A Small Quilty Project

The small group of South African Quilters that I belong to…The Kwetterkwilters, is doing a 12” x 12” challenge this year… based on a word. You must interpret the word in your challenge piece any way you choose. These are to be worked on in secret… no sharing until the unveiling. I didn’t commit to doing the last one, and I don’t think I will commit… to doing any, but if I get the inclination, the idea and the time I will make one.

The last one was ‘Dragon’ and last week I looked for an image that inspired me. Not only did I find one, I found 3. I asked my DH which one he liked best…. he liked the simplest one, which I seriously considered, since time was an important element. But of course I did, something totally female and picked the complete opposite…. the most complicated image and the race was on.

Once I saw the design -the process slipped into place. It is fused, reverse applique, the black over a batik. I tried to find a suitable black batik to use for the top, to stop the edge fraying, but I did not have one that didn’t look dirty. So I used a Kona cotton. The hardest part was cutting out the design…. and I have a few things in mind to maybe make it easier in the future, (if I were to do something like this again). I was so afraid I would snip the wrong piece. I quilted with Free Motion to secure all the black, and to give it some sparkle I used a gold Superior Flat metallic thread over a variegated Rainbows for the ‘fire’. The eye is an antique (faceted) black jet bead. Of course I couldn’t just add a black binding… I decided it needed a bit more orange, so I made piped binding.

I wish I had thought to take pictures of the other ‘Dragon’ because all of them were simply inspired!!!

Looking forward to the next… word!!!

More Later…. Beth