Tag Archives: elephant quilt

Tu-Na Quilts: Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Closet

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Yes, lets’ talk about that elephant quilt lurking in my closet. I’m making it for my best friend’s granddaughter who already celebrated her first birthday in November. So it’s officially not a baby quilt anymore. And I’m officially very late with it.

tunaquilts elephant 28a

This project became shelved when I began having eye issues. It needs a bit of seam adjustment to make the rows match.

Everyone (well, at least the blogs that I follow) talks about their one monthly goals and up to now I figured I didn’t need to set myself one goal a month. But after last year, I do need an incentive or something to help me move some projects along. So I figured I’d join the party.

OMG 2018 Blog logo Jan

The rules are to write a post about the one item you want to move along or finish this month and link to the party at Elm Street Quilts. Then at the end of the month, write a post about your progress and link to the finish party. I figure it may be just the incentive I need to move along a few projects. Oh, and there are prizes to win, too.

I started this quilt last spring. You can read about the exciting birth of that baby elephant here as Dr. Tu-Na was present in the delivery (sewing) room. I posted about this quilt’s progress here in Let’s Make Elephants, and here  in We Have an Elephant Parade, and here in Progress on She Has Her Mommy’s Nose.

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I’ll post about my progress on this Elephant at the end of the month or sooner if I actually get it done. Yes, completely done: pieced, sandwiched, quilted, bound, and in the mail.

What I Learned Today:

  1. There are 25 days left in January. I better not wait until the last week to work on this project.
  2. It gets cold in North Dakota in the winter. We braved the cold temps and spent the holidays with our family in North Dakota. The coldest it got was -28°F with at least two days of never getting above 0°.
  3. My plants in the sunroom don’t like the cold. The dieffenbachia froze.
  4. It’s time to bring on the heat and head back to Arizona.
  5. I’m thinking an Arizona Family Christmas next year just might be perfect.

Question: What project do you have that’s been hiding in the closet? Oh, I have others that will hopefully make their appearances this year but this is the one that really needs to get done so someone cute and little can snuggle with it.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen,  Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Moving It Forward at Em’s Scrapbag

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

 

 

Tu-Na Quilts: Now, We Have an Elephant Parade

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With the sudden and speedy delivery of the baby elephant, Lily Rose, last week, I can now officially say we have an elephant parade.

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The happy new family is snuggly stitched together.

Notice that Lily Rose has her mommy’s nose. I am making this quilt for the baby of my best friend’s daughter.

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When my friend called to tell me that the baby had arrived she said, “And she has her mommy’s nose.” Sounds like a good name for this quilt.

I’ve even sewed some of the blocks into rows. 

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I will be adding side pieces onto the elephant row. And where are the missing rows?

I’ve still got three rows to sew.

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They are sitting beside my machine to remind me to sew them first before other things.

I sure am glad I took good care of those blocks while traveling. It’s making sewing and laying out the rows so much easier. I’ve had to do some playing around with my sewing machine and moving the needle to make sure the scant 1/4″ seam allowance matched the ones made on my sewing machine at my other house.

If you missed all the excitement of her arrival last week. catch up here with

 Tu-Na Quilts: Let’s Make Elephants (Here I describe how my pieces traveled from one house to the other).

Tu-Na Quilts: We Have an Elephant Parade  (The happy couple is expecting) 

Tu-Na Quilts:        ’s Arrived!!! ( Tu-Na, DOQ {Doctor of Quilting}, helped with the delivery of this wee one)

However, much of my time and writing this month is being used up over on the Bee Inspired Blog where I’m sharing some of my adventures and misadventures of my trip to Paris as well as some construction tips and trials as I sew another poodle block for myself using this pattern from The Objects of Design.

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You are welcome to stop by:

Tu-Na Quilts: All Aboard. Fasten Your Seatbelts. We’re Taking Off for…

Tu-Na Travels: Day One in Paris

Tu-Na Travels: Day Two in Paris and Poodle Block Cutting Tips

Tu-Na Travels: Day Three in Paris and Prepping Those Furry Pieces You will never guess who we meet today.

and do check back on Bee Inspired all month as I’ve got more funny and interesting Parisian stories to tell and see some gorgeous French Poodles heading my way.

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What I Learned Today:

  1. There’s been way more writing happening than sewing in my house lately.
  2. The poodle block is actually quite easy when separated into steps.
  3. I do miss being in Paris.
  4. Beth, over at Cooking Up Quilts, mentions my coneflower double star block that now belongs to Cathy, on today’s Main Crush Monday post.  I miss that stunning block but I have those fabrics safely tucked in their own bin for a quilt using that same block pattern for me. I stop to admire and pet them every now and then. Anyway, Thanks Beth!! I’m honored!!!
  5. I “pet” fabrics? Hmmm, this household is going to the dogs.

Question: Where have your travels taken you? I’ve been to London. I’ve been to France, and Germany, and traveled the U.S. extensively. But we honeymooned in Canada.

Linking to Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Moving It Forward, Design Wall Monday, Let’s Bee Social and Midweek Makers, Jo’s Country Junction, Mama Spark’s World, Katie Mae Quilts, Silly Mama Quilts WIPs, Wednesday Wait Loss

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Tu-Na Quilts: Let’s Make Elephants

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Here’s what my elephant quilt looked like when the project stalled in March.

 

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Here’s how it traveled to North Dakota with me so that it could be finished.

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I labeled each block and each row and used lots of Clover clips to hold the labels in place. Then all the sewn rows and the ones needing sewing were put into a new gallon Ziploc bag.

 

The trip took three days and I didn’t want any pieces getting lost or mixed up.

2a

I also clipped each row together and included my hand-drawn pattern. I had bought a package of 100 Clover clips when I was in Bismarck last summer (using a 50% off coupon from JoAnns) and took half of them to Arizona in the fall. Now they’ve come back to my ND home. I sure hope I remember to take them back to AZ with me or I’ll be buying more down there.

 

This quilt is for my best friend’s granddaughter. That baby just turned 6 months old and I might have to make it larger if I dawdle any longer.

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I’ve already got 7 rows sewn. See how I labeled these rows. for transport? I sewed the paper label with the row number on the end of each finished row using a large stitch length. It only took a couple of minutes to do this and it is better than using pins.

 

My goal for this week is to move this project forward by:

  1. Finish sewing the chevron rows.
  2. Deciding whether to make the quilt a tad wider. I have most of the blocks made already if I decide to do so. Currently it measures 40″ x 56″. By adding two more blocks to each row (which completes the next peak in the chevron), it would be 48″ x 56″. What would you do?
  3. Sewing up those three elephants and their background strip.
  4. Sewing the top together.
  5. Sandwiching the layers.
  6. Free-motion quilting it. I already have a plan.

This list may be a bit ambitious (realistically I may only get thru number 3) as I also have to sew up and mail the three May Bee blocks this week. In addition, I am Queen for one Bee next month so I need to sew up a couple of test blocks and prepare a post.

To motivate me and keep me going, I thought I’d link with Em’s Scrapbag for Moving It Forward (love the tag line for her blog—”When life falls to pieces, make a quilt”).

And in case any of you are transporting quilt blocks, I’ll link with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for Tips and Tutorials Tuesday since I have some tips on keeping your blocks and rows organized. (Button is on the sidebar).

What I Learned Today:

  1. I need something or someone to get me motivated.
  2. Cold coffee tastes really good. I have a habit of pouring myself a cup and finding it three hours later.

Question: Would you make this quilt wider or not?

Other linky parties that I’m attending: Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication and Let’s Bee Social on Sew Fresh Quilts and Works in Progress at Silly Mama Quilts.