Aunt M Quilt Chronicles, Chapter III: Elephants! Hayley's You may recall that my cute little Aunt is on a quest to make quilts for her granddaughters. I've become her quilt-coach (enabler, lol!). First it was a couple of owl quilts, then bears, and now elephants! Elephants by Pacific Rim Quilt Co She found a design that she liked, and like any brand new quilter, was totally fearless about the making of it. "We can do that, can't we?" The pattern uses a two-fabric applique' technique, where the fabrics are layered, and the design is cut out, giving a kind of mosaic/stained glass effect. The granddaughters selected colors, and we made a couple of treks to the fabric store where Aunt Marjory is making new friends. Since the pattern only makes a 24" x 36" quilt and she wanted 60" x 72" lap quilts, we had to make some adjustments. I borrowed an overhead projector from the local 4-H office, pinned the fabrics to the wall, then projected the pattern over the fabric, adjusted to the size we needed, then traced it with chalk and handed it off to Uncle Jack, our designated "cutter-outer". Once I had the background stitched together with a border, I had to perform a little tricky reverse-applique' to get the same look as the original pattern so that it appeared that the design was growing out of the borders. Then the only task was to lay out the pieces and glue them in place, ready to "Appli-quilt" on the longarm. That 505 spray adhesive works perfectly. Jessica's Aunt Marjory wanted to keep her theme of "Owl always love you" for these quilts, so we added a mini owl in the tree (don't know if there are owls in sub-Saharan deserts of Africa, but it works!) and she had me quilt "Remember, owl always love you" in the quilt. You know, because elephants always remember. So two more down, three to go, for the granddaughters, that is. She's thinking about a dragon, unicorn or Pegasus next. You know how it is ~ once you catch the bug, you just can't quit! Update: more Aunt Marjory Quilt Chronicles!' Chapter 1 - Owl Always Love You Chapter 2 - Bear in Mind, Owl Always Love You Chapter 3 - Remember, Owl Always Love You Chapter 4 - You Know Owl Always Love You Chapter 5 - Yes, Owl Always Love YouYes, Owl Always Love You