We’ve all been there – browsing quilting posts on Facebook
or the web and suddenly we see a quilt that we love and want to make, but
frustratingly there isn't a pattern or instructions!
Sometimes we can recreate the pattern based on our experience and sometimes
the quilt falls into the “too hard to do” category and ends up on our Pinterest
page along with the dozens of other quilts we’ll never make.
Recently I was browsing the posts at my favorite Facebook
quilt group “Quilt Along with Pat Sloan” when I ran across a post by Jeanette
Silvey that included this picture of an elephant quilt and asking if anyone
knew where she could find the pattern. Group
members suggested several possibilities, but none were the exact same elephant. Finally Jeanette traced a line drawing of the
elephant and used an online site to blow it up to poster size.
Recently I was browsing the posts at my favorite Facebook
quilt group “Quilt Along with Pat Sloan” when I ran across a post by Jeanette
Silvey that included this picture of an elephant quilt and asking if anyone
knew where she could find the pattern. Group
members suggested several possibilities, but none were the exact same elephant. Finally Jeanette traced a line drawing of the
elephant and used an online site to blow it up to poster size.
My in-laws lived in India for several years
when my father-in-law worked for a U.N. agency.
Their home has several elephant themed decorations. I really wanted to
make this quilt for my mother in law and Jeanette’s plan sounded doable to me.
The first thing I did was clean up the line drawing a little
so I had a crisp black and white image for blowing up. Once the image was ready, I went to
BlockPosters.com to turn the image into a multi-page poster. Posters up to 5 by 5 pages are free and you
download your poster as a PDF file. I choose a 4x4 poster which produced 16 pages
that measure 34 inches
wide and 47 inches high once
taped together, which I will later trim down to 34 inches by 40 inches.
You have to set a few options before you print your poster. This is what I choose:
Here is the picture you need to upload at BlockPosters.com to make your poster. Right Click on the picture and save it to your computer.
Here is the picture you need to upload at BlockPosters.com to make your poster. Right Click on the picture and save it to your computer.
When you print the poster on your home printer, you need to adjust the printer settings to
borderless printing (usually found under Properties) and print actual size. My system for making the quilt requires that you print and tape together
two copies of the poster.
I lightly color one of the posters using colored pencils (or crayons) using about 8-10 colors. It helped me to choose my fabric and not have too much of one color in any area. This step is definitely optional but I'm glad I took the time.
