My Completed Challenge Entry...

Brynwood Needleworks - Patchwork Pachyderm

I can finally share what I created for our guild challenge this year!

I worked on it until midnight Monday, and from 9 am until 4:45 pm yesterday.

I finished it a mere 15 minutes before I drove out to the meeting. whew!

Brynwood Needleworks - Posey, The Patchwork Pachyderm

I quilted a large, stuffed elephant that I've named the "Patchwork Pachyderm".

She measures 36" from the trunk, all the way back to the tail, and 24" tall.

The last feature I sewed before I left was attaching the eyes and eyelids. I

found the eyes on Ebay and they were shipped to me all the way from...Sarasota!

As of 10 am today, she has a name. Handsome suggested "Posey", so that's now
her name. I added this photo because she also got eyelashes this morning! I know
elephants have long eyelashes, so now she's a proper patchwork elephant!

Brynwood Needleworks - Patchwork Pachyderm

If you look closely here, you'll see that I did an outline of the sun on the elephant's forehead. I found some really lovely trim for the headpiece. Sorry that it was a little late in the day for great photos, but I wanted to get a few before I went to the meeting. The center head and trunk is actually gray and not "tinted" as it appears.

Brynwood Needleworks - Patchwork Pachyderm

I really love the elephant's tail!

I found a rayon cording in the jewelry section at Michaels. 

I decided on the length, doubled it and then repeated nine cuts. Then, I folded all nine sections in half to double that for a total of eighteen strands. To braid, you need three strands, so I just counted out six strands of each and used those in groupings of six to make my braid. I tied off the fold at the top, and then again at the end of my braid. After I'd created the braid, I hand stitched the tail to the elephant's bum. Easy!

Look closely at the quilting pattern on the fabric blocks and you'll notice little elephants (with their trunks held high). The only places I didn't quilt the elephants was the dark gray fabric on the foot pads;  "under" the elephant - belly and inner legs (those were a simple meander); the gray on the end of the trunk and the ears. (hmmm. It might have been simpler to just say where I did quilt the elephants. lol)

Brynwood Needleworks - Patchwork Pachyderm

The Patchwork Pachyderm is on the table in front of Paula's First Place winner.

I weighted the elephant foot pads with crushed walnut shells for stability,

and I went through six pads of polyester fill for its "innards". I was

asked that question a lot last night. "How many bags of stuffing do you use?"

Brynwood Needleworks - Gray Challenge Entries (less one)

My friend, Kathy captured a photo of all of us with our quilted projects.

First Place winner - Paula Bonfig's "Aria At Dawn" 

(far right - see blue ribbon)

Second Place winner - ME!!! (seated center front)

Third Place - April Blood's "Shades of Gray"  

(seated next to me - see white ribbon)

Brynwood Needleworks - Gray Challenge Entries

Kathy missed the quilt on the far left of the photograph above. It's a patriotic butterfly.

Brynwood Needleworks - Patchwork Pachyderm

I'm tired and happy, but I'm grateful that our members liked my elephant enough to vote for it in our blind competition. (They didn't know they who created what.) I earned second place because they voted for the elephant, not knowing it was mine. There were a lot of beautiful entries, so I'm humbled that they liked mine enough to vote for it. (Thank you, Ladies.)

Brynwood Needleworks - Tag and the Patchwork Pachyderm

I brought it home from guild last night and set it next to my chair. Tag gave it his "seal of approval", which only involved sniffing it and then sitting down to smile at me. 

I'm going to start my day cleaning up the chaos in my studio. It got a little hectic as the deadline for this challenge loomed ever closer. I didn't do the usual tidying up as I worked. Then I might spend the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing.