Elephant Softie for the Ruby Star Wrap-Along

Five years ago, I read a blog post about cloth diapering. Before then, my only knowledge of cloth diapering was what my mom used on her kids - you know, safety pins and plastic pants. After reading the post, I was converted to cloth diapering and felt great pride in conserving and reducing my carbon footprint. After thumbing through Melody Miller and Alison Tannery's Ruby Star Wrapping book at Sewing Summit, I felt that same sense of pride and purpose and wanted to wrap my Christmas gifts this year in reusable materials to limit how much my family contributes to the landfill this Christmas. So, when Amy asked me if I wanted to participate in the Ruby Star Wrap-Along, I said, "Heck yes!" I was so excited to try some of the projects for wrapping my gifts this year. The funny thing is that when we got to pick which project we'd like to make, I chose the elephant softie and my four-year-old immediately claimed it for herself. No gifting it to someone else for Christmas. Oh well. At least that's a win in the make-something-my-daughter-loves department.

Melody and Alison offer suggestions for altering each project. I loved the look of the patchwork elephant in the book. As I was deciding on the fabric to use, I thought this Heather Ross penny patchwork print from her Nursery Versery line would be perfect! I used Patty Young's Running Stitch in pink for the pocket.

As a side note: when I finished the elephant, I had this vague memory pop into my head of a show I saw on TV when I was little. There was a patchwork puppy and a patchwork kitty that were fighting and ended up eating each other. Weird. No one I've talked to seems to remember seeing it, so if you know what I'm talking about, let me know so I don't think I'm crazy.



I thought the pocket looked like a cute little elephant ear, so I decided to put one on each side.



Now my daughter can fill those pockets to her heart's content. Maybe down the road, we'll even use it as her tooth fairy pillow.



Remember, you have the whole week to link up a project from the book. We're giving out a $40 gift certificate to Gelaskins (I SO want to order myself one of these!) and an awesome Melody Miller fabric prize pack from Drygoods Design Online!








If you've missed any of the stops so far on the wrap-along (which you'll definitely want to check out!), here's the schedule:

11.7.12 - Anna of noodlehead

11.9.12 Amanda of A Crafty Fox

11.12.12 - Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson!

11.14.12 - Brooke of Pitter Putter Stitch (you are here)

11.16.12 - Erin of Two More Seconds

11.19.12 - Jennifer of BettyCrockerAss

11.21.12 - Rochelle of Lucky Lucille

11.23.12 - Sukie of Sukie - don't you know who I am?

11.26.12 - Elizabeth of Don't Call Me Betsy

11.28.12 - Gina and crew of Bolt Neighborhood

11.30.12 - Ellen of the Long Thread

12.3.12 - Katie of Swim, Bike Quilt

12.5.12 Faith of Fresh Lemon Quilts

12.7.12 Lee of Freshly Pieced

12.10.12 Maureen of Maureen Cracknell Handmade

12.12.12 Sara of Sew Sweetness

12.14.12 Colleen of The Busy Bean

12.17.12 Amy of Diary of a Quilter

12.19.12 Monica of The Happy Zombie