Applique Elephant {a finished quilt}

I needed a quilt for a friend’s baby shower, so I went to my copy of the book Quilts, Baby! for an idea.

This book has many inspirational and very original patterns in it, but I don’t recommend it to a beginner.  It’s more for an experienced quilter.

The elephant is raw-edge appliqued to the front.  After washing and drying, the edges of the elephant are softly frayed.

The background gray stars, the gray of the elephant’s body, and the pale yellow solid on the back are all Quilter’s Candy from Connecting Threads.  The brown for the eye and binding are from my stash.  And the blue plaid for the ear is from a recent trip to JoAnn’s.  It just called out to me from the fabric bolts as I was walking past.

The baby’s initials are embroidered with gray perle thread on the elephant’s neck. 

I wanted to make a matching basket for the baby’s room, using the same fabrics from the baby’s quilt.  The lining is solid yellow and the handles and bottom are linen.

I didn’t know what to put in the basket, but then I found a cute hooded towel (washcloths too) and onesies with elephants to carry on the theme and colors.

Too cute!

The finished quilt is 42” x 42”.   The batting is higher loft.

Thanks for reading!  Have a wonderful day!

Linking up with Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Quilts at the Table

A few days ago my daughter and I whipped up a set of pretty placemats to go with some dishes we got for one of our relatives for Christmas.

Most of the charms are from Connecting Threads and a few are from my stash.  They were so easy to put together, just 3 x 4 charms.

The plates are not actually Christmas designs.  They are more Mediterranean looking and can be used all seasons, but look great with the Christmas fabric.

The mats consist of the top, batting and backing.  So to keep it all together, after turning the layers inside out, I sewed 3 evenly spaced lines around it to hold everything together, which is an idea I got from Svetlana (thanks!).

The fabrics are pretty.  I love that cute deer!

Here are the placemats all tied with a ribbon and ready to be put in a gift bag with her new dishes.

And I finished up my November Beejeebers block last night.

This block is called Cherie’s Carpenter Star and it’s made of a jillion hsts.  A few months ago this block would have reduced me to tears, but I’m happy to say that this one turned out A-okay and is exactly the right size, a first for me!  The bee mama asked for bright colors, so I hope orange and teal fit the bill.

I’m also getting ready to bind another baby quilt. This has got to be my fifth log cabin jungle animal-themed quilt.  I guess I will never tire of making log cabin quilts.  I just love picking the fabrics and chain sewing the blocks together.  It’s so easy, fast, and fun!

Hope everyone had a relaxing and fun Thanksgiving.  I’m officially done all my Christmas shopping (a few days before Thanksgiving even) and now I’m ready to sit back and enjoy the next couple weeks, hopefully making a few things from the book Pretty in Patchwork Holidays.  Come back on December 3rd—I’m giving away a copy of the book and a fat quarter bundle of Christmas fabric!

Linking up to Tuesday at the Table.

Baby Elephant Dance Complete!

This quilt measures about 39” square. 

The fussy cut fabric is called Kharma Baby, most of the log cabin fabric is DS Quilts and Metro Circles, and the sashing is Kona ash. I used warm and white batting and the backing is a wonderful fabric from Connecting Threads from their Quilter’s Candy collection. It is light gray with little stars all over it.

I used a zig-zag stitch to machine bind this quilt and you can see it’s getting more and more accurate on the back as I’m sewing from the front.  It’s just taken a lot of practice.  This is probably my tenth quilt I’ve completely machine bound.

Here is a peek of the next project I’m working on.  The fabrics in this one are from the Maya collection. 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday!