Project Reveal: Elsie the Elephant

 The theme for the Project Quilting challenge this week is A Happy Handful. We were to make something small, that would fit in your hand.

I tend to have a hard time keeping my projects small and simple, so I thought it would be nice to make a hanging, Something like a row of prosperity hens but maybe something else.  Since I have a bunch of elephants in the house, I figure I could just make those. The picture is a set of elephants I already own, but I wasn't planning on making anything that elaborate. And I am only making one elephant for this challenge, not the whole row.  It can be a bowl filler or a hanging, depending on how it goes with one.

So I dug up some directions and made one.  There are lots of directions; this one had a nice visible pattern that I liked so I printed the template and got to work.  Some of them, like this one, doesn't quite explain everything for someone like me who has trouble sewing straight lines and hasn't made a lot of three dimensional stuff.  I also didn't read the directions as carefully as I should have, because the tail is on the wrong side. I didn't know it at the time I took this photo, but I sewed the other side of the legs wrong.

I fixed the tail and some seams that were too small and turned it right side out.  The curves are really tight and needed to be reinforced.

I stuffed it with batting scraps.  This piece uses a lot of batting, which is a good thing.  Although the supply isn't technically unlimited, it does replenish itself pretty often.  I do have some batting that I cut up in small pieces so it wouldn't be lumpy, I decided this scrap was soft enough that I would just use as is, and it worked out just fine.  At first I didn't want a really fat elephant, so I used less, but eventually I kept adding more.  There is probably room for more, but I didn't want to overstuff it. I don't trust my seams. :)

I hand sewed the opening and since I didn't sew the legs right, I didn't wind up with four separate legs as the pattern indicated and therefore it doesn't stand on its own.

Here are some glamour shots.

The tail is from some packaging and the ribbon was in the room already so I didn't have to hunt for just the right thing.

Here are the two legs.  The extra pieces did leave little pockets that I could add stuffing to, so maybe it helped with that (?).

I thought I would make the ears fancy by using a decorative stitch on my machine, but those curves are hard to manage.

The eye was another piece of scrap fabric. It was a long rectangle so I just folded it in thirds to cover the raw edges and sewed it on. I really couldn't see since everything was underneath the presser foot so I just blindly sewed to secure the eye in place. I didn't want to do any more hand sewing than necessary on this piece.  

And here is the finished piece. I am calling it a quilt because it has a front and a back and batting in between.

It is reversible. The other side is similar. This is the last Project Quilting Project of the year.  Even though I didn't follow the pattern exactly, I am happy with this. I was debating whether to make a 2-D one and just thought I should try to make a 3-D one.

Here it is in my hand so you can see the size. The pattern had three sizes and I chose to make the largest one. I don't think I would have had much success with a smaller one. She's a handful!

Wait, there is more. There are plenty of other quilts left to see and make.

15 Minutes to Stitch Week 12

 

Besides making Elsie, I have continued to make progress on other quilts.  

I started a green Sawtooth Star quilt on Saint Patrick's Day. Ever since I wanted more green on the Lupine and Laughter Quilt , I've been wanting to make a green quilt, and a simple Sawtooth Star quilt has been on my mind. The plan was to start after L&L was turned into a top, but I couldn't wait.  So it is now crowding out the L&L quilt and maybe urging it to get finished faster.

I have three blocks done. Elsie is made from the scraps from one of them.  They look like they would fit right in with the L&L blocks, maybe with some help of some sashing.

I also worked on quilting the Dresden blocks and have started binding them.

• 15 minute days / March = 21 / 21 days
• 15 minute days / 2026 = 80 / 80 days
• Success rate = 100%

Quilt Reveal: Zou

There are a total of 6 challenges for Project Quilting. Usually at this part of the Project Quilting challenges, I participate in fewer of them, so I didn't know how long they last.  I've been doing better this year because I decided to add a challenge to the challenge. Make a quilt you already want to make. That is how I managed the red and white quilt I made last time.

This week, the challenge is to make a quilt that is inspired by a book that I've read. I've been told that twisting the rules is a way to show off my creativity.

The challenge immediately made me think of this elephant. I had watched the Mary Fons video. She had given a link to an Artificial Intelligence website that makes drawings for you. I played with it quite a while and it came up with this drawing of a patchwork elephant. It had five legs, and when I asked it to keep going and complete the drawing, it just added a different elephant made in a different style.

Anyway, making this patchwork elephant is on my list of quilts to make. And I had pink fabric on the table from the pink challenge and I had been using pink fabric for the Dust Off an Old Book blog hop project, so a pink elephant sounded good.

All I had to do was find a book about pink elephants. There were several, but I needed something that as big enough to be a novel and quick to read. Here's the book I found:

  

It's called Murder of a Pink Elephant by Denise Swanson. I was able to get a digital copy from the library so I could get started reading right away. I spent a lot of time reading it, but then I read the fine print of the quilting challenge, and nowhere did it say I had to actually finish reading the book. I like reading cozy murder mysteries so I will finish it next week. I have a quilt to make.

It turns out that I didn't have a lot of scraps from the Dust Off blog hop because it used pretty much all the jelly roll strips, so I clipped off some fabric before I started piecing the back.

 

 I cut some small scraps and arranged them on a fusible. I made it in three pieces.

I pressed them down and cut out the shapes. It is always so ugly and scary at this point.

I pieced the background from scraps and placed the elephant on them.

 

 Sandwiched and quilted. 

Filled in some missing spaces and chose the binding.

 

I started hand stitching the binding, using a running stitch like I did last time, but for some reason, I had to stitch each stab at a time, so I switched to machine stitching to save time.

I just looked up names for elephants, and found out that the Japanese word for "Elephant" is zou 蔵. I call Zoey, "Zoey Zoo Zoo" sometimes so that sounded like a fun name for this elephant. I present to you, Zou.

 

2023: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 7

 

 

I worked on Zou this week. I finished the Boundless top and have started piecing the backing.

 

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 49 out of 49 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

Linked with:

 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

Elephant Quilt Exhibit

 

Hello! Welcome back to the Musee de la Grande Route.  You are in for a treat again today - a showcase of a specially curated selection of quilts. Today, I am featuring quilts I have made that have elephants in them. Long time readers who have already seen the quilts are rewarded with brand new photos they have never seen.

You may have seen this photo already, but it was in 2009 and it is tucked away someplace safe right now.

This one is from 2015. It is a brand new photo. I was able to use my brand "new" porch coffee table.

This one is from 2018. Another grand new, never seen before photo.

Here they are together so you can see a size comparison.

Well, that's it. Only three elephant quilts. 

In order to avoid disappointment, and avoid a revolt, I am going to break the rule that the quilts must be finished and give you a sneak peek into the works in progress room. There are plenty that also have elephants.

The Elephant Parade is still blocks waiting to be pieced together.

 

The Circle 365 quilt is pieced, but has lots more blocks to add before I get to 365(ish).

Both of these elephants are in the Quote Quilt which I have been showing you all this year. It's been a few months since I showed you these elephants though.

I hope you have enjoyed this quilt exhibit.  Be sure to come back for the next exhibit.

Quote Quilt Progress

Sometimes I hesitate to post a midweek progress post, in case there isn't anything picture-worthy to post at the end of the week. I hesitated this week too, but I have plenty more to show you that I added to the quote quilt during the second half of the week.

This elephant comes from a fabric that I purchased myself. It is probably the only fabric I have ever bought for myself that was bought at full price.   I have heard of the philosophy that instead of buying lots of things on sale, you should buy that one special thing that brings your heart joy, even if you pay more for it.  I waited for months for it to go on sale, and it never did, so finally I decided to go ahead and buy it anyway while it was still available.

This gray fabric is from the Maximalist quilt. It makes me happy to see fabric from other quilts in this one. Many of the blue fabrics are from my other quilts too - the ones that weren't made by other people.

In my last post, I said I was using broderie perse.  While it is technically true, I think of broderie perse as a collage of motifs that form their own, new motif. This flowerpot is made from three different pieces of fabric.

Here are the leaves I have added to this tree thus far.  There are probably enough leaves, but I might still add more.

Since I had the quilt outside to take the photos, I am showing you a full photo. The top is on the left side so you will have to turn your head to see it. Those white blobs on top of and underneath the elephant are drawings of new motifs that I plan to add in those places.

Waterfront Property

2020:  Week 12 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

We had a lot of flooding this week due to heavy rain.  Many roads were closed, some were damaged, and some people in a nearby town were evacuated.  Many of my neighbors reported water in their basements. My backyard was flooded but there was only a small trickle of water in the basement. Water did get into the garage, but most things are stored off the floor so it should be all right.

That orange stuff in the picture, because I was wondering, are flowers that fell from the neighbor's maple tree.


On the employment front, there is a strong probability that the project I am working on will be cancelled or delayed. We continued to work on getting everything set up for the busy period.  On Friday, we got a notice that there isn't any new information, but I have a feeling that there will be a notice on Monday, or that there might already be a notice in my work email.


Two of my family members have already been laid off, and two of them have been sent home to  school from home.

As I write this, the Ohio governor has just enacted a stay at home order, which tightens the restrictions even further, which means even more of the family are laid off.

I worked on the quote quilt this week.

15 minute days this week -- 7 out of 7
15 minute days this year -- 82 out of 82 days
Success rate  = 100%

Broderie Perse on Quote Quilt

How are you? I hope you are doing well.

I am fine, and following the guidelines of social distancing. I have family members who have been sent home without work, while I continue to work from home.

Working on the quote quilt during this time of quarantine was a better idea than I knew when I made that decision.

1.  It has quotes that are meant to make the viewer (me) feel better. 
2. Looking for motifs and comforting ideas to add to the quilt makes me focus on comforting things.
3. Although I will probably keep this quilt, it keeps my focus on someone else instead of the current situation (potentially future me, other future quilt owners such as descendants). 
4. The slow stitching also calms the pace and comforts me and keeps me busy.
5. It gives me something to do while I stay away from everyone else.

 I cut out some motifs from recently purchased fabric to add to the quote quilt, even though it doesn't actually go with the adding stories goal I mentioned last week. I added this because I liked the design but now that it is here, I think this is a good subtle hint of the history of the quilt. Hopefully by the time it is finished, we will be through the corona virus ordeal and it will serve as a reminder that we got through it."If we can get through the corona virus, we can get through anything."

This might be a good block to add the start and end dates. 

I don't think elephants are calming. In fact, I watched a movie that showed some African children running through an area to avoid being trampled by elephants.  This fabric was given to me by my sister and it makes me think of her, and our entire family heritage, so it is comforting to  me. This elephant is obviously a gentle elephant since she allowed all these decorations to be put on her.

Those quick motifs were to give me a break from working on the tree. I added some more branches, and although this picture doesn't show it, I have started adding the leaves on the tree.

My Stitching Week

My stitching week included some minor dabbling on the Sweet Land of Liberty, Colonial Bricks and Quilty Circle 365, but it was waylaid by a llama and an elephant, or should I say a squirrel project.

15 Minutes to Stitch

My progress as of Sunday was:

15 Minute sessions of stitching this week:  7 out of 7
15 Minute sessions of stitching this year:  240 out of 287 sessions
Success rate: 84%


If I didn't get waylaid by other projects so often, I would have bigger and more quilt finishes by this late in the year, but maybe it wouldn't be as much fun. It is hard to measure progress by the fun factor and easier to measure it by finishes and quilt progress, but looking at the quilts I made this week, let me tell you, I did have a lot of fun quilting this week.

Linked to:
15 Minutes to Stitch
BOMs away

I Llike You a Llot Llama

We interrupt regularly scheduled programming to bring you a very special Llama. I took a vacation from my vacation. I was running around thinking about all the things I wanted to get done before I went back to work, and decided I was going to take a pure vacation day that didn't entail getting ready to go back to work.

I watched this video.



I looked at my trash can. You know how I have been making circles out of my fabric trash. Well I can make other things besides circles too.  It's strange that the colors washed out in these photos since I did take the quilts outside to photograph them and it is bright outside. (edited to add: I took new pictures which are slightly better and replaced some of the old ones.]

The fabric scraps were mostly used as is, straight out of the fabric trash can, although I did have to make some skinnier. I didn't make sure they were all the same size.  I used double-side fusible web (Steam a Seam2) instead of liquid glue to  hold down the fabric scraps, and used a stick glue to help hold down the pieces that overlapped.

Then I cut out the shapes and fused them to the background.

Then I stitched the strips down. For this quilt, I used the wavy line stitch on my machine to avoid having to change feet. Then I added decorative stitches.

I birthed the quilt and then I stitched around the shapes with dark thread and added the words and ribbon. It was a lot of fun.

Those of you who know me are probably wondering why I used a llama instead of an elephant. "Don't you know you can use any shape with this technique?"

Way ahead of you. In fact, I finished the elephant before the llama, only because I had to piece the batting for the llama. I used scraps for everything - including the design, the background, the backing, and the batting. The size of the pieces were dictated by the size of the scraps.

The thread was new. This technique takes several feet changes, but by the time I got to the llama, I became more economical.

The circle was surprisingly in the right place to be an eye.

The border ribbon is made out of jute and polyester. I thought it worked well with the elephant.

Both of these were a lot of fun to make.

Linked to:
Off the Wall Friday 
Friday Foto Fun 
Oh Scrap! 
Moving It Forward Monday - these quilts were a brief respite from making the Sweet Land of Liberty and the Colonial Bricks quilts.
Monday Making