Elephant Fabric Basket

I bought this fabric basket at the same craft fair where I bought my duck tape pens. 

Unlike those pens, this basket was made by an adult, namely Nicole Tupesis of Nik J Designs.  The one she had on display in her booth was filled with baby diapers, which brought to mind baby elephants and bonding.

Ten years after her husband's death, Daphne Sheldrick, a fourth-generation Kenya-born woman, founded the Nairobi Elephant Nursery to care for orphaned elephants with the goal of eventually releasing them back to the wild.   Orphaned elephants come to the nursery traumatized by what happened to their elephant family, and many of them lack the will to live.  

At first, a three-week old orphan named Aisha thrived on a diet of the Sheldrick milk formula and Daphne's doting care.  Aisha formed an extremely strong bond with Daphne, following her everywhere and rarely letting her out of her sight.  

When Aisha was six months old, Daphne left her in the care of an assistant while she spent two weeks in Nairobi preparing for her daughter's wedding.  While Daphne was gone, Aisha stopped eating and died shortly after Daphne returned home, overcome by grief at losing a mother for the second time.

After this, they switched to a larger human "family", no longer having a single caretaker.  This more closely mimicked the social structure in the wild, and eliminated emotional dependence on just one person.

An Elephant for a Dog

I bought this elephant at a pet store last month.  It's too cute to be chewed up by a dog.

Tusks are enlarged incisors. Baby elephants are born with milk tusks the size of a human little finger. After a year, they are replaced by permanent tusks. They grow throughout an elephant's life - four inches a year for males; three inches for females. The two tusks are usually of unequal shape and length.

In African elephants, both sexes have tusks, although they're larger in males. In Asian elephants, tusks are primarily found in males; females either have no tusks or they're rudimentary.

Thursday is Purse Day - Elephant Tote

I went to The Sewcial Lounge last week to check out their new location and store.  It's easy to get to, parking is right out front, and the store is bright and airy.  

I wanted to pick up a little something I needed to complete a chair project, and she had the exact match that I needed.  Wandering around, admiring everything, I found some beautiful Echino fabric with an elephant on it.  I made a quick decision that it would be perfect for a tote bag to use at Quilt Expo.

Here it is - and it couldn't have been easier or faster.  I made it in just a few hours, and it's even reversible.

Here's what made it so easy - Sara's Sewcial Tote pattern.  I probably could have made a tote bag without it, but why waste all the time and energy trying to figure things out when you can just follow directions?  This pattern has three variations - I made what's called The Simple Tote, which is gusseted.

The other thing that made it easy was I bought webbing for the handle.  Sara has so many varieties that I had a hard time deciding on just the right one. 

This Echino fabric is a nice medium-weight linen.

To fuse the interfacing to the fabric, I cut the interfacing a little larger than the 18" x 18" squares of fabric.  Then I used an applique pressing sheet, made out of a non-stick material.

Lay your pressing sheet on your ironing board.  Then place your fabric on top if it, right side down.  Lastly, lay the interfacing on the fabric, sticky side down, so it adheres to the wrong side of your fabric.

You can see in this picture how much of the interfacing is overlapping the fabric.  I like to leave at least 1/2" all around, to make sure the fabric is completely covered.  When you press this, the gunk on the interfacing goes onto your applique pressing sheet, and not on your ironing board or your iron.

After it cools for a minute, trim to the appropriate size.

 

Here's the other side, also an Echino print.  Totally reversible, nice and sturdy, all ready to go shopping.

Pink Felt Elephant

I bought a bunch of felt this spring, to make some cute little projects.

The first one was this pink elephant, from a pattern in Stitched Whimsy.  She's 11" from the tip of her trunk to the tip of her tail, and 6" tall.  Her inner ears are flannel, but the rest of her is felt.

The ears of the African elephant are nearly 3 times larger than the ears of the Asian elephant.  They have a dense grid of blood vessels that help disperse internal heat.  The hotter it is, the more they flap their ears.  If there's a breeze, they face into it and stretch their ears out in order to obtain the maximum cooling effect.

Tea for Tuesday - Elephant Teapot

Day three of elephant appreciation...

This teapot was the first elephant object I bought.  I found it at Pier One years ago, when not many places were selling teapots.  I used to buy every teapot I found, until they became popular and I could be more selective.

Orphan infant elephants are difficult to raise because they are completely dependent on their mother's milk for their first two years, and partially dependent for another two.  Daphne Sheldrick and her husband David, founding warden of Tsavo East National Park in Kenya, spent decades trying to find a formula that matched the mother's milk.  They finally had success, shortly before David's death, in 1977.

Their recipe was a mixture of human baby formula and coconut.  But this recipe works as well:
9.5 pints raw cow's milk
9.5 ounces cream
24 egg whites
4 pounds well-boiled rice water

Monday is Fun Day - Elephant Statues

I've been on the lookout for elephant items lately.  There's lots in the stores; I guess they're trendy.  I only wish that a portion of the purchase price would go towards preservation of the species and habitat.

I bought these two at a resale shop last month.  The one on the left is a whiskey decanter; on the right is a marble figurine.

Elephants emit sounds at frequencies too low for humans to hear.  In normal conditions, elephants can communicate at distances up to 2.5 miles, but depending on the time of day and type of sound, it can be as far as 6 miles.  This explains the sometimes synchronized behavior between distant herds.

They also communicate with their body language, using their trunk and ears.  A lifted trunk with the tip pointing downward means they're undecided or trying to figure something out.

A lowered and twisted trunk means a conflict between fear and curiosity.  Ears straight out at a 90-degree angle from their  head signals aggression. 

Not Just Another Pretty Face

     The planet does not belong to the human race alone.
                                                                 --- Martin Saller

Elephants and pigs, two of our planet's most intelligent species, much abused by humankind.  Today kicks off a week of elephant appreciation.

The emotional life of elephants is deep and varied, ranging from happiness to sadness and depression.  Physical contact is important - they often rest against each other or touch one another with their trunk.  They are similar to humans in regards to love, loyalty, and familial bonds, and they deeply mourn the death of a family member.

Elephants have different vocalizations for pleasure (purring), pain (rumbling), loneliness and boredom in captivity (moaning squeal) and anger (hiss.)