Where Have all the Elephants Gone?

I went looking for some information about my blue and white elephant quilt on this blog, and you know what I found? No final post! Well, I can tell you it is finished. You probably knew that.

But just to wrap things up, let me give you the whirlwind tour.

The quilt started as these chicken scratches.

Scratch that. The quilt started as a shower curtain! A gift from my sister--a nice fabric shower curtain with four bold rows of plodding elephants and mandala-type designs.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I would make a quilt from it one day! :) When I saw a call for blue and white quilts for an exhibition by Quilts, Inc, I thought I'd give it a try.

I drafted a 100% scale drawing of the center, interpreting elements from the mandala designs.

I used it to make paper parts for all of the rings. The center was pieced with English paper piecing and then I used reverse applique to apply the outer white ring.

I made the next ring with foundation paper piecing

and again used reverse applique to attach it to the center.

Next was some more foundation paper piecing to make a ring of triangles.

I wanted interlocking triangles with some pointing in and some pointing out. I couldn't do it with only foundation paper piecing, so once this step was done, I appliqued the remaining triangles on top.

Then, you guessed it, used reverse applique to apply this ring to the center.

Next up, a ring of hourglass shapes. I made this ring with English paper piecing because the curves were easier to handle that way.

 Since all the edges were set up for hand piecing already, that is how I attached it to the center.

Next was a lot of foundation paper piecing to make a ring of even narrower strips.

This is where I discovered that my printer did not default to 100% scale when copying. My ring ended up too large, but I was able to use what I had by removing a small section. More hand stitching to attach it to the center.

Then I reverse appliqued the center circle to a square of dark blue and bordered that with a narrow white strip.

So that was the center 20"x20" (or so) section of the quilt done!

The next round was more foundation paper piecing. First I did it wrong:

Then I fixed it:

After I added that to the center square I adding some white triangles to all four sides so that it was now "on point" and finally was able to add the rows of elephants that started it all!

It hung like that in my bedroom for a long time while I decided what to do with the corners. I drew several full-size designs--colored them even--to audition and finally settled on this:

I was hoping it would look like layered squares behind the center, but I'm not sure that came through.

You may have noticed the corners weren't big enough...you are right. They needed a border sewn to the outside:

with white cornerstones. One of the mandalas from the shower curtain was reverse appliqued in the middle. You can see how the center design was taken from this.

Sew the corners onto the center, and I was getting really close to a quilt top!

But one more border was called for. I cut and pieced lots and lots of blue and white rectangles. Then I organized them from lightest to darkest.

(I really can't help myself! But seriously, you can see that the rows of elephants are not the same: there are four different shades of the blue. So I made the outer border reflect the transition from light to dark.)

I bordered the strips with white on each side and sewed them on.

The corners were curved and I sewed the striped part with foundation paper piecing.

So a quilt top done.

Then the quilting. The entire quilt was done with free motion quilting on my domestic machine.

From the center:

I outlined the center cross and circle, the wedges, and the triangles and filled in open areas with free-form circles.

I outlined the curved wedges and the narrow strips and filled in the blue corners with an echoed teardrop shape.

I filled in between the larger triangles with more circles.

And I drew a detailed rising sun design in the blank white areas. Here's a closer view:

Again, I took elements from the center--like triangles and wedges--for the quilting design. A few areas are very dense, but in general I kept the quilting pretty loose so that the quilt would not become stiff.

I was really unsure how to quilt around the elephants and ended up outlining the elephants and doing an echoing squiggle around them. I outlined a little of the shape inside the elephant like the ears, eye, and shape of the back leg.

I did another rising sun in the center part of the triangle area. I does not show up well against the different fabric colours.

The center section was done in a double wishbone and I  put dot-to-dot quilting in the outside row.

I decided to go with quilted stripes in the blue border, with circles that echo the circle in the cornerstones.

The first time I did the cornerstones, I repeated a three-petal shape also featured in the center of the rising suns.

But I didn't like it. So I took it out, and did it again,

making it continuous with what was going on in the blue border:

I put the binding on next before I quilted the last border. This made it much easier to quilt right up to the binding, or at least not go under the binding area. I outlined the blue shapes and filled the white with more circles.

Instead of sewing full circles (which forces you to sew half of each circle twice to move to the next circle), I sewed one pass with a scallop pointing up, and then a second pass of scallops pointing down. When the "points" of the scallops meet, you get a circle! (You could also do two sine waves, one starting with an up curve and the other with a down curve, but I was worried I would flatten the curve too much.)

Once that was done, I could sew the binding down on the back.

And here it is!

The deadline for the exhibition really forced the completion of this one. I did get the application submitted on time, but the quilt was not accepted.

Last week I saw that the Holland Tulip Festival quilt show had open applications that were due that week. I quick got an application together and mailed it--the only way you could submit--only to find out that the festival is cancelled. (Naturally; but remember last week it wasn't so obvious as it is this week.) You may recall that I did enter it in the county fair last year and it won "People's Choice"! :)

Of course, it doesn't really matter because I really love this quilt. Even if it is on the spare bed because I am scared to use it in case I spoil all that pristine white!!

What an adventure that was. A lot of creative energy expended on figuring out what I wanted and then figuring out how to get it. And then figuring out quilting designs and figuring out how to do that too! My free-motion quilting is not great, but I am happy to have achieved this. If only I remembered while I was sewing that slowing down is going to get a better result every time!

Project Summary
Started: July 22, 2018
Finished: February 2019
Size: 92"x92"
Wool batting.
Free-motion quilted on my domestic machine.
All blog posts about this quilt: link

May 2020, shared on:

Family Craft Retreat 2

I think you're supposed to come up with a snappier title for a sequel, but I'll just leave it at "2". We had our second family craft weekend last week Friday to Monday, and it was a great time.

Over the weekend, nine of us attended. Three aunts and six cousins (a pair of sisters and four sisters). It was a good mix of people who saw each other more often and people who hadn't seen each other since last year.

We found a new location that catered to quilters and whose facilities were much more suited to our needs. The Fireside Retreat in Orillia (Ontario) was fantastic.

The old stone farmhouse was very welcoming. There was a bedroom on the main floor for those who couldn't do stairs and the two bedrooms upstairs each had three beds and plenty of room for it.

One sister greeting me and another sister
as we arrived.

The kitchen was modern and included a dishwasher which we were missing last year! We had some very cold weather, and the house was very comfortable, although we were glad for the wood stove in the sitting room.

We managed a picture of the whole group on the front porch. Don't let our missing coats fool you -- it was cold!

The owners change the quilt block on the front porch each year so you can build a collection if you return on different years. The previous blocks were hanging on other outside walls of the house and outbuildings.

The house had a long room that ran the whole width of the house. It was four steps down from the main level, and I suspect it was a converted porch. The one half had three wooden work tables, a cutting/pressing table (with supplies) and some design boards.

There were three tables but four quilters, so my sister worked on the table she (fortunately) brought.

The other side of the room was full of comfortable chairs and the woodstove. It was perfect for knitting, hand sewing, and hanging out. (There were spot working lights everywhere and more available if needed!)

I've never seen so many quilts in a house! Only two examples shown here but there were quilts on walls in all the rooms (including bathrooms!), quilts on the beds, quilts on the closet shelves, quilts on the bedroom window seats, and quilts just rolled up in baskets. We found out later that they were previous shop samples -- the owner's daughter owns a local quilt shop and this is where the samples go to retire.


Once everyone was there Friday night, we did some gift giving.

• One of my sisters brought mittens she makes from felted sweaters. The linings are always cashmere and they are scrumptious.
• One cousin brought craft themed mint tins ("Keep Calm and Knit On" etc).
• Another sister made little rice pack hand warmers (the purple squares).
• One cousin brought booklets of sticky notes in different sizes for pattern notes.
• Our aunt brought a book of poetry her husband had compiled and edited.
• And I brought "snip baskets" I had made. (The little triangles up front.) They can catch all your thread and yarn cut offs and then fold into your project bag without dumping out. For those times you're working away from home.
• Not pictured but just as appreciated were the chocolates another sister put on our pillows! :)

Not to stop there, we four quilters prearranged a fabric swap. We told the others our fabric preferences and swapped about a fat quarters worth of scraps from our stashes. Always fun to add some new options!

Friday night we had the first FO of the weekend already!

She had this quilt almost done so she said it was cheating, but done is done!

Saturday dawned bright and cold again. A good day to stay in and sew.

Unless your booking includes a gift certificate for everyone at the local quilt shop!

Then it's a good day to go to the quilt shop, which most of the group did on Saturday morning.

Otherwise the day was filled with quilting:

Laying out her quilt blocks on the design board in the
dining room. This top would be assembled by the end
of the weekend.

and puzzle building:

We started with a rooster puzzle for my mom but put it away
when it was taking way too much time. The next one was of quilt blocks
but we didn't finish that one either -- too many other things to do.

and going for walks:

I managed at least a short walk on Saturday and Sunday.
It was 6F on Sunday morning for example so plenty chilly!!

On Sunday we enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Lake Country Grill:

Otherwise we took turns cooking breakfast and super each day. That is not why the restaurant was so good -- we ate well all weekend!

Our aunt finished a sweater that had been in the works for seven years!

Looks great, doesn't it!? This weekend helped motivate her to pull it out and work on it and start the mojo-killing job of picking up all the stitches for the front and collar facing.

There were also shenanigans. While my sister was busy quilting, I picked up her blanket square and started working on the crochet edging.

I just hope I guessed what she was doing! (Crochet's easy to take out anyway, right?) The joke was on me when she came over and sat on a couch next to my Lucy Boston square and suggested she finish sewing the block for me. (It's like we're related!)

My main project of the weekend, however, was quilting my blue and white elephant quilt. Here my sister and I are examining it for any remaining blue markings that we need to remove with water spray.

And then two of my sisters braved the chill again to hold up my quilt for a full picture.

I got most of the quilting done. The binding is sewn on but only safety pinned to the back. This was so that I could get the picture and submit it to a call by Quilts, Inc. for an exhibition of blue and white quilts.

I pulled out my computer Sunday night to submit my application and pictures because the deadline was the next day. (I only saw the entry deadline posted on the website in December. Before that it just said "2019".) So I spent the weekend worrying about whether I would have it done and did manage it in the end.

When I pulled up the webpage I saw that they had extended the deadline to the end of March! I guess that  means I have time to actually sew down the binding and to finish some additional quilting I want to add.

As for the retreat, we've already penciled ourselves in for the same weekend next year at the same place. Can't wait!