Elephant collage finished, and a lovely gift tote bag.

Today at the Quilt Shop morning stitching group, I finished the binding on my Elephant Collage.  This was an experimental project on two fronts.   It was the first time I had ever tried the fabric collage technique, and it was challenging, but a lot of fun, and I have already drafted my next collage project on to a sheet of interfacing.   The second 'first time' for me was that I used the Embroidery foot on my sewing machine to quilt this item.  I did a workshop with Linda Steele a few years ago, and learnt heaps but never got around to putting it into practice.  All the quilting I've done in the past has been ín the ditch or straight lines, using the walking foot on my Janome. 

But the elephant didn't deserve straight lines, so I threaded the machine with clear thread (not the first time for that, and it is tricky to get right), and off I went, meandering all over the elephant and background in swirls at random.  Is that called stippling?  Anyway, it looks okay to me but I would not want the Quilt Police to look too closely - LOL!   Now that I have had a go with the embroidery foot, I might book into a class at the Quilt Shop to do it properly. 

I can't remember where I found the fabric that I used for the back - a remnant at an opshop or somewhere like that...but it is a kind of Asian theme, so it goes with the elephant design.

In my previous post on this blog there is a photo of a quilted mat that I made for Kath in the USA for our exchange on the Down To Earth forum.  Yesterday I received the item she made for me - this gorgeous quilted tote bag, even with a G embroidered on the front!  Love it!  I used it to carry my stitching bits and bobs to the Quilt Shop this morning, and it was greatly admired.