Elephant Parade and Giveaway Winners

Let’s just start right off with the winner of last week’s giveaway for a copy of Sew Preeti’s new pattern, A Fishy Story.  Mr. Random Generator chose:

Grandma Judy B

Congratulations, Judy! Preeti will contact you to get your information and get you squared away. For the rest of you, thanks so much for taking the time to drop by last week and enter the drawing. Be sure to stop by Preeti’s Etsy Shop to pick up a copy of this delightful pattern! 

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We had another crazy week here at Chez Kizerian. Bruce’s vertigo is finally abating, although he had to postpone his driver’s license review (an annual meeting required in Utah for amputees) until May. I had a Most Dreaded Procedure done this week. You know, the one where the prep is a hundred times worse than the procedure itself (which they knock you out for). Anyway, all is peachy-keen, and I don’t have to do that again for 10 years. And who knows, maybe the 2-day fasting will help me shed a pound or two. Although I would rather not lose it like that!

But the procedure - plus rain one day and working out in the yard hauling soil and digging grass out of flower beds - limited my sewing room time. First, let me show you the last of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for Purple April. I’m going to link this post up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s blog.

This week, being the last week of purple scraps, meant I was dealing with crumbs. So I made 8 - 8” (finished size) crumb candy blocks. 

They won’t be laid out like that in a quilt, but it was fun to try it for a picture. The only other color I plan to make of these candies is orange, then I’ll be able to assemble a quilt top.

The rest of the crumbs went into two 6.5” crumb blocks.....

... which in turn have been added to my Purple Creature Quilt (as in creature like Frankenstein’s monster). I have fun using old orphan blocks, scraps, chunks and such to put together something in the color of the month. 

Obviously, this is only pinned to the design board at the moment. I plan to get it sewn into a top over the weekend. Then I can quilt it AND the green one and two donated community quilts in the next week. I’ll show whatever I finish next week.

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ELEPHANT TRUNK SHOW!!

And now it’s time for the Elephant Trunk Show!!  Grab your coffee and a comfortable seat and let’s get started!

Late in 2021, I bought the pattern Stomping Ground by Wendy Shepard. I love elephants, especially after having spent time in Kenya in 2018. I tried making a few and really liked the pattern. So all throughout 2022, and part of this year as well, I made elephants in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month. And as the months went by, I began assembling them into what would end up as 7 quilts - all donated to Quilts for Kids here in Salt Lake City.

I think that for many of you, like me, this will be a fun stroll down memory lane. At least I hope so!

These first two quilts were finished in June. I absolutely loved that blue and green border fabric and ordered it from two different places. Since I had a ton of green and blue scraps, I decided to double the fun! These Jungle Elephants definitely loved their time browsing in the lush greenery!

Both of these quilts ended up at 42x47” - perfect for a child.

The next quilt to reach the finish line was this little number, Pink and Green Elephants. As with all these elephant quilts, the elephant colors were determined by the yardage or scraps that I wanted to use for the border and/or backing. Finished in August, this one measures 40x48”. The fabric came from some yardage I found at a thrift store.

Rainbow Elephants, finished in November, was the fourth finish.  It measures 40x47”. That adorable elephant border fabric (also used on the back) was given to me by Nann. 

In December I finished Wild Elephants, which was the largest of any of the quilts. It measures 43x54”. 

As usual, in this quilt the elephant colors were (generally) derived from the colors in the backing. There wasn’t enough of this delightful fabric (also from Nann) to use for borders. so I just added more elephants!

And that brings us to this year’s finishes. This bright Happy Elephants quilt was finished in February. It measures 39.5 x 49.5”.  This was a favorite of so many visitors to the blog.

And finally, here is Bubbly Elephants.  The inspirational border fabric was a piece I acquired from one of my Quilts for Kids friends. The picture below shows it basted and ready to be quilted.

I did manage to quilt it last night. Here is a closeup of the simple loop quilting. I still have to bind it, and it’ll the first order of business when I get back in the sewing room this weekend. It measures 38 x 48.5”. I’ll show a full completed picture next week.

So, there’s my trunk show.... er, I mean, the elephants’ trunk show. Which one is your favorite?

We’re expecting a beautiful sunny day today, so I plan to get out in the yard and work in the flower beds while Bruce works on getting the drip irrigation set up for the vegetable garden beds. A trip to the big box hardware store is probably in order, which is always fun. And usually followed by a Barnes & Noble coffee date!  Sometime next week - on a weekday, definitely not on a weekend - we’ll head to a garden nursery or two to begin buying new perennials and annuals. I can’t wait!

Have a great week!