Embracing patterns
A gift for a little one
March 30 2023 - August 20 2023 | Quilt pattern: Dragon Dreams by Apples & Beavers
Pattern, backing & binding: Cotton
Batting: Wool
Hand quilting: DMC embroider thread & size 8 pearl cotton
Quilt #2
Choosing what quilt to do next was a challenge, but as soon as I saw the Dragon Dreams quilt pattern, I knew I needed to try making it. We don’t have kids other than our two fluffy babies, but our good friends have a three-year-old who loves animals. I decided I wanted to gift this quilt to that family.
Using social media, I looked up many inspo pictures of others who had made this quilt and used those to decide what fabrics I wanted to use. Naturally, I am drawn more to solid colors/fabrics and what is called modern quilting, but my local quilt shop only stocks patterned fabric. I couldn’t get fabric from the US this time, so I headed to my local shop.
I have always been creative and work in a creative industry. As I have grown and developed my skills, I have learned my strengths and weaknesses. Visual design has always been a more significant challenge for me, which is why I didn’t pursue fields like graphic design and UI/UX. I would say I have an eye for seeing what works and doesn’t work but I feel I am better with having opinions than being able to do visual design myself.
Personally, I have always been critical of my abilities in choosing color palettes. I knew going into quilting that this would be one of the biggest frustration points for me (my poor math skills are for another time). But this was part of why I chose quilting. I wanted to challenge myself with things that I thought weren’t my strong skills.
Instead of completely overwhelming myself as I started out, I sought the help of the little local quilt shop employee. I am by far the youngest to go into that shop and am now known and playfully teased about being a modern quilter. They are the sweetest and most helpful women in that shop and have been helping me build my confidence when matching fabrics.
With fabrics chosen, I got to work!
Dragon Dreams
This quilt was a lot of fun. I loved seeing the dragon start taking shape. Having lots of little pieces meant labeling them and making sure I stayed organized.
Pattern complete
Some of the best advice I have seen others give each other on quilts is that if you cannot see the mistake from a meter away, you’ll be the only one who knows. This was my first time working with such small pieces; some elements were not perfectly aligned, but I reminded myself that imperfections still have beauty.
I just loved how this turned out! After the top was done, I took it back to my local quilt shop and found matching backing and binding fabric. I decided to use the same fabric for both.
When it came to hand stitching, I wanted to make different patterns for different elements. I realized that the color I used on the front would show up on the back. I decided to stitch in the ditch so that when looking at the back, you could still see the shape of the dragon and understand why the threads were all different colors.
During this quilt, we were in the process of moving into a new apartment, hence the boxes in the photo above. Our new apartment is significantly bigger and has much more quilting floor space! Oakley, our Sheltie, was also recovering from breaking his leg at four months old and a second correction surgery.
Quilt complete!
I am so happy with out this quilt turned out. It challenged my fabric-matching and hand-quilting skills. I boxed it up and sent it on to its new owners. Luckily, it was well received, and it’s being well-loved and used by our friend’s kid.
