Palahdee
September 2019

I’ve been making quilts for years, but mostly toppers that I bind and then tie to fleece backing. I haven’t done much in the way of machine or hand quilting, and in the last year have begun experimenting with machine quilting. I began cautiously, first on two table runners for last year’s Christmas and then in my Hoplon quilt project from earlier this year. I also have a QAYG project in the works. Overall, I’m enjoying the learning process.

My Palahdee quilt is a Labyrinth Quilt Block which I thought would work well as a baby quilt. Mypatchworld offers a nice tutorial on this block pattern. I don’t often make baby quilts, but felt it would be a good size to further practice my machine quilting. I tried out three different quilting designs: around the center star and the flower border I stitched in the ditch and then did a 1/4″ stitch away from the ditch; I did straight lines on the blue, using 1″ blue painters tape as my ruler; and on the elephants, I made my own freehand template that sort of looks like an elephant’s trunk.

The elephant fabric was the main star for this quilt, which was also the inspiration for the name. The blue fabric was from a duvet cover someone had given me many years ago and the small flower fabric was something I bought several years ago from the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook, a great place to visit if you’re in that area.

This was donated to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services for a child in foster care in December, 2019.