Wild Fabrications

A few days ago I saw a call for entry for a new SAQA exhibit: Wild Fabrications. I have been making a lot of traditionals quilts and quilted items for Down Under Quilts in the last six months and I really feel like starting a new art quilt project. The exhibit concept reads as follows:

'Wild Fabrications celebrates a world of animals both real and fantastical. Let your imagination run wild as you create interesting and unusual interpretations of animals using unexpected or unconventional materials and adornment, and/or unusual techniques. We are looking for whimsical and creative depictions of animals. Your animals may be common or capricious; odd or ordinary; live or imagined. The key to this call is to have fun!'

That sounds good, doesn't it? I asked my middle son Ernst (9) if he would like to design a fantastical animal for me to recreate in an art quilt. He sure would! He started drawing immediately:



He drew and drew...



... and drew...



... and drew:



(And drew some more, but I won't show you all nine dragons!) It was a very difficult choice but in the end we decided to go for 'the dragon of the sky'. Ernst re-drew it for me on a large piece of paper:



Here it is. This dragon lives in the sky and never ever comes down to the ground. When it is really tired (very rarely) it will sleep on a cloud.



I traced the drawing on tracing paper:



In my stash I found a beautiful handdyed purple fabric. I backed it with fusible webbing and cut out the tail of the dragon. I hadn't realised until after I started cutting that it was going to be the mirror image of the original drawing, but fortunately Ernst didn't mind. Here is step one of the quilt!



Now I need to go and find a yellow fabric - and some more fusible webbing.

To be continued!

PS I asked the curator if it was okay to use a drawing of my son and to post this on my blog. It was :-)