Savanna Safari Quilt

In my former life I was a Travel Consultant & business owner and I used to specialise in travel to Africa.  I have many fond memories of my many adventures throughout South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Kenya and Malawi.  One of my absolute favourite safari lodges was Savanna Lodge - an exclusive 5 star lodge situated in the internationally famous Sabi Sand Reserve within the greater Kruger National Park conservancy in South Africa.  I stayed here back in 2008 whilst on vacation and loved every minute of my visit!  I decided to name this quilt in honour of this wonderful lodge, and hereby bring you "Savanna Safari". 

Click on photo to view my photos of Savanna Private Game Reserve on Flickr.

I decided to take this quilt with me when I met up with Anne recently in Kyneton and we snuck in a quick photo shoot despite the cold and drizzly day.

Outside Kyneton Museum

Outside Kyneton Museum

I just loved the organic rawness of this gate

This lovely stone wall was just outside the entrance to Kyneton on the corner of the C793 & Burton Avenue.  View of the front of the quilt.

This lovely stone wall was just outside the entrance to Kyneton on the corner of the C793 & Burton Avenue.  View of the back of the quilt.

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Quilt Specs

Name of Quilt - Savanna Safari

Pattern Design - made up of mixed patterns by TartanKiwi & Quilt Art Designs.  Refer below for further details.  Quilt layout design by me. 

Fabrics Used - This quilt has been entirely made using Cotton & Steel fabrics. I have used mostly the "August" range by Sarah Watts together with some Cotton & Steel Solids and Basics.

Technique - all blocks are foundation paper pieced

Quilting - I had this quilt professionally quilted by Linda at Ladybug Quilting in Bendigo.  The edge to edge pattern she has used is called "Slick" by Lorien Quilting, and she has quilted it using a beige Rasant Thread #1222.

Quilt Size - 64" x 84"

Photo courtesy of @LadyBugQuilting

Photo courtesy of @LadyBugQuilting

Photo courtesy of @LadyBugQuilting

Tartan Kiwi's Patterns

• The Leopard is based on Juliet's pattern "Big Cat" measuring 12" x 24".  I originally pattern tested this for her back in February 2015 however I remade it later in the year using Cotton & Steel.  My original remake is now on the back of the quilt because I ended up resizing the pattern by 150% and rotating the cat so that it faced to the right instead of the left.
• Mr Lion - I was one of Juliet's original pattern testers when she designed "Lion" - this is a large block at 24" I originally made this block back in February 2015 and he was the inspiration for the rest of the quilt.
• The Zebra is a pattern called "More Zebra Mania" and measures 20".  I pattern tested this for Juliet back in July 2015.  At the time I had an idea to make a large quilt but had no overall design in mind hence the green background.

In addition to these test blocks, I purchased the following patterns from Juliet:

"Giraffe" measuring 24" x 30", "Elephant" measuring 24" and "Hippo" measuring 12" x 30"

Quilt Art Design's Patterns

Once I had made the above blocks I felt that I needed to add more animals to the quilt top.  I have never written my own pattern before so I went googling and stumbled upon Janeen's designs.  Originally Janeen had each of her animals available for individual sale on Craftsy, however she has since combined them into two multi packs called "Animal Safari Patterns E Book 1" and "Animal Safari Patterns E Book 2".  The individual blocks are each approximately 12".  

The blocks that I have used are:

• Rhino 2 - in E Book 1
• Buffalo 1 - in E Book 1
• Lion Cub - in E Book 1
• Warthog 1 - in E Book 2

Laid out on the floor at Mum's house

Laid out on the floor at Mum's house

Savanna Safari