The Elephant Quilt

The elephant quilt has been completed!  The recipient has received it so I can finally share it.  The fabric is Alphabet Soup by Zoe Pearn for Riley Blake and I used the pattern Sparkling Gemstones from the book Jelly Roll Quilts.  The sashing is Kona Sky.

This was such a fun pattern to piece and went together fairly quickly.  The baby that I intended to have this ready for before he was born is now 6 months old.  I started piecing it back in October but I didn't finish it until March because it took me a while to realize it needed an elephant!  (I hope he forgives me)  :) 

I took the design from one of the elephants in the fabric pattern, enlarged it, traced it, attached it to the quilt with Steam-A-Seam 2, and zig zagged the edges around it.

Here's a closer shot of the quilting and my embroidered logo.  I free-motioned a boxy meandering stitch. (inspiration from Oh, Fransson!)

The back is a big piece of  Blue Alphabet Boy Main with a strip of Kona Sky.  The binding is Kona Everglade.

Happy Quilting!

Stalling

This cute little guy I made on a whim the other day to applique on an upcoming project.

Do you ever get stuck on just a tiny little detail during a project where all it would take is a small insignificant decision to move forward, but instead obsess over it and let it sit for days/weeks/months?

That is my elephant!

My current quilt project needed something.  Didn't know what... just something.  I could have just finished it and moved on, but instead I let it sit for a few months and then one day I woke up and was staring at the pattern on it and poof! - I made the elephant above.  I got back that motivation to move forward on it!

Now I'm moving into an uncharted territory... quilt applique!  I'm not scared of applique, just confused on the the small decision of whether to sew it on to the quilt before sandwiching it and then quilt around it OR sew it on top after the quilting.  I didn't want to lose the elephant by quilting on it or have a huge empty space in the quilting on the back around the elephant. So the project sat again while I internet searched my options for examples until I was sick and tired of thinking about it.  Repeat the same search for a few more days. I couldn't find examples of exactly what I was looking for.  I found many examples of applique on quilts, but nobody is sharing what the back looks like... so I can only assume it's not pretty.

I ended up sewing the elephant on before sandwiching.  I did a small zigzag around the elephant, ran out of bobbin thread just as I was rounding those tail curves, and now the tail looks like someone has been chewing on it.  Will it be noticeable to others?  Probably not as much as it is to me, but that's all I see when I look at it.  I was so upset that I had a mangled tail that I lost my motivation again.

I have pushed myself to move on this weekend.  I sandwiched it and am currently in the quilting process of free-motioning a boxy meandering stitch.  (inspiration from Oh, Fransson!)

(My Sunday night set up)

I'll share more pictures at a later date.  I don't want to chance the recipient seeing the entire quilt before she gets it!

In Progress Quilts

I wanted another new wave quilt that was a bit smaller than my turquoise one AND I had a fabric coupon (not that I needed more fabric) which made me buy 10 prints from the Silent Cinema line.

I used the Fat Cats ruler on this one too, but this time I made it the lap quilt size as on Oh, Fransson!'s site.

I actually finished piecing the whole top and have the back ready to go, but this is the only picture of it I have so far!

And here's my progress on a Sparkling Gemstones quilt using the Alphabet Soup fabric for my friend who is due very very soon.

Chain piecing the jelly roll  (did I mention how much I love my new machine!?)

I also have this top finished, but I cannot show it as she's probably reading this text right now.  (Sorry this is all you get!)