Time for Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Amy's doing it again - providing us with a wonderful online QUILT FESTIVAL with hundreds of quilts being shared by You.  I so look forward to seeing your entries.  Here's mine in the small quilt category:
When I saw Lorna's Elephant Parade's first block, I knew I had to make a baby quilt using it since my God Daughter in Law[who was expecting a baby] is from Thailand, and the elephant is the symbol of the nation.  I got busy finding the right fabrics from my stash. Then I had to wait til I knew if it was going to be a girl or boy before I picked something for the little elephant.  Then I realized that the block made an African elephant

and the Thai elephant is an Asian elephant. Off to do research - the Asian elephant has smaller ears and the female doesn't have tusks.  So I redid the mother elephant block and waited some more. It wasn't til the end of March that we learned there was a good chance it would be a girl. So I remade the baby elephant block.  I put the basic top together.  Now how was I going to incorporate more about Thailand in this quilt?  Here's what I did:

1. There is a lot of vegetation and jungle in Thailand, so I took the 1/2 yard of fabric left from the border, lined the back with fusible interfacing and cut out leaves to extend the motifs into the quilt.

They were ironed on and machine appliqued using invisible thread, a 60/8 needle and Bottom Line thread in the bottom. This took a while.  And Baby Saige arrived while I was doing that step.  Then I decided to quilt a temple into the sky left of the elephant -there are lots of temples in Thailand.  So going back on the NET, found some ruins, made a copy, hung it on a window and traced it onto that golden paper for quilters. 
 I then pinned it in place on the quilt and started outlining it. 
Then I decided to do some letter work and found "welcome" in Thai and did a bit of stencil thread work to write that on the quilt.
I wanted to place the baby's name also, but there just wasn't room. Above is just part of it.  It didn't show up very well, but Waen spotted it right away.  With all the rain Thailand gets in a year, straight lines in the borders seemed just right. More quilting - quilted the mother elephant and surrounding sky using FMQ and a bit of ruler work on her ear.


I was happy with my adapted version of Lorna's elephant quilt. It measured 37" square. And I was only three months late getting it to baby Saige. In case you want to vote for it in the Viewer's Choice competition, you can find it here for nominating now or voting next week.

Have you entered a quilt?  I hope so - off to see your creation there.  Thanks again, Amy, for bringing the show to us!

22 comments:

  1. You made a gorgeous baby quilt with lorna's pattern and your own great ideas!! A beauty!! I ma sure a lot of people like this quilt.

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  2. Oh Angie, the elephant quilt is beautiful; I kind of want to kiss him. This will be much loved by baby.

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  3. Very sweet. Love the elephants and your perfect baby quilt.

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  4. How lovely. My DIL is Thai and when I went there on holiday with her and my son, we did an elephant ride into the hills.
    My sincere hope is that they will make me a Grandma one day!
    Your quilt is delightful!

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  5. I really enjoyed seeing the process you used to make this quilt. It is lovely and I'm sure will be much loved by the little one.

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  6. Gorgeous quilt!!! The details you've added are adorable.

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  7. What a wonderful quilt! I love how much thought went into all of your design choices and all of the extra little details. What a special gift!

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  8. The piecing is wonderful, and I love what you did with the border leaves. The best part is your marvelous quilting, though! That's just beautiful.

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  9. What a beautiful quilt for your new grandbaby! I love how you adapted the elephant parade pattern and made it so very special!

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  10. I love how you quilted this. Great quilt!

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  11. Oh this one is so cute! Love love the quilting on it! It may be a small quilt but I am sure it was no small job when it came to quilting it!

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  12. What a wonderful gift and I love how you personalized it. It will be much loved. You did a great!

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  13. Love your elephants, Angie! You did a wonderful job of making it thoughtful and special. I will certainly vote for it!

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  14. What a darling quilt and I love the story that goes with it! What a treasure! :)

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  15. Love your sweet elephant quilt and the story of how you created it. What a special gift!

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  16. Angie, I love the baby elephant quilt!! You did a wonderful job with quilting. I know it will be greatly appreciated when received. Hugs!

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  17. The amount of detail that you put into this quilt is amazing. I love that you customized it perfectly to represent your God Daughter in Law's family. A whole lot of talent and love went into this small baby quilt!

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  18. Oh I remember this quilt and loved the story behind it. It has one of my 3 votes in Viewers' Choice! :-)

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  19. This quilt is so amazing. The elephants are wonderful, in themselves, and in their significance, and I really like the leaves extension. The quilting is exquisite in the choice of motifs - love the effects on the elephants, and the cultural elements are really clever. Super, super fantastic success!

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  20. Wow, what a wonderful quilt for a baby. Love the quilted temple and all the other little details. I'm sure it's going to be well loved.

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Thank you for stopping by. It's always nice to hear from you. I try to reply to each and every one of you, but sometimes life gets in the way. I hope you understand. Blessings.

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