Elephant in the Middle Quilt

The actual title of this quilt is “Monkey Elephant in the Middle” but they wouldn’t let me put strikethrough text in my title.

I’ve found myself sketching ideas a lot more often then I ever used to before I start working on a new design.  The ‘Focus Through the Prism’ Challenge block was the Monkey Wrench for May. The big thing now was – Can I actually make it work!?   

After the I had the first two blocks I knew that this was going to work!

And before I knew it six blocks were together …

and then 9!  It was time to baste and quilt!

I used my Bernina to do straight line stitching in the ‘dark’ areas of the monkey wrench blocks. 

And then I put my free motion foot on and did pebble quilting in the ‘light’ areas.  I am so happy with how my quilting turned out!  It really added to the finished quilt and made the two sections – light and dark really show up!  

And voila!  Here is my final quilt!

Quilt Stats

Name:Monkey Elephant in the Middle Size: 20” square Focus Color: Yellow Designed, Pieced and Quilted by: Kim Lapacek

And by making my image black and white I can do a value check.  And what do you know – it was actually successful!!!!!  This isn’t that ‘crazy’ of a quilt but I am so proud of it!  Value in my quilts have always given me trouble and it feels so good to triumph over it for once.

I had fun doing the photo shoot on the deer fence.  The sky and clouds behind it were just stunning!

Here’s a closer view of both the pebble quilting and the straight line quilting.  I used a yellow variegated thread from aurifil for the quilting.  It variegates from a light, almost white yellow to a deep, golden yellow, which also adds to the depth of this quilt.  I just love the contrast the soft and sharp lines make and it feels great when you swipe your hand across the quilt top too!

And for good measure … one more picture of Monkey Elephant in the Middle blowing in the wind. So what do you think?  Would you like me to write up a pattern for this one?  Let me know!

Linking up to: Monkey Wrench, Focus Through the Prism Challenge,Finish It Up Friday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?,TGIFF