Are you being productive right now?

I hope so. 

It’s been a little more than a month ago that I found myself back in the United states. I was in Australia, Heron Island to be exact when the news came that the group I was part of was being recalled back to the United States. There were 70 of us, students and professors, trapped on the island for the 5 days after the recall. Trapped due to a category 2 cyclone spinning of the coast heading down in the direction of Brisbane. We were fine. There was lots of sunshine and wind but no rain and importantly, no ferries to get back to the mainland. In those 5 days walks on the beach were wonderful. One could not snorkel or scuba dive due the very rough seas but the turtles were hatching and late at night, if you were lucky you could see turtles coming to shore to lay eggs.

So I am back. Adventures stopped for the time being. The kitchen upon arrival was empty of everything from spices and other shelf goods to what goes in the average refrigerator after it is plugged in. I have become reacquainted with my sewing room. Like everyone I have made a few masks and in doing so have noticed that certain sewing items are hiding on me. All in all after a month I have settled right in.

Someone told me that among sewers, most are not making something new; instead, they are pulling out UFOs and are working on them.

I am no different. In the basement I found a UFO that was intriguing enough for me that I picked it up to finish it. There is a good reason it was a UFO, but heh, what else to I have to do right now?

At least 15 years ago I was visiting an aunt of my husbands. She led an interesting life following her husband around as he worked in the diplomatic service. It was on that visit I noticed the rug on the floor under the dining room table. It was a rug of dragon designs. Getting permission, I copied the designs off the rug onto white kitchen garbage bags with a sharpie. I was super careful as to not in any way damage the rug.

At home, I reproduced the center dragon. I made that block twice after figuring out the best way to construct it after the many mistakes of the first. I took notes on what not to do. The first of the center dragons was made into a wall hanging and was given away. The second dragon was put away in a box along with the left overs of fabrics used as the amount of work to make what I wanted was daunting.

Fast forward 15 years. Challenge taken! I think I mentioned that the amount of work was daunting.  But heh, what else do I have to do?

So here is the starting point, a white kitchen trashbag with the dragon drawn on with a red sharpie.

First step was to redraw the dragon onto paper. When I redesigned my sewing room, I used Ikea furniture for the shelving. Between each of the pieces in the box was a piece of lightweight brown paper. I kept them all figuring I could use it for pattern drafting later.

Years ago the place I worked was getting rid of things they no longer used. One of them was a huge wooden light box that had been used to proof electrical designs for circuit boards. I took it, brought it home and later used it once before this project. It is very large and heavy. It is also very useful and a big help.

So the dragon was redrawn onto paper and then cleaned up. Then using a black sharpie, the lines were drawn. Did I mentioned that the amount of work for this project was daunting? Drawing the one in the picture onto the paper took a day. But heh, what else do I have to do?

Finally, the fun part began. Even though I had some of the original fabrics used when I made the first dragon, there was not enough for the entire quilt. As luck would have it I have a large fabric stash and was able to find enough fabrics to make all of the dragons.

So here is one of the dragons in the process of being assembled and sewn together:

I figured that I could use the center dragon that was already completed but when I laid it out on the bed it was clear that the background was ok, but not spectacular. The tone on tone that was bought to go with it 15 years ago wasn't going to be my first choice it was ok, but just ok. 

My style had changed a lot in the last 15 years. I took a picture and looked at it. The quilt on the bed under the dragons is pastel and suddenly, just like that, a new background was decided. 

Pastels, like the quilt on the bed wouldn’t work, but a mixture of tone on tones would. Daunting just took another step up, but heh, what else do I have to do?

Good thing I have a stash:

This project is still a work in progress; Every day gets a little closer to finishing. The 3 of the 4 outer dragons are complete, the last one is on the sewing machine being attached to the tone on tone background.

The center dragon has been redrawn on the brown paper and construction has started.

More to come…