Ella Funt

Here's a quilt I've taken far too long too finish. 

I started this a little over a year ago, when we were in the temporary apartment.  I found the pattern in a book from the library.  The book's version was an incredibly complex safari quilt, with multiple elephants, giraffes, lions, turtles...maybe a hippo?  Their version was done in earth tones and for adults.  I'm not so sure about that as a decor choice--but I thought some of the blocks would be adorable scaled up and done in brighter fabrics.  So I doubled the block size, added a border, and got this:

It was easier to piece than it looks.  (Love when that happens!)  What I find challenging in quilting is when I have lots of corners and rows that all need to align--you know, like this postage stamp quilt a woman in my quilt guild made this winter.  I sat there with my mouth agape in awe, while all the women reassured me, "Really, it's not that hard!"  I insisted, "Yes, it is, for me!"

If you look closely, this elephant has very few piece that really need to line up--good for me!  Doubling the sizes of the blocks (without doubling the seam allowances) did take a good bit of extra thought--especially since the book had a few typos in the measurements.  Since the thinking was a lot more work than the doing, this guy actually has a twin sitting in my closet, just waiting for me to finish sewing on his binding.  I finally got this first one done to send to my third cousin who is expecting a boy in June--it's good to have a reason to force me to finish projects!