A Quilt called "Haathi"

"Haathi" is Hindi for elephant.  I've been working off and on on this quilt all fall.  I don't know if it rightly belongs on this blog, where I post my art quilts, or on my other blog Alice's Looking Glass, where I usually post traditional quilts plus accounts of travels and books I've read, etc.

But I am posting here because it was quilted in a non-traditional manner!  I had intended to embroider the center medallion and then machine quilt the three borders.  But then, getting frustrated with my first attempt at machine quilting,  I had an Eureka moment:  Why not hand quilt with embroidery stitches?  I confess that I do not enjoy machine quilting, and hand quilting with tiny stitches and regular thread is beyond my capabilities, now, with my arthritic hands.  And so I used Perle embroidery thread (in several different weights) and several different embroidery stitches.

I made this quilt for a dear friend who has been so generous and hospitable to us out in California.  I look forward to presenting it to her when we are there for Christmas!

I used several different embroidery stitches in this quilt.  Under the close-up pictures I will name the stitches used.

around ball:  running stitches; lines within ball:  back stitches;
"smiley face" lines:  stem stitches; round shapes above them:
star stitches
Around the elephant I first embroidered a running stitch, and then I wove a
second, heavier thread through those stitches, forming the "laced running
stitch"

The decorative stitches here on the elephant's blanket
are all running stitches

....but, alas, the tips of the Friendship Stars in the cornerstone
got cut off when the binding was done.  I'm not happy about this....but,
it's a minor thing!