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30 January 2015

Elephant Parade

From design concept to reality....
The making of the Elephant Parade quilt has been a joy filled journey.




This project was generously sponsored by Northcott Fabrics.  All those adorable animals were made from Northcott's ColorWorks Premium Cotton Solids.  Those rich and vibrant colours really pop against that snowy background.  I am so pleased with how this quilt turned out!




Although I would have preferred an overcast day for taking these outdoor photos, I wasn't about to complain that we had two brilliantly bright and sunny days in a row.   And there was no wind!





I like using a decorative stitch in an edge to edge design for a fast finish.  For the quilting, I decided to go with the Serpentine stitch, setting my stitch length to 3.0 and width to the 9.0 maximum.  And quilted lines that were spaced the width of my walking foot apart.  Approximately.





The backing is this delightful print:  Elephants in Grey by Ed Emberley from the Happy Drawing collection for Cloud 9 Fabrics.  Thank you, Ed Emberley!  You are truly an inspiration! 





I purchased this backing fabric from Hawthorne Threads just before Christmas and mentioned it in this Sunday Stash report.  Because this quilt is wider than the standard width of fabric, I knew there would have to be a seam line.  I did not want that seam line to be apparent and knew that making a matched seam using another cut of the Elephants fabric would be nearly impossible to accomplish.  For that reason, I decided to add this narrow band of Turquoise where the two pieces of Elephants print would meet.



To finish my quilt, I used the Little Bit Binding method.  I love the results!  Those little pops of colour add interest and continuity to the design.  The Little Bit Binding method will be included in my final installment of the Top 10 Tips for New Quilters.  This post will cover the mastering of a machine finished binding and variety of binding methods.  It is scheduled to be published tomorrow.





This quilt finish was the 26th use of my 100 labels ordered from Ikaprint.




The old hay wagon may have seen better days.  But I love it just the way it is.  The Elephant Parade  quilt finished at 48.5" x 55.5" and is now listed with my other Quilts for Sale in my Etsy shop.




 

Linking up to Finish it up Friday with 
Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts

And TGIFF! hosted this week by
Leanne of Devoted Quilter.









Are you ready to Quilt Along?!!!
    Grab a button and join in the Elephant Parade!  It starts on February 1st!
          You can read more about the quilt along plans here.

Sew Fresh Quilts



Keep On Quilting On!




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45 comments:

  1. Oh Lorna, what a fab finish! Congrats on great design and execution!

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  2. This is absolutely adorable, Lorna!

    I was in love with your idea from the first sight and the finished quilt is really really beautiful and cute ♥

    Can't wait to start with my own little table runner (because there ist unfortunately no baby here).
    Thank you for this great idea of a quilt along! :-)

    I wish you a wonderful Friday

    Sabine

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  3. The finished quilt is even more wonderful than your sweet mockup was! Lorna, this is just the most fun quilt and I'm really thrilled that you are doing it as a Quilt Along!

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  4. Love your quilt it's really adorable!

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  5. I am so excited for you about this quilt!! It's fabulous!! And thank you for the quilt label link, as well! XX!

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  6. Love those pops of colour in the binding! This pattern is so cute; you've done a great job!

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  7. Looks fantastic! Well done :)

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  8. It is so cute, I'm looking forward to the quilt along, even more now that I've seen the finish.

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  9. Very sweet! I enjoyed watching the progress on that one, but the finish is even better than what I thought it would be. those little pops of colours on the binding, the quilting... every little detail counts. Great job, Lorna!

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  10. This is so adorable and I love the little pops of color in the binding!

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  11. That is so adorable Lorna!! Great job.

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  12. that's a really cute quilt! great finish

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  13. Just love this quilt Lorna! Can't wait for the quilt along!

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  14. How can you bare to part with it, it is so darling!! I liked the layout but to see the real deal is so awesome!

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  15. A gorgeous quilt!! I love it!!

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  16. It turned out wonderful. I love it.

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  17. That is just about the cutest and I wish I had time to join your quilt along. It will definitely be on the top of my list next time I need a baby quilt.

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  18. This turned out so adorable! Glad you had such a great day, No wind in southern Ontario is a bonus. ;-)

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  19. Love those elephants! And those little bits of color in the binding. It turned out so great!

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  20. I love how adorable this quilt is! The backing is perfect, and the serpentine stitch looks great!

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  21. So, so cute! I totally love how this turned out!

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  22. I am so excited to make this quilt! I found a good backing on sale the other day--not as cute as your elephants, but will go great. I am stopping by Joanns to use a 60% off coupon and buy the Kona background. I hope to cut everything and start piecing as soon as you post the first instructions! Thank you!

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  23. It's been fun to see this project come to fruition, both here and on IG! I adore that serpentine stitch -- it's such a versatile quilting choice. And I look forward to tomorrow's binding post!

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  24. It's adorable- and the ed emberely backing is perfect. I remember repeatedly borrowing his drawing how-to books from the library when I was a little kid!

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  25. Beautiful quilt. Love how it looks so crisp and clean.

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  26. Wow thats adorable Lorna.. I have been following your progress...good job! I have to laugh a bit tho... everytime I hear "elephants on parade" I think of the song from Disney's Dumbo where Dumbo drank the water the wine bottle fell into and he was hallucinating seeing pink elephants and the song was "pink elephants on parade", Dumbo was my sons favorite movie when he was in kindergarten so it makes me think of my son! I love the wavey FMQ that you did on top... makes it even look like the animals are walking...

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  27. Seriously, this is just too cute! I love the extra strip on your backing, and all that textured goodness.

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  28. Oh it is so adorable!!! I love the quilting and the WHOLE thing!!!

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  29. This is awesome! Congratulations on the finish. The backing fabric is so perfect, and it is going to be fun to see what others make in the quilt along!

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  30. This is so cute and it's got that lovely crisp, clean feel that all you quilts have.

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  31. Hi Lorna! This quilt is fantastic! So cute and beautiful! Congratulations, it already found NEW home! Happy weekend! x Teje

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  32. I love this quilt--may have said so before. :-)

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  33. It's beautiful, Lorna! I love everything about it, from the design to the bright fun colours and the serpentine quilting. Thanks for linking to TGIFF!

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  34. Fun finish! And the sunny day sets it off nicely. Love the pop of turquoise with all the elephants on the back, too!

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  35. Too cute! Hope I can sew along. Love your fresh ideas!

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  36. This is so darn cute, what an awesome finish!

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  37. Lorna that is just adorable! It came out so much cuter than your cute designs! The colors are great, very vibrant.

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  38. Wonderful Quilt Lorna!! I enjoyed following the creative process for this one.

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  39. Such a cute finish! I love all of your animal quilts and this one is so wonderful and fun!

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  40. Beautiful. I cant wait to get started...

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Your kind comments certainly make my day!