Elephant Parade Top

I am pleased to reveal my new Elephant Parade Top. I apologize for the terrible picture, but it has been windy all day--so this is the best I could do. I am working on embroidering the quilt label for the backing for Slow Sunday Stitching. This quilt has definitely been my Drop Everything and Make It (DrEAMi!) project for April. https://www.mmmquilts.com/2019/04/dreami-27.html I am hosting the baby shower on 5/18, so it will be done in time, plus all the stuff I have to do for the baby shower--favors, decorate, yogurt bar, momosa bar, etc.

 I picked up two quilts for my longarm quilter yesterday. This is the back of my Farm Girl Vintage Quilt--I had it quilted with an all over pattern of large sunflowers. I am so excited to get this one done, just in time for the Farm Girl Vintage 2 book that is coming out in September. The other one is my Spelling Bee Quilt also a Lori Holt design. Hopefully, I will have them bound and pictures taken soon!

 Ludene, who owns the longarm machine, is moving into assisted living and is selling her stash and machine. She has so much yardage it is like a quilt shop. I bought 25 yards, most of the pieces pictured are between two and three yards. I would have bought more, but my budget couldn't handle it!

 My stash also got some more enhancement with these solid fat quarters from the Fat Quarter Shop

 and this is the back side! 

I am participating and being featured for Fat Quarter Shop's Pineapple Day in June. Paper piecing is not my favorite, but making a pineapple quilt has been on my bucket list for a long time! When I got the email seeking participants, I responded immediately. Kimberly Jolly has a great video tutorial and I plan to start this when I am out of school on May 24th as a summer celebration!

Zip Pouches & Elephants

I haven't posted in awhile because I spent last weekend with my daughter in Denver! We had a nice girls weekend despite a snowstorm that delayed her arrival by a day. I also got to watch her shine at the recruiting event her university flew her out for. It is such a privilege to see what a confident, articulate, young woman she has become!

 The weekend before that I was just prepping 32 zippered pencil pouches. This weekend I finished all 32 pouches and have one more prepped--I need to see which initial the student wants on his. I cut the fabrics 5.5 x 10.5 inches and use 9 inch zippers. I will load them up with mechanical pencils, highlighters, and candy and then wrap them. I am giving these to my fifth graders as promotion gifts. I showed them the zipper colors and had them pick which color they wanted. I am glad to have these done and can get back to quilt making!

 Today, I started cutting and piecing elephants. I have a good teacher friend expecting a baby girl and she is decorating with pink and gray elephants. I am using Lorna's Elephant Parade Pattern. Here is the link to the free pattern: https://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/p/elephant-parade.html

I only bought one fat quarter of the darker gray because I had thought of making scrappy elephants, but I changed my mind. I will hit the quilt shop tomorrow to get some more.

I did have enough of the lighter gray in my stash to make all 14 baby elephants! I will work on the frog, the turtle, the birds, and the flowers this evening.

Have a great week!