design Wall 2-27-12

Coming up to the Leap Day.  I had a friend in grammar school who was born on Leap Day.  It was exotic and wonderful to be so different.  I just had Benjamin Franklin to be my birthday partner, and so close to Christmas was awful.  Sigh.

I have the Ellies on my design wall this week.  They are the UFO for February.  I have long put off finishing the Elephants of Sri Lanka, since 2007 to be exact.  I dabbled with them at a retreat about 2 years ago, but put them back into their bag after that.  They have been on the UFO list for a while, always feared.

Now they are out in the open.  But I had misplaced the issue of the magazine to see how they were laid out.  I had to spend one night digging through my mag stash to find it.  Last night I trimmed them down and tore the paper off the backs of the sashing blocks.  There were a few loose areas but I fixed that and we are ready to get a top done.  I finally have ideas for the quilting and I am no longer dreading that part.

The elephant blocks came from Sri Lanka through a dealer in New York.  She was brokering the sale of work village women were doing trying to start a business to generate income.  Their work is exquisite!

Tiny tiny stitches, perfect curves, all hand done.  And the blocks were dirt cheap.  I sent along a donation as well.  The quilt will be a masterpiece when I get it done, but it may be into March before it is totally quilted.  I want the elephants  to be very detailed.

These are the blocks that will go in between the elephants and pull them together.  Strong linear designs compliment the elephant's roundness.  I guess this is the jungle the elephants emerge from as they march along the quilt's path.

I told a friend a few years back, I love it when someone opens a quilt out at meeting show and tell and there is an audible gasp from the audience.  The quilt is spectacular.  I am hoping this will be mine.

glen