Dragon Dreams

I mentioned the other week that I had taken on a quilt commission. A former coworker reached out to me and asked if I would be able to make a quilt for her first grandchild (who is due in March). She had only three requirements – that it be mainly green and yellow… and incorporate dragons!

DRAGONS???? My favourite! And I had just the perfect fabric.

See that centre fabric? Could she have made a better request? I’ve had that dragon fabric for ages, just waiting for the perfect project. Since I had dragons on the fabric, I could have gone with simple stars or something. But what’s the fun in that? So I went searching for dragon patterns. It didn’t take long to find this one.

So just after the new year, I got to work. I’m trying to devote one day each weekend to sewing. So two Saturdays ago, I got to cutting. And it took FOREVER!!!!!! OMG, there are like a million pieces in this pattern. By the time it was done, there was barely any time left for sewing.

But I just had to get something done, so I decided to just do the first part, which was completing the head. The pattern puts a sleepy eye on by appliqué, but I’m going to embroider it.

This past Saturday, I was determined to finish the rest of it. So we made a foot…

Lemmy was quite impressed.

And then we made another foot.

And this foot looked suspiciously like Rupert’s back foot. (could he be a dragon in disguise???

And then it was time to make the wings.

The first one went just fine. But I ran into a little hiccup when I started on the second. The pattern does the wings, legs and spikes all in different colours. But I decided I wanted them to all be the same colour -yellow. That is… until I realized the second wing overlaps the back leg… so same colour wasn’t going to cut it.

To say I was annoyed at myself was a bit of an understatement. It was already late in the afternoon, so I decided to put it into a time out for the rest of the night, and I started again fresh the next morning.

A little cutting, a little sewing…

And we had a new wing in dark blue!

And then soon after, we had another. And our dragon was starting to look like a dragon. And you can see the dragon inspectors were doing a very thorough job.

After that, there was just a tail to make…

Then it was just a matter of sewing it all together.

The boys were pleased with the final result… I think.

When Dave and I were thrifting in Chatham the other weekend, we stopped at Lens to see if I could find something for the back. And boy did I!

How cute is that? And flannel too, so just perfect for a cozy baby quilt. The binding is a diagonal stripe I’d bought ages ago with the plan to use it to bind something. (I have several striped fabrics I’ve bought specifically to use as binding.)

Now… I have three tops ready for quilting! I guess I better make a date with Mom!

7 thoughts on “Dragon Dreams

  1. Shirley Elliott's avatar Shirley Elliott

    That is such a wonderful quilt! It’s such a perfect baby quilt. Your colors and fabrics could not be more perfect. Striped fabric makes the best bindings.

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  2. Betsy's avatar Betsy

    Those are perfect, perfect fabrics and pattern for this quilt. And with all of your “help” it’s bound to be the quilt that your friend will be so happy with. I know any baby I know would love it. Our granddaughter, “J” in London loves dinosaurs and they were the theme of her 3rd birthday party this year.

    You even have the greens and yellows like requested. You rock Val!
    Blessings and hugs,
    Betsy

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