Legend of Zelda Quilt

I have a son who likes everything his dad likes. This includes the Legend of Zelda! As Christmas was approaching last year I thought it would be amazing to surprise him with a quilt for his bed. I turned to pinterest and found some amazing Legend of Zelda quilts out there. People are so creative! I originally wanted to take some ideas and then do my own thing, but when it all came down to it, this pattern from quiltinglinda.com was just what I was looking for and has amazing instructions, and it's FREE. Why reinvent the wheel?

So, now that I knew what I wanted, it was time to get started. However I began to realize how hard it was going to be to hide a project of this size from my little guy. I would have to only work on it while he wasn't around and always be cleaning up after myself. Honestly, it may not have been that hard to do it right under his nose. He's a typical boy and doesn't usually pay much attention to my craft projects, but I got to thinking how much he might enjoy helping me with it. So, I enlisted his help and he was thrilled! We have had so much fun doing this quilt together!

For starters I followed Linda's instructions on how to make a grid and pressing board. This was time consuming, but definitely a must for this quilt. Actually, all I did was use a piece of duck cloth and then clamp it to the top of an old card table using cheap wood clamps. I iron right on top of this. I'm not sure what it's doing to the table underneath, but I'm not too concerned about it!

So this is what we do. I cut the squares for the quilt, then my son lays them out on the grid. Then I straighten them out and iron them on. Then I sew it all up and we have our block!

This one is still our favorite block.

When I was planning out the quilt I called up my good friend and quilting mentor. She was so excited for me to be making this quilt she bought me the June Taylor tool thingy that makes cutting the squares a breeze and mailed it to me along with a bunch of beautiful fat quarters. She has such amazing taste for colors. I am loving how vibrant and fun this quilt is!

Basically I am using the fat quarters she sent me, along with colors from my stash. Then when I need a new color I run to the store and buy what I need. And here are the blocks we have completed! I am still veering off a bit to do my own thing, but mostly sticking to Linda's pattern.

Before I started this quilt I saw some like it for sale on Etsy for $350 or more. I would like to say that people who are selling it for that much are short changing themselves! The amount of work that goes in to this quilt is worth so much more than that! It is worth it for the bonding I've done with my son though. I hope he always remembers the fun we are having doing this project together.