Six Elephants

Road Trip

41" x 41"

Machine applique, machine pieced, and machine quilted

Finally, the "punch line of a joke" quilt for a guild challenge can be revealed. When I first heard this challenge, I immediately thought of this joke because my husband has always thought it's hysterically, laugh-out-loud funny.  (This tells you a lot about him, probably.)  I also immediately thought, "I can't draw that."  However, as time passed, I kept thinking about it, and thinking about it, and with the help of Google images and how-to-draw web sites, here it is.  I got lots of inspiration and tips from Mary Lou Weidman's wonderful books, and the Hoochey Mama monkey wrench blocks in the border are hers too.

I loved every minute of making this quilt; I had been in a creative slump, and this was the jolt that got me out of it. The bright colors brightened the dreary weather, and I loved the silliness of it.   I'm not much for embellishment usually, but for this quilt, even that was fun.  My favorite is Mama E's version of a flag pin.  She's patriotic, of course--an elephant, after all.  Currently, I'm still looking for an appropriate charm to put on a bracelet for Sister Elephant!