(Elephant) Trunk Show!

The elephants are having a Trunk Show, and you’re invited!! Try to contain your excitement, LOL!!

Our hosts for this exciting event are the Pink Elephants, who are proudly sponsored by Pink April for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Let’s meet them first…

Three of them you met last week, but they’ve been joined by four other friends who were, um, shall we say browsing in the bush?!? It is what elephants do. And now they’ll join their other multicolored friends on the design board for a good ol’ elephant trunk show!

Oh my goodness, they are so cute I can’t even stand it! Other than one red elephant I gave to my friend Ruby (who is also making some for a quilt for her sister), these are all the elephants I’ve made since my first two (green) prototypes last fall. Or summer. Whatever. The pattern is Stomping Ground by Wendy Sheppard.

So how many will I be making? I don’t know, but there will be several dozen more over the next six or eight months, I’m sure. They will be arranged and spaced out by colors into kid quilts using fun fabrics to tie the selected colors together. I want lots of options and combos. Here are a few fabric possibilities from my stash.

I’ve pretty much decided against the brown one at the bottom, and my favorite is the gray at the top with magenta, aqua, orange and lime dots. (And wouldn’t that make cute elephants?) But I have plenty time to decide. Plus we’ll actually be having our Utah Shop Hop again this year, so I’ve got an opportunity to pick up some fun mixer prints and (hopefully) some cute elephant backings. So be watching for more “trunk shows” later in the year!

Before I continue with my weekly pink blocks, I want to show you the hardwood floor we uncovered in the master bedroom. The previous owners had carpeted over it in the early nineties. We know it was them because we’re only the second family to live in this home built in 1963. Unfortunately, they repainted the bedroom white at the time and didn’t use drop cloths. Some of the paint splattered on the floor. Luckily, some of it was covered by the new wider and thicker baseboards, but our contractor Jeff and Bruce himself did a lot of scraping. Other than just a little cleaning, oiling and filling some carpet tack holes, there was nothing else necessary.

Yes, the bedroom is small, but it will fit a California King, and we have been shopping for a split adjustable bed. 

I have lots more from the remodeling projects (laundry room, linen closet) to share, but I’m going to do those in a separate post mid-week. Next year’s project will include all new six-panel interior doors. There’s always something more to do, isn’t there?

So, back to pink. This week I got in lots of quality sewing time thanks to spring showers and inclement weather.

Twelve Bullseye Log Cabin blocks

Thirty 6.5” string blocks

And two finishes for Quilts for Kids.  This first one I’m calling Ukrainian Cats simply because of the yellow and blue. The combination of yellow, blue and black scraps and selvage blocks was inspired by the backing fabric, a gift from my friend Sally. 

You may recall that I used this same fabric in a different color way for a backing in one of my January quilts. Thanks, Sally! These backings have been both fun and inspirational. 

Ukraine Cats finished at approximately 38x48”

I also got last week’s framed four-patch block flimsy quilted and bound. I would rather do little donation quilts in just pinks than to “taint” a gender-neutral rainbow quilt with them if I can. (Because - macho dads). I do mix in pink on larger RSC quilts now and then, or if I’m keeping it for gifting. Most of the men I know don’t have a problem with it!

This cutie quilt finished at 40x48”

I’ve got two more pink flimsies waiting for quilting, one flimsy being sewn together this weekend, and two more pink “kits” of gathered pink scraps to assemble into something resembling cohesive quilts!

And I think that just about covers it for now. Be sure to visit Scrappy Saturday to see all the creative quilty goodness that’s been sewn up this week.