!! The photos of in progress work are priceless!!!! Well done. Oscar is so good to come in and check out the Dinos’ work for you too!
Thanks, Dawn! I knew you would enjoy my pictures. I’m now shopping for Dino accessories. Let me know if you have any great resources.
Wow, those dinosaurs certainly are a creative bunch! I can’t wait to make a mat for my Dino loving grandson!
Thanks, Deb! Aren’t you the lucky one with a grandson! I gotta get my boys out on the market.
This is both amazing and hilarious!!! Your video is amazing! I watched the accuquilt die reveal and am quite sure I will have to break down and get this die–I have a 7 year old, enough said! We’ll need this dinosaur playmat, too! Seriously, best thing I’ve seen in a while.
I played him the video this morning and I wish you could have heard his giggles. We watched it three times!
Oh what fun! Enjoyed the video, thanks
I’m glad you enjoyed it! That’s what I’m here for.
Oh my goodness did you have some fun~!!~ Shared the video link on my Facebook page for all my quilty friends to find. What a fantastic project. Glad you got time to play a little!
Thanks for sharing! It was a lot of fun.
So much fun! I love the dinosaur play and the mat…a fun project for sure.