Love with a Twist: Excellent Elephants

It’s only fair….

Do you remember a while back, how we had a mummy rabbit and her baby for Love with a Twist for Mother’s Day? So it seems only fair that we have a Love with a Twist daddy and his baby for Father’s Day too. Not more rabbits, though. That would be asking for trouble…. 🙂

Father’s Day?!? Yes, I know that most of the world celebrates Father’s Day in June… but there are a few outliers, and Australia is one of them. Father’s Day in Australia (and New Zealand, Fiji and PNG) is the first Sunday in September. Which this year, was September 1st. Unfortunately I was not ready to go with this block on September 1st, or even later in that week. And it was Royal Show Week anyway. But it is still September, and I am ready now, so let’s do this! If you’d prefer to come back and read this post on Father’s Day….. try October 6, apparently it’ll be Father’s Day in Luxembourg. 😀

This elephant duo (Edward and Ellie) is our first option for Block 10 of the Love with a Twist quilt along. You need both elephants to make this long thin block, but they come as individual downloads. So make sure you get both of them.

A very smiley crocodile will be our second option for Block 10. The Croc is currently in my schedule for Tuesday…. that’s the 31st of September, right? Right….. I did say I wasn’t going to be slave to the calendar on this quilt along, let’s show it who’s boss! Anyway…. keep reading today to download your two elephant pdf patterns and find out how to put them together.

About the Love with a Twist Balloon Elephant Appliqué Blocks

Today’s Excellent Elephant balloon appliqués together make Block 10A of the Love with a Twist quilt. You will need both elephants or the crocodile for a throw quilt, and all three appliqués for the twin quilt. Block 10A sits in the bottom right corner of the Throw quilt, and in the very top left corner of the Twin quilt.

Things to remember as you sew along with Love with a Twist

• There are two throw versions of this quilt, which can be re-mixed into a twin size quilt. The instructions to cut and construct the throw quilts can be found here and for the twin quilt, here.
• Today’s Excellent Elephants are Block 10A of Love with a Twist, and our nineteenth and twentieth downloads to date. Block 10A can be interchanged with Block 10B, which will be the crocodile.
• We have also already had the Dippy Dog and Pretty Poodle blocks in January. The Lasting Love and Pretty Pig in February. The Kuddly Koala and Graceful Glider swan in March. The Toddling Turtle and Bonny Butterfly in April. The Responsible Rabbit bonus, the Rascally Rabbit and the Fabulous Fish blocks in May. The Qwazy Quacker duck and Jolly Jumper frog in June. The Wonder Wader flamingo and two Nifty Neck giraffes in July. And the Magic Monkey and the Omniscient Owl in August.
• The appliqué templates provided are drawn in red lines and black lines. If you are doing raw-edge appliqué, ignore the line colours and simply work with the shapes supplied. If you want to do turned-edge appliqué, you will need to add a seam allowance to the black edges only. The red edges are where the shapes overlap and extra fabric allowance has already been added.

Download your Excellent Elephant balloon pdf patterns here

The daddy (Edward Elephant) appliqué pattern for Block 10A1 can be downloaded here. Clicking on the father balloon elephant appliqué picture directly below will download in a new tab. Using the red button will open the pdf right here under your trunk.

The baby (Ellie Elephant) appliqué pattern for Block 10A2 can be downloaded here. Clicking on the baby balloon elephant appliqué picture directly below will download in a new tab. Using the red button will open the pdf right here under your slightly smaller trunk.

**** It is really important that you print this pdf at 100%, otherwise your pattern pieces will be the wrong size for the quilt blocks. Turn off any “fit to page” options in your printer dialog and ensure that the printout size is set to 100%. There are check boxes supplied in the document. If your printout is successful, these will measure 1″ square. The document is designed to fit on US Letter and A4 paper. ****

What you will need to make the (raw-edge appliqué) Edward and Ellie Elephant blocks:

If you have not pre-constructed your quilt top, you will need background fabric for your appliqué:

• If you are making Block 10A for the throw size quit you will need a background fabric piece of 25.5″ x 10.5″. This measurement does not include any trimming allowance.
• To make Block 10A for the twin size quilt you will need a background fabric piece of 25″ x 10″. Again, this measurement does not include any trimming allowance.
• So, if you use a piece of fabric 26″ x 11″ or larger, you will keep your options open and have a small trimming allowance 🙂

You will also need:

• one main fabric for the dad elephant’s body, approx. 10″ x 10″, and a second fabric for the ears of 10″ x 6″. You will also a fabric for the baby elephant (10″ x 7″). My elephants were made from Island Batik fabrics from the Ditty collection, given to me by Island Batik.
• scraps of white and black fabrics for the eyes and tusks.
• fusible paper-backed fabric adhesive , approx. 20″ x 15″
• thin batting for trapunto or your favourite stabiliser for stitching (optional)
• general tools and notions: sewing machine, iron etc, teflon ironing sheet or non-stick paper, small sharp scissors, pencil, quilting pins, grease-proof/tracing paper, machine embroidery or sewing threads for appliqué and embroidery

How to put together the Edward and Ellie Elephant Balloon Appliqués

Trace your appliqué shapes directly onto the backing paper of your fusible adhesive. Fuse the shapes to the back of your fabric, according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer. Then cut out each shape and remove the backing papers. They go together as follows:

Step 1

Assemble the 2-page layout diagram supplied and cover with an ironing sheet/non-stick paper. Position appliqué pieces E₁1, E₁2, E₁3, E₁4,E₁5 and the tail E₁13 in place and secure them temporarily by touching them briefly with the tip of a hot iron (or tack down with a small appliqué iron). Ignore the numbering in the pictures, the pdf download matches the instructions given in the text here.

Step 2

Add the trunk E₁6 and the body E₁14.

Step 3

Add the lower face E₁7 and the hind leg E₁11.

Step 4

Add the head E₁9 and the fore leg E₁10.

Step 5

Add the second ear E₁8, the second tusk E₁12 and the eyeball.

Step 6

Finish off the eye and you are all done.

Step 7

To make the baby elephant, the process is similar, just without the tusks and the tail. Start with E₁1 and E₁3 through to E₁5. Add E₁2 and E₁6. Then add E₁7 and E₁11, followed by E₁9 and E₁10. Finish off with ear E₁8 and the eye.

Step 8

Give your appliqués a thorough pressing.

If you are making a throw size quilt, the elephants will fit nicely into the space provided, so transfer to your background fabric.

But if you are making the twin size quilt, the space provided is slightly smaller and your elephants may feel a little crowded. If you wish, you can shorten the baby elephant’s trunk just a smidge. About 3/8 of an inch is enough. You can see I opted to do it in two stages.

You can also let the baby elephant grab more of Dad’s tail so that the elephants slightly sit closer together.

Step 9

Stitch your appliqué elephants down using your favourite method. The sample I have shown uses free-motion straight stitching over a low-loft polyester batting. I layer my appliqué over the polyester batting and secure with quilting pins. Then I stitch around my shapes 5-6 times to secure them thoroughly. And finish by removing the excess batting with curved blade scissors/snips.

Then prepare for more Love with a Twist patterns released in quick succession. Part of the delay in this one is that I have been batch processing all the remaining patterns, so the rest are all very nearly ready to go too. So clear your schedule!

Have you started your Love with a Twist quilt yet?

Share your Love with a Twist blocks with me! You can fill the Chameleon and me with joy by sharing your Love with a Twist blocks via email, or on Instagram (mention @cleverchameleon or tag #lovewithatwistquilt). Or by posting on my Clever Chameleon Facebook page. Or by adding your beautiful work to the Chameleon’s Colour & Inspiration party right here on any Tuesday.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Sharing our elephant balloons at BOMs Away on What a Hoot Quilts.

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The Chameleon turns rainbow with pleasure when he hears from you. I am more reserved, so I will respond in gratitude by email instead. Now that it’s your turn…. Scroll right to the end, leave me a comment and tell me, what do you think? Thanks for connecting!

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