Seaside Stitches: Tanzania-Inspired Baby Quilt

What quilter doesn't love making baby quilts? I had so much fun making this one for my nephew and his wife. We have been obsessed with African animals since last fall, so we were thrilled that the parents-to-be chose animals as their nursery theme. Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts launched her Elephant Parade Quilt Along at just the right time!

You know I couldn't just follow the pattern. I had to tweak it just a little and add my own details. I pieced fewer blocks and added a cute border.

Our memories of our Tanzanian safari were stitched into this baby quilt. There's nothing sweeter than a mama and baby elephant!

I had done all the piecing of this quilt on my vintage Featherweight. When it came time to embroider the eyes, I didn't want to switch to the Bernina, so I tried free motion embroidery on the FW. It worked! I'll show you how I did it very soon.

I went with yellow for the birds because I was already planning to use it in the border, and because we saw these cute birds everywhere.

By the way, the blue elephant below was pieced from fabric leftover from the wedding quilt.

I simplified Lorna's flower pattern (and used orange fabric from the wedding quilt)...

... to mimic the fireball lily.

The leopard tortoise makes an appearance.

The border print is Peek-a-Zoo by Timeless Treasures. After cutting the directional borders for the front, I didn't have enough left for the back.

Since I had to piece the back anyway, I figured I may as well make this a 2-sided quilt. I super-sized Lorna's adorable giraffe. One of the leaves is the label, with a space left blank for the baby's name.