Elephant Parade Resumes

Last year, or at least it feels like it, in 2015, I made some Elephant Parade blocks. Then other quilts pushed to the front of the line. So when Joan and Carol announced that the theme for the August blog hop was It's a Jungle, I was eager to join so that I can make more progress on my Elephant Parade quilt. Hopefully if you squint and bend the rules,  you might be able to fit it into a jungle theme. 

It is a fun quilt and I really would like to turn this into a finished quilt.

 

Welcome to my Blog Hop post, and let me show you my Elephant Parade quilt. When last we left this quilt, in 2015 (yikes!) it was a bunch of stray blocks. I had made too many and asked my blog friends which one I should eliminate or put in the back, and they said I should fit them all in. 

 So I am leaving them all in the front of the quilt. They will just have to squeeze in somehow. The blocks are various sizes so I do have to add coping strips to make them fit properly in a quilt.

Because of all the other projects I am working on, mostly because I was trying to finish my June and July blog hop quilts, I got behind on this one too. The June quilt is finished if you want to scroll back. It's called Beach Picnic.

The July quilt is quilted and just needs to be bound. It's called Tropical Fish. I had to drop it so I could make progress on the Elephant Parade quilt. 

 

Because of my tardiness, my hope for this August quilt was that I could at least get one or two rows sewn together. I needed to do measuring and fudging to put them together and I didn't want to rush it and make frustrating mistakes. I am focusing on the height of the blocks and making sure they will fit into a row.  Later I will worry about the width. I will just add sashing to the outside to make them fit, though I may make a sashing/coping strip wider if I would prefer it that way when I get to that point.

 

I wound up getting into a good rhythm, and managed to complete three and a half rows.  I am happy with the progress, and am stopping only so I can get the blog post out. 

Hopefully like the June and July quilts I can keep working on them until I get them finished. As usual, since I am taking the photos at near midnight, the lighting is bad, which will make the reveal glamour shots look that much better.

Thank you for providing the motivation for me to make progress on this quilt, and be sure to check out the other participants in the blog hop. They are listed in my previous post.

Linked with:

Wednesday Wait Loss

Elephants Pushing and Shoving

My Elephant Parade quilt was started the same year as the Life of Plenty, and both were quilt-alongs where the blocks were revealed gradually. As a result, since I worked on both quilts at the same time, at least for a few months, these two quilts became related in my mind.  And the Elephant Parade became like a pushy brother who kept wanting attention every time I worked on Life of Plenty.

I've been spending my fifteen minutes of quilting time sewing down applique - on Elephant Parade, as well as old prepped but not sewn down circle blocks, new circle blocks, and anything else I can find. If it needs to be sewn down, the machine is ready for action.

Block 186

I had this block turned another way when sewing, but it is turned this way for the photo op. Who knows how it will wind up in the quilt!

Block 187

This one is to copy the porthole blocks Tanya is making with Liberty fabric.  This of course in no way looks like her blocks, which are neat and beautifully made.

2015 Recap of my Year

Today is the last day of the year.  2015 was a good year for me.  Today, I am going to give you a recap of the year by reminding you of some of my posts I made this year.

My word of the year was Clarity, and I tried to be more clear in everything I did.  In my communication, I tried to make sure that people had enough background information to understand what I was saying, and tried to choose my words more carefully instead of taking the lazy way out. While there was effort and improvement, I will continue to work on this.

In my home, I tried to clear out my spaces to be more open, welcoming, and easier to maintain. I was extremely successful in this.  I got rid of some big furniture pieces and either bought something smaller or went without a replacement.  I reduced the number of flower beds in the yard. There has been substantial progress in the  family room, the kitchen, and the yard.  Other rooms also have made progress, but not to the extent that I want. I will continue to work on them in 2016. And it wasn't all cleaning-type work either.  I framed and put up artwork that had been in the closet for years, put up tiles for a back-splash in the kitchen, replaced a defunct dishwasher, had some electrical work done, and purchased and painted a picnic table so I could enjoy the outside as well as the inside of the house. Yesterday, the contractor finished installing a new front porch on my house.

In quilting, I had a lot of fun.  Although the number of quilt finishes I had in 2015 is low, there are many works in progress that provided me a lot of joy this year.  I kept my focus on the projects I was working on and I hope to finish them in 2016. Most of the quilts I made this year are made up of different blocks, so if you have been following along, you have been able to see my progress block by block throughout the year.

In February, I showed the finished the Christmas Tree quilt, which I showed you again recently.

In February, I joined the Elephant Parade Quiltalong, hosted by Lorna Mahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. I added more animals and people throughout the year, and in September, I finished making all of the blocks. These blocks were a lot of fun to make, and now it is just a matter of trimming some blocks, choosing a layout, adding the sashing, and putting them into a quilt.

I also joined A Life of Plenty Quiltalong, hosted by Jeni from the Willow in February. I think I made my last block for it in March.  There are still many more blocks that have been prepped. Even though I was enjoying making both quilts,  I realized that Elephant Parade and A Life of Plenty were competing against each other with my time and space.  Since they both required me to dig through my stash, and different parts of my stash, it might be better for me to do one at a time.  I do really like this quilt and hope to get back to it soon.

In August, I showed the finished Irish Chain Quilt.

From September through November, I worked on the Islamic Tile Quilt. It is now a top and needs to be quilted.

I started the Quilty 365 Project in November, where I make a circle a day. This project is a year-long project, and I have been making a circle a day most days. I've slowed somewhat on this, but hopefully I will get back in a routine for making these circles. These circles have gotten out of order as I was showing them off, but I will be putting them together soon.

 


 In November, I started the rail fence quilt from Sujata Shah's book, Cultural Fusion. All the blocks are now made, and I just need to put them together into a quilt.

This is the first time I have finished making blocks, and yet not taken it to the next level of making a quilt top, and yet I am at that stage for two and a half quilts.  I think it is just the excitement of making the next quilt that distracted me from finishing the quilts I started.  I enjoyed making the blocks, and I enjoy seeing completed quilts, so I am hopeful that all of these quilts will be shown as finishes for 2016.

In December, I made this little quilt out of the leftovers from the rail fence quilt. I even finished it so I could be sure to have another finish for the year.

As a bonus, I want to show you something I haven't shown before. My family came over and we had a craft day, making these cute little strawberries. It is a great way to round out the year with family, and crafting.

I wish all my readers a happy and healthy New Year.  I hope it is the best year ever for you and your family.

Full House for Elephant Parade!

People who have been following this blog will be happy to know that the final paraders have arrived for the Elephant Parade.  They have been trickling in slowly here and there, and many have been waiting in the staging area for months.

Let me introduce you to the latest arrivals.  First the bugler in a band uniform.

And a fox.

I have to admit that I really didn't enjoy making these last arrivals. I think this is because I had specific ideas in mind about how they were to look instead of simply letting them grow improv.  But they are finished and I think they look okay - the bugler turned out to be quite handsome, and the fox will look all right hidden amongst all the other animals.  And I thoroughly enjoyed making the other participants, so it all balances out on the positive side.

The next step is to choose a layout. Originally I was going to arrange the elephants as they are in my family, but with the new animals, that plan has been abandoned, and they can go wherever they look good.   I laid them all on my bed so that there would be a white background, but then I had to stand on a chair and take the camera up to the ceiling to take these pictures.

So what do you think of the layout?

I am going to move the turtle away from behind the fox. He needs a better view.

And if I use the tiger, he will need a tail. My sister was thinking of a person for each row, but I think they work better together.  The dancing couples are already sewn together, and the musicians look more band like if they are together.

The twirly girl was a reject, but I think I could get her to fit if I decide to keep her. The giraffe is not supposed to be a reject but I am not sure that there is enough room for him.There are only two left facing rows, and they have a variety of animals already.

I also forgot to show the original bird I made for the quilt.  I had also rejected this one, but now I am wondering if I should make room on the quilt for all of them. I made too many on purpose, so that I could take out the ones that wouldn't work. What do you think - which ones would you reject? Or move around?

This post has been linked to:
Pieces by Polly Block Party

Music has Arrived at Elephant Parade

Progress continues to be made on the Elephant Parade quilt.  All of the participants in my Elephant Parade have gotten some work done, and they are no longer blind. I also fixed little bits and pieces that I noticed and didn't like.  I have to sew down all these applique pieces.

 Also a drummer has arrived for the Elephant Parade.  He has a lot more applique pieces than all the others.  His hat / hair and drum strap will get some more tweaking tomorrow.

The drummer come with another band member, but I was trying to have him have bent knees, and for some reason I am having a lot of trouble with bent knees.  I need to be fresh to decide whether to leave him with straight knees, or keep trying to bend his knees.

My summer vacation is coming to a close soon, and I want to be able to get this quilt done if at all possible, at least get it into a top.  But my mind is distracted with other projects I have started around the house and I keep coming up with new ideas - how about a float, a banner, a flag, a fox - and a dog - and a horse - and a panda . . .

It is just too much fun to stop.

This post is linked up to:
Let's Bee Social #88 
Pink Doxies Pet Project

More Animals Have Arrived for Elephant Parade

More animals have arrived for the Elephant Parade.  First a lovely brown elephant has arrived to take care of her babies.

Next up is a Block Lotto bird.  I've been seeing these whimsical birds on the Blogosphere since April 2013 and kept thinking I should make them.  Now I did!

Last and certainly not least, is a Zany ZebraZ, at half the size as in Lorna's pattern. Since making those teeny-tiny Irish chain pieces, I could handle the teeny tiny pieces on this zebra. I made the neck simpler but otherwise followed the directions exactly.  I might have to get a Sharpie to define the neck a bit more.

Here they are all together.

Next up, I am going to work on people.  I am thinking of a drummer. Can't have a parade without music. I might add a fox too, but I haven't decided on that yet.

This post has been linked to:
Let's Bee Social #87 at Sew Fresh Quilts
Pink Doxies

World Elephant Day

Apparently, August 12 is World Elephant Day.  That must explain why four more elephants came to join the Elephant Parade. They must not be closely related to the other elephants in the parade because they are brown while the others are all shades of gray. They will help show the diversity that is my Elephant Parade.

They brought a tent looking thing, but it is too small for them to use, so it will be used in a different project.

This post is linked to Let's Bee Social #85.

Elephant Parade Considerations

Here are all of my elephant parade blocks so far.  Some of them have the applique added, but as you can see, most of them do not.  I really like how it is looking so far, but I have this great debate.

On one side of the argument, I think that this quilt would look better with a 5x5 layout. I really enjoyed making these blocks, and I would be able to enjoy making this quilt longer. The new blocks don't all have to be unique - I could add more elephants, and make the bird that is in the original pattern. And I could make more people - they were fun to make.

On the other side of the argument, there are SO MANY quilts I want to make, as you can tell from my last few posts.  I am being tempted left and right with the next quilt. I also would be able to put away all the fabric that has been set out for this quilt, and get the space cleared up. And the 5 x 5 layout means that there would have to be 9 more blocks to make, and that seems like quite a commitment!

Today, I am leaning towards making more blocks. Yesterday, I wanted to finish it, and the other day, I wanted to make more blocks.

Another Animal Has Arrived for the Elephant Parade

I was minding my own business, hurrying up to finish the Irish Chain quilt so I could start something new, when lo and behold, this animal showed up in the sewing machine.  Yeah, it is one of those whatever you think it is animals. What do you think it is? Yes, that is exactly what it is.

I like that he is on an incline. Keeps the parade more interesting when the road isn't exactly flat. I lost his ear - I didn't want to fuse any of the applique on until I was sure, so this is a temporary one. He wound up with a shorter body than I was envisioning. Darn seam allowance. At this point, I can still change the ear and tail to make it look more like the animal you think it is.

 I think this means that I have enough blocks for the quilt I originally planned.  (4 x 4).  I'm tempted to make it a 5 x 5, but that would just delay the finish of this quilt.

I think I am going to add another couple of rows on the Irish chain. I have some more nine patches left, and am not sure I like the idea of a square Irish chain quilt. But I do want to keep the nine patches in all four corners, so I have to add two instead of just one more row. This quilt seems so boring when compared to all the new quilts I have been thinking about, but I know I wanted something simple and fast to balance out the slow moving quilts I have been working on. I was tempted by alternate pieced blocks and applique, but I do hope I can keep it simple throughout, even though it looks so boring right now. I will free motion this quilt though instead of diagonal straight lines to make a modern feel to it and to practice my free motion quilting. I haven't done that yet on my "new" machine.

A Giraffe Arrives!

When last we left our elephants, they were waiting for the elephant parade to begin.  It's been a long wait, and although they are well fed, well rested, and keeping entertained by each other's company, they are getting impatient.  Where are the rest of the animals that will be in the parade?

They were expecting an adult giraffe to join them, and were going to give him a stern lecture about keeping other people waiting, but what they saw instead stumbling across the savanna was a little wonky baby giraffe. Nobody knows what happened to her parents, but all the animals vowed to take care of the giraffe and let her join their family.

Hopefully the giraffe will keep them busy and entertained as they wait for the rest of the animals to arrive.

The People Have Arrived For the Elephant Parade!

Excitement is building backstage as the people have arrived backstage (what do you call the part of the parade where people get ready?)!  And as everyone requested dancing people, they are doing just that!

I started out making this dancing woman. I started with the skirt, trying to keep all the dancers on the skirt intact.  But as you can see, she is too tall.  And since I had to give her some surgery anyway, I decided to make her a little bigger on the top. She looks disproportional, since her top is so much smaller than her bottom.

She turned into these two women.  Since there is a limit of three people in the parade, the one on the right is probably going to have to go on the back or have a special place in the orphan block quilt. She looks like a spinning top! Or maybe she has to go to the bathroom really badly!  Or maybe one of them will get a special place on the border.

The woman on the left came after I had seen some quilting shows.  I kept trying to figure out how to make people with straight lines, but after watching an episode of the Quilt Show where they were showing drunken path blocks, I remembered I know how to do curved piecing, so I did some curved piecing on her hips.  I really like her.  I thought about adding a sash on her to show her as Miss Parade, but I would like to keep showing off her pretty dress.

This is the dancing couple I showed on the last Elephant Parade post, but now in fabric!   He looks a little bit like Santa with his big waist.  People are fun to make, and addictive! I am having a hard time stopping.  Maybe when this one is done,  I will do another one with just people.

The animals and people are jostling for places as they get ready to start the parade. The people are practicing their dancing.  Right now they are armless, but don't worry, their arms will magically appear before the parade.  Unfortunately, the giraffe, leopard, and monkey are running late, and we will have to wait for them before we can get the parade on the road!

Linking to Free Motion by the River.

More Planning For the Elephant Parade Quilt

I didn't get any sewing done yesterday, since I was running errands, but that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about quilting!  One of my errands was a stop at the library.  While I was there, a book that was displayed jumped out at me.  It's called Josephine by Patricia Hruby Powell. It's a children's book - a biography about The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker.

And in it, is an image of a leopard that is just perfect for the elephant parade quilt. Most of it, particularly the neck and face, has a change I was already thinking about making for my next block, but this book gives me a better idea of how to do the feet.

There are lots of other beautiful images in it as well.  In fact, the book is just filled with inspiration.  When I just looked it up on Amazon, I see it is a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book. Well deserved.

See that monkey?  Hmm, an elephant parade could use a monkey, could it not? It would add to the whimsical nature of the quilt.

And look at the people. Don't you think that dancing couple would love to be in the parade too? I have African fabrics I can use for their dresses. Maybe instead of flowers, I can make people. I realize that I am taking out the simplicity of this modern quilt with all these, which is striking since the simplicity is what drew me to the quilt in the first place.  One day, I might be able to make a simple modern quilt and keep it simple, but apparently, not today and not with this quilt. I haven't decided yet whether they should be dancing or walking in the quilt.

I also took my animal prints fabric to the experts.  I wanted to make sure that I used the prints appropriately for the various animals. I didn't want to use tiger fabric for a giraffe.  I was expecting them to say, this fabric is this animal, this fabric is that animal, etc.  Apparently some of the fabric I have are stylized and don't necessarily represent particular animals.  We decided on the leopard fabric. I think it is the one on the extreme right. That one isn't so important, because it will still look like a cat, so whatever animal you think it is, it is that.  The issue was more for the giraffe.  I don't have giraffe fabric, but I have decided to use one of these for it anyway - the one in the middle with the big circles. I think it is a better option than using a solid. After all that, it turns out that we will have an animal that is impersonating another animal in the quilt.

My sister also said the one on the very left would work well as a snake.  Maybe a snake will sneak into the sashing!

Leopard and Frog

Boing Boing CC BY-2.0 via Wikimedia

As you can see a leopard looks pretty much like the tiger I showed you in the last post.  This means I really should have written down the measurements I used to make the tiger. It might have a slightly longer neck, at least it does in the picture!  Look they even have a very similar pose with the legs.

Once I have finalized the tiger, I will be able to get to work on the leopard. I was supposed to show you the finished leopard with this post, but I haven't even started it!  Maybe I should also try to work on a giraffe in the meantime.

But I do have a finish to show you!  I love making these little blocks.  It means I can show finishes on every post!

I made the frog block last night. It was so quick and easy; I had everything pieced together before I realized I was done!  Yes, I still need to applique the eyes.  The leg fabric was used in Lansing Leaves, and I think it works wonderfully as a frog too. The body fabric was used for the turtle. It is a Mirage fabric from Connecting Threads. I got a whole bunch of small pieces of different colors from them when they were having some kind of sale.  I am enjoying working with all the different colors.

Tiger

Tiger:

enjosmithCC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr

Here's a tiger picture I want to convert to a tiger block for my Elephant Parade quilt.  I was originally thinking that it should be the same size as the baby elephant block, but as I kept looking at the turtle, I think it will be easier for me to convert the turtle pattern to a tiger.  A turtle and a tiger look alike, right? At least they both start with the letter t!  The turtle block is bigger than the baby elephant block, so this means my additional animals will have to be that size. I don't think that will be a problem though, as long as I make the other extra animals that same size.

I'm back.

Lorna, Lorna, Lorna. You made it look too easy.  I thought I would simply make a square for the head, a rectangle for the body, and some rectangles for the legs, and everything would look great! The fabric would make it obvious what animal was being represented.  But since you had taken the time to show the shape of the animal, I thought I should make some more of an effort too. Although I did draw some sketches, I did not use graph paper, and pretty much winged it as I went along.

Unfortunately, there was a cow who wanted to join the Elephant Parade and was willing to dress in tiger's clothing for that chance.  I had to be quite firm and tell him in no uncertain terms that he was not welcome in the parade, but may have the possibility of joining the primitive quilt if he behaved.

Then it looked like a horse.  Then the head seemed too small for the body. I made the body a little bit skinnier, but went ahead and attached, thinking the legs would help the proportions, but it still looks like it is too small.  It's not bad now, but I'm not sure I am happy with the bottom row of the legs.

So here it is.  I will be appliqueing a tail on the tiger. One leg looks shorter than the others, even though it is farther away, but the white will be hidden in the seam allowance so it might be okay.  What changes would you recommend?

 

Here's what it looks like in the elephant parade.  How can I make this look more like a tiger?

Linking up with Let's Bee Social 62.

Turtle quilt block

I made the turtle for the Elephant Parade quilt.  So cute!  I will put all the eyes on at the end.  The shell fabric is the one I recently bought from Joann's.  I thought it would make the perfect shell fabric.  I need to do a better job of pressing.

Here's the turtle with the elephants so you can see the size.